A while ago @dbFCZ, who looks after the FC Zurich database, wrote to me. Including a photographed match report excerpt in which the kick-in is discussed. (The kick-in is the equivalent of the throw-in, the thrown-in). As so often in the history of football rules: As curious as it sounds, it has existed before and, in this case, even once as part of the rules. The kick-in in the old football rules Before 1863, both kick-ins and throw-ins were part of different rules   From 1863-1886: Yes, No … Yes? The (London) FA Rules and Sheffield FA Rules had it all. While Sheffield FC used the throw-in, the Sheffield FA wrote the kick-in into the rules. In the (London) FA, on the other hand, the throw-in was part of the rules. Until 1877, when the Sheffield FA adopted the FA Rules in exchange for a few Sheffield rules. Thus, from 1877 to 1886, the FA allowed a choice between a throw-in or a kick-in. By 1886, the birth of the IFAB and the Laws of …

After comparing different sets of rules for football without or with little permitted handball, it is useful to go through the development of the individual rules. Playing field measurements Playing field measurements are not mentioned at all until the 1860s. Since they are quite similar here, it can be assumed that they had already converged before then and therefore unwritten agreements were also in place. Goal dimensions Only Eton had a height limit, which was 2.13 m as early as 1847 and did not change thereafter. All other rulebooks knew no height limit within this time period. The width of the gate varied, if it was specified at all. At Eton it remained constant at 3.35 m, at Harrow (1858) goals were 3.66 m wide, at Cambridge (1863) 4.57 m, and at the FA (1863) as much as 7.32 m. It seems that gates used to be much narrower than today. Number of players The number of players is now specified in the 1849 Surrey Rule Book. Here there are already eleven players. In most …

Trautmann (original title: The Keeper) was released in cinemas on 14 March 2019. The film tells the life of Bert Trautmann, who became famous worldwide as Manchester City goalkeeper and was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 for his merits as a footballer for Anglo-German understanding. He passed away in 2013. Bert Trautmann played for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. Anyone expecting me to write about the changes in goalkeeping during those years will have the same train of thought as I did and will be sobered to find out: During those 15 years, none of the rule changes affected the goalkeeper’s game. It is also the second longest phase in which nothing changed for goalkeepers. In third place is the phase between 1980 (goalkeeper allowed to move on the goal line when taking the penalty kick) and 1992 (prohibition of the back pass). The longest phase is the current one, because nothing has changed for goalkeepers since the four-step rule was changed to the six-second rule (2000). However, a certain …

The introduction of the video assistant referee has had some impact on the Laws of the Game. Nothing new, because the introduction of the referee on the pitch (1891) has also led to new or changed rules. Briefly about the time before 1891 In principle, the captains first tried to come to an agreement. If that was not possible, they called the two (partisan) umpires on the sidelines. If no agreement could be reached here either, the one (impartial) referee decided. Umpires and referee, however, were always at the side of the field and only reacted to some kind of challenge. It was not until 1888 that the umpire occasionally stepped into the field for a short time, because that was when the umpire’s ball was introduced. Let’s move on to the period from 1892 to 1905: Here, there were some changes and innovations that were directly or indirectly related to the introduction of the referee. I’ll just list them: Influence of the referee on football rules Listed here are not only the rule changes, …

The Schutzhand in German, beschermen in Dutch. Not everywhere in world exist the myth about the reflex of holding your hands in front of your face to protect yourself when something suddenly comes at you. However, this reaction is inconvenient when playing football, because you risk an intentional or deliberate handball. It is better to turn your face away or duck. I tell you more about the myth from the German perspective and would be glad if you let me know if this myth in your country exists and what name is has. Yet the myth about the Schutzhand has been around for about 100 years. Exactly where this myth first arose is no longer discernible. The myth of the Schutzhand in Germany In Germany there has been a term for this reflex since 1931: The „Schutzhand“, protective hand literally in English. As late as 1929 and 1930 this reflex was still only paraphrased in the Deutsche Schiedsrichter-Zeitung (German Arbitrator’s Newspaper): The rules do not know any „reflex actions“ or „reflex movements“, was to be …

Substitutions in Football in the 19th century: Emergency! In the second half of the 19th century, football was not yet so widespread outside the UK. In addition, substitutions in our modern understanding did not exist, but there was something similar that had the same name. If not all the players of a team were present at the start of a match, the missing player was allowed – by prior, mutual agreement – to be replaced by another person for the duration of his or her delay. However, there was rarely a substitute player in the team, which is why a spectator was accepted as a player instead. However, the players was not always recorded with their name, but sometimes as a substitute as S. Ubstitute or E. Mergency. The rules of the Eton Field Game in the 1850s did not call it substitution, but emergency, which describes it much better: It was an emergency that substitution was provided for. “The Charterhouse eleven played a match in cloisters against some old Carthusians, but in consequence of …

„Modern football“ is a buzzword. A buzzword with predominantly negative connotations in times of wobbling 50+1, increasing commercialisation, fragmented match days, etc. But was football old before? Antique? Of course not. Etymologically, modern means nothing other than „fashionable/according to today’s fashion“. Synonyms are adjectives such as current, new, contemporary and also mean progressive and something that has just become popular („modo“). The question of modern football is about the phase in which football became popular with the mass of the population, not just a few nerds, and in which the original form was developed further. From Empire to Commercialisation In the Middle Ages and the early modern period, there was football in England, soule in France and calcio in Italy. In Germany, or more precisely the then German Empire, there was no football before the 19th century. It could not, therefore, fall back on forms that were already known and subsequently regulated. Football was unknown. And therefore it first had to gain a foothold in order to be modernised. For the word modern presupposes that …

Rouge. What is that supposed to be anyway? There is not one, but different styles of Rouges. In association football, which is widely played around the world, this style has not endured, but it has in rugby. Because a Rouge has certain similarities to a Try. But what is a Rouge? Let me explain the styles in a clear and brief way. The Rouge is, or was, part of the rules at Eton College (Eton Field Game) and Cheltenham College, as well as at Sheffield FC and in the Sheffield FA. Eton Field Game Scoring At Eton, a distinction is made as to by whom the ball goes out of bounds: by the defending team: A Rouge is scored directly if a player of the defending team touches it first. by the attacking team: The ball is then placed 1 yd from the goal post and the attacking team tries to push the ball over the goal line. As a bully is formed similar to a scrimmage, this is not so easy. Awarding In the …

Change and acceptance need consistency. A longread, not only about female referees at the 2022 World Cup. In football, it is a hedge that has often been divided and then overgrown again – and not just for a few years, but for almost a century. Yes, there have been women in men’s football for almost 100 years, and that on the field as match officials – female referees and assistant referees. At first only a few, but for a good 30 years now and then in the highest level of men’s football – be it in a country’s top league or in international football. Now they were in the highest place: the men’s football World Cup. Stéphanie Frappart from France was the first female referee (1 December 2022). US-American and assistant referee Kathryn Nesbitt was the first woman to officiate at the final of a men’s World Cup (as a reserve assistant referee) (18 December 2022). Incidentally, in the qualifying matches for this World Cup, it was Stéphanie Frappart and Karen Díaz Medina, among others, …

Whoa, that’s a sensation: a female referee officiating a championship match in Brazilian football. Not now or 30 years ago, but almost 100 years ago. The German newspaper „Echo der Gegenwart“ („Echo of the Present“) of 28 October 1933 bears witness to what was perhaps the first woman to not only officiate a charity or friendly match: „Miss Colona“ from Rio de Janiero. First female referee and a smile Her first name is unfortunately not mentioned, but we learn from the article that she was a student at the university of the Brazilian capital and a respected member of the academic „Society of Rio“. The article tells us that – surprisingly for the audience – a woman is in charge of a championship match between two men’s teams. However, Ms. Colona is apparently known to and appreciated by the public, because „[s]he was greeted with greater applause than the most popular stars among the football players“. She is lucky to be in charge of the game even in very difficult situations because she smiles. Smiling …

What comes to mind when the offside rule is explained? It is an „invention of the devil„[1]Schmal, Felix: Die Achillesferse des Fussballs. In: Deutsche Schiedsrichter-Zeitung 10/1924 (May 1924), pp. 45-46., the „notorious monster„[2]Schmal, Felix: Die Achillesferse des Fussballs. In: Deutsche Schiedsrichter-Zeitung 10/1924 (May 1924), pp. 45-46., the „child of sorrow„[3]Rosenberger, Simon/Hofschneider, Alwin: Der Schiedsrichter Stuttgart 1923. p. 58. Also: Rosenberger/Hofschneider 1930, p. 48. Also: Kuhlmann, Fritz: Abseits. In: Oldenburger Zeitung für Volk und … Continue reading: The offside rule was already a football rule 100 years ago that often led to discussions. In 1924, the German journalist Felix Schmal thought that the rule was only there to „drive players to despair, incite spectators to scandals and give referees a beating.„[4]Schmal, Felix: Die Achillesferse des Fussballs. In: Deutsche Schiedsrichter-Zeitung 10/1924 (May 1924), pp. 45-46.. And somehow one would like to agree with him in a way. „The key law“ „Fear game isn’t ready for change to key law“ was the headline of the Evening Express in 1989 and still hits the nail on the head: the offside …

Wonderful News: „International Youth Football Tournament pro memoria Walther Bensemann“ returns – thanks to „Nie wieder – Erinnerungstag im deutschen Fußball“ („Never again – Remembrance Day in German Football“) and Maccabi Germany. Who was Walther Bensemann? Walther Bensemann was born in Berlin in 1873, but spent his youth at a boarding school in Montreux, Switzerland. Here, his international classmates showed him English sports, including association football. In 1889, he moved to Karlsruhe to a grammar school and founded a football club here in the same year as well, the International Football Club. The new club bore the cosmopolitan, international football that Bensemann had become acquainted with in Montreux in its name. Where the players came from was irrelevant. The important thing was to play together. Two years later, he founded Karlsruher FV (and was involved in the founding of numerous other clubs, including FC Bayern München and Eintracht Frankfurt). Not only the two later Jewish national players Julius Hirsch and Gottfried Fuchs played here, but also the Strasbourg-born Ivo Schricker, later FIFA General Secretary. „Sport …

Video replay does not only exist since the introduction of VAR in football. The discussions about the use of technical aids in controversial or unnoticed scenes are already old – soon be 100 years. A short journey through time on the development of video replay in football The history of video replay is also a history of the use of photographic, video and television technology and especially the slow motion. The aim of the filmmakers of the interwar period was to show their technical skills and to give a visible impression to people who could not attend the sports event on location. In England, for example, it became a new business idea to question referee decisions at football matches using the new slow-motion technology and to create relevance and demand. For example, the final of the FA Cup 1932 was filmed between Newcastle United FC and Arsenal FC and the question of whether or not the ball was in front of the cross and the goal was in goal or not. The still image can …

A one-man show in football, but one that collapses just as quickly as it started. What fits the 60-hour European Super League is nothing new, but an old pattern. This is also the case one year later. In football, too, nothing is eaten as hot as it is cooked. Neither in 2021 the European Super League – nor in 1920 the founding of the first German professional club, to which the DFB reacted with a show of force by threatening all players and clubs involved with bans. The association wanted to maintain amateur status for football across all leagues. The threatening gesture worked. Only a few fans attended the only two games of the 1st German Professional Football Club Berlin and the main initiator, Otto Eidinger, went bankrupt. The DFB as preserver of „good old football“ in Germany 101 years ago, football in Germany really started to boom and to flush money into the coffers of the associations and club owners. The players wanted to get their share, but the DFB renewed its amateur statute …

The IFAB has announced the presumed changes in the Laws of the Game 2022/23, which still have to be confirmed by the General Assembly. Their meeting, originally scheduled for the beginning of March, was postponed indefinitely due to the war in Ukraine. The proposed amendments of the ABM (a meeting with all secretaries of the five associations) have now been published. These will most likely also receive the necessary majority. The deadline for the Laws of the Game 2022/23 is 1 July 2022. At the general assembly, rule changes are discussed and proposals submitted are decided by a three-quarters majority. The decision-makers are one representative from each of the four British football associations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) and four from FIFA (who must vote en bloc). The chairmanship rotates among the five associations annually, and normally the location rotates with it. In 2022, the AGM was held in Doha under the chairmanship of FIFA. The AGM agenda for the Laws of the Game 2022/23 The changes concerned the permanent increase of substitutions to 5 …