The new mini-series by Julian Fellowes, The English Game, is available on Netflix since 20 March 2020. As already announced in the trailer, the story is based on true facts. But how much? . CN: Spoiler & Demytification (yes, the word demytification actually exists) . . . Football matches in English Game The game was in the FA Cup this season and the first game ended in a draw, the last one was won by the Old Etonians. However, a second draw was left out. This game was scheduled to be played three times. Based on the narrative, one could assume that Blackburn FC won the FA Cup in the 1879/80 season against the Old Etonians. However, no year is shown before the start of the match. For here Fellowes mixed a lot for the series final: In the 1870/80 season, Clapham Rovers won the FA Cup in the final against Oxford University, the Old Etonians lost to the eventual winner in the 5th round and Blackburn Rovers won against Darwen FC in the 2nd …

With his book „England’s Oldest Football Clubs“, published 2019, Martin Westby had created a very extensive collection of sources, which not only describes the various clubs in the early phase of football, but also the rules in some places.

Why don’t we have two referees on the football pitch instead of VAR? This sounds like a plausible idea that is worth thinking about. But it’s not a new idea. Not new at all Since the 19th century there have been repeated discussions and attempts to run the game with two referees on the field. Reasons were on the one hand to make the stoppage time for decisions shorter and on the other hand to have a „back-up“ to penalise fouls, which neither the referee nor his*her assistant referees noticed during other games.

The introduction of the back-pass rule in the early 1990s As early as 1981, at the Annual General Meeting of The IFAB, the issue of the back-pass and wasting time was discussed. In this year, the committee was of the opinion that it was not a waste of time, as the opposing players had the right to intervene. This opinion changed significantly during and after the 1990 World Cup. In 1991, The IFAB allowed FIFA to prohibit the back-pass as an experiment at the 1991 U17 Men’s World Cup. The experiment was successful and since the 1992/93 season, the deliberately back-pass is prohibited.

Offside is currently one of the most commonly used words when it comes to football. Why does this law even exist? What is the meaning of the offside law? Why is it the way it is today? And since when?

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.

Which are the changes of the Laws of the Game for the season 2019/20? Are they changed before?Nachspielzeiten will check it for you. This is the English version of Die Fußballregeln 2019/2020 und die historische Entwicklung. The IFAB announced the law amendments of the Laws of the Game for the season 2019/20. They will became valid on June 1st, 2019, but the final of the Men’s Champions League on this day will still be played according to the LotG of the 2018/19 season, as the game still counts for this season. But the Women’s World Championship, starting on 7th June 2019, will then be played according to the new laws. As expected, all law amendments were adopted. In the run-up most of them became already public, so that I could already deal with them (see article Possible IFAB law amendments 2019 from a historical perspective). On 14th March 2019, the IFAB published all amendments as a summary and in detail. Ensuing, I present the law amendments and, if possible, add the historical development. Not included …

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.

On 2nd March 2019, the IFAB will discuss on the law amendments for the season 2019/20. The agenda only briefly reflects the laws for which changes in the law have been proposed. Chaled Nahar described the exact rules for the ARD Sportschau website (in German). And I would like to offer a historical view of the possible changes. The IFAB The IFAB met for the first time on 2nd June 1886 and consisted of the national football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (since 1921 Northern Ireland). In 1914, the FIFA, which had been founded ten years earlier, was added and initially had two votes (which meant that it could be overruled by the four British associations). In the meantime, the four UK members have four votes and also the FIFA has four votes, with FIFA having to vote unanimously.   Law 8 – The Start and Restart of Play: Dropped ball According to this year’s proposal, nothing should change in its execution or in the reason for its use. The change is that …

In Charles William Alcock’s short piece of writing The Book of Rules of the Game of Football, here online in a 1871 edition from New York, the well-known footballer of the first decades of the FA republished seven contemporary rules. For most of them it isn’t mentioned when the rules were lastly changed, but for some of them I could  trace it back. They are: FA Rules, 1870 Sheffield FA Rules, 1869 Eton Field Game, 1862 Winchester College, before 1871 Rugby School, between 1863 and 1870 Harrow School, before 1871 Cheltenham College, before 1871. In contrast to the comparisons published rules of the late 1840s, late 1850s, early 1860s (all only in German) and their comparison and my thoughts on it, in this post also rules with allowed handling and hacking are considered, viz. the rules of rugby (at the Rugby School in the 1860s) and mixed variants (Winchester College and Cheltenham College, partly also Eton Field Game). In this post I want to illustrate the diversity of the possibility football matches of the 1860s. …

After the piecemeal comparison of some different sets of rules for football without or with little allowed handling, all of them will are compared in this blogpost. The individual comparisons (all in German): Rules, end of 1840s Rules, end of 1850s Rules, begin of 1860s   The field of the play The measures of the field of the play were only mentioned in the 1860s. Since they are quite similar here, it can be assumed that they have already been aligned and that unwritten agreements were therefore also in place. Goal measures Only in Eton there was a height limit which was already 7 ft in 1847 and did not change afterwards. All other rules did not mention any height limitation within this period. The width of the goal varied, if it was specified at all. In Eton it remained constant at 11 ft, in Harrow (1858) goals were 4 yd wide, in Cambridge (1863) 5 yd, at the FA (1863) even 8 yd. It seems that goals used to be much narrower than today. …

This article treat the founding period of the IFAB during the years 1882 to 1886.   The International Football Association Board, or IFAB for short, discusses the football rules at the first of its two annual meetings in February or March each year. This is for its members, namely the associations of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland (until 1921 Ireland) and all member associations of FIFA, which was founded in 1904. Not all FIFA members are represented, but four of them. The four FIFA representatives can only vote en bloc, the four representatives from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately. A two-thirds majority is required for rule changes so that neither FIFA nor the four founding members of the IFAB can outvote each other. Changes to the rules of the game will come into force on 1st July. The IFAB was founded in London on 2nd June 1886 by the associations of England (FA), Scotland (SFA), Ireland (IFA) and Wales (FAW). Already on 6th December 1882 there was a meeting of these four federations …

In 1863 the FA was founded in London. The annual general meetings of the members [1]From 1876 an entrance fee of 5s was due; the annual fee until 1868 was 1 guinea, then another 5s – the latter was about the weekly wage of a worker. there was a board (chairman, secretary, treasurer) as well as a committee whose size changed in the first twenty years (1863: 4 – 1868: 10 – 1872: 17 – 1880: 16). The FA members were forbidden to play games against non FA members and to use other rules than the FA Rules. These were valid until 1874, from their decision in September (until 1865) and February (1866-1874) respectively. From 1874 they became valid at the beginning of the coming season in the autumn of the same year. In contrast to the evaluation of the Sheffield Rules, here I do not proceed chronologically, but (rule) thematically. I hope that this will make it easier for you to read. At this point I would also like to refer to the study …

In 1877 the Sheffield FA adopted the FA Rules after several years of trying to find compromises. Between 1863 and 1877, there were meetings again and again, especially between John Charles Shaw and Charles William Alcock. There were attempts at rapprochement and open dissonances between the two associations on the rules for association football. A representative of Sheffield FC, from 1867 the Sheffield FA, was always present at the annual general meetings of the FA in London and also represented on the committee. But I don’t know what the relationship of Sheffield FC or FA to the London FA was like, because all members had to play according to FA Rules, which was definitely not practiced in Sheffield. (If you know it, please use the comments.) Sheffield FA and Football Association organized a game for December 2, 1871 with Sir John Charles Clegg, a game between selections of both associations to try out the rules of the other. Shaw and Alcock were the captains of the two selections. But no agreement was reached yet. But …

On 19 February 1899 the Wiener Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung[1]Cf. NN: The Oxford team in Vienna. In: Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung [Vienna], 19.02.1899. p. 192. Last accessed: 04.03.2018. brought attention to the travel of the Oxford University Association Football Club to Austria for matches in Prague and Vienna during the Easter holidays. Oxford University AFC was 1899 a very successful club of the Football Association, still existing in 2018, but now playing in the league of the football teams of British universities and colleges of the Midlands region (around Birmingham). The matches against the Deutschen Fussball Club and Slavia (both from Prague) took place at the end of March, the matches in Vienna against a „mixed [nation] team“ and „German [Austrian] team“ of the Athletik-Sport-Club at the beginning of April. The article also introduces the players of Oxford University AFC with information about the previously attended college, size, weight, position and other sports they played. At 3:30 pm on 2nd April and 3rd April the matches were played in the Prater (now Ernst Happel Stadium).[2]Cf. NN: The Oxford team …

The image that football sceptics and opponents formed in Germany at the end of the 19th century mixed the medical concern – that the human body could not cope with such a long and enduring effort – with the national ideology of gymnasts, and mixed statistics on injuries in football, rugby and American football. In 1893, the Westminster Gazette in threatening words titled the soccer game „71 blooming youngsters have been killed“. Football puts too much strain on the heart and lungs. And if that doesn’t lead to death, then it’s the violent way of playing that regularly bursts bones. And in addition this unnatural, forward bent posture, which is not at all German. – So the opponents of the football play like also other kinds of sports. The supporters of the sports, English men in Germany at the end of the 19th century and enthusiastic German, refuted the accusations. Again and again the sports newspapers and the DFB’s football yearbooks before the First World War was justifying why football was not as violent as …