All posts filed under: English

The IFAB from 1886 to 1914

Published by Petra Tabarelli

This blogpost is about its development until the First World War. The minutes of the individual meetings are linked at the end of the article. The Statutes of the IFAB Until 1893 the union of the national associations from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales called itself International Board. In the meeting on 17th July 1893 this board adopted its constitution: The board is called the International Football Association Board. The four associations, namely the Scottish Football Association (SFA), the English Football Association (FA), the Walloon Association of Football (WAF) and the Irish Football Association (IFA), each send two representatives to the meetings. Supplement on 4th April 1913: Two FIFA representatives were added to the board. The board shall discuss and decide on rule changes and, at the request of the associations and national general meetings, matters relating to association football in its international relations. Suggestions and amendments concerning the regulations must be received by 1st February each year and will be printed and distributed for the national general meetings on 1st March. These two dates have …

The origin of the IFAB and its changing rules and regulations

Published by Petra Tabarelli

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 …

The development of the FA Rules from 1863 to 1882

Published by Petra Tabarelli

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 …

Sheffield FA and London FA 1877

Published by Petra Tabarelli

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 …

Modern Football was born in the 19th century

Published by Petra Tabarelli

The birth of modern football in England Modern football was born in the second half the 19th century. The first seed was scattered in 1850 with an extension of the Factory Acts, the Compromise Act. Among other things it introduced the end of work at 2 pm on Saturdays. This gave factory workers free time for the first time. Football was a sport that cost relatively little money and some factory owners supported the sporting activities of their workers, provided equipment and sometimes paid for trips to away games. A win-win situation, because this way the owners were sure that their workers did not spend their free time lazing around with excessive alcohol consumption and the soccer-loving workers had an alternative – also for miners and their physically and mentally exhausting work underground. There were also many works clubs at the time, some of which still exist today, such as the Dial Square munitions factory (Arsenal FC), the Thames Iron Works (West Ham) or the Newton Heath LYR Company (Manchester United).

What the English teach us most of all was that the ball must not be kicked in the air, but rolled; that is the quintessence of the game

Published by Petra Tabarelli

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 …

About injuries in football around 1900 in Germany

Published by Petra Tabarelli

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 …

Rules for determining the winner

Published by Petra Tabarelli

This article explains the different ways to decide a undecided game: Toss, touchdown, rouge, away goals, golden goal, silver goal and, of course, the kicks from the penalty mark.   The toss The toss was for a long time the common method to determine a winner when a deciding game ended in a draw. It was listed in numerous rules of public schools, from the beginning in the FA Rules (exception: 1866/67), in the Sheffield FA Rules from 1871 and in the Laws of the Game of The IFAB from 1886 to 1970. Since 1898 the toss was only used for the latter, if the game was drawn after the extra time.   Touchdown & Rouge Other variants in the 19th century to determine a winner in a tie were rouges and touchdowns. Touchdown The touchdown was part of the Cambridge University Rules of 1863 (not in previous editions) and the FA Rules in the season 1866/67. The FA Rules copied the touchdown from the Cambridge Rules, but revised it again after one year. In …

The development of Football Rules and Laws

Published by Petra Tabarelli

How did the Football Rules and Laws of the Game evolve from the beginning of the 19th century? Let’s have a look… Football – a broad term for a game in which an object is mainly played with the foot – has existed since ancient times, as records from ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and China show. Also, in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, i.e. between 1300 and 1800, the football game was known.

Law 12: Fouls and misconduct

Published by Petra Tabarelli

In this article the development of the foul play and other misconduct are described. This includes the unfair, violent and dangerous conduct – thereof separated fouls on goalkeepers, the back-pass rule and DOGSO (Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity) – and the handball – thereof separated the handball of goalkeepers.