Penalty kicks are loved and hated. The idea of bringing a challenge, a duel, onto the pitch came from a Northern Irishman in 1890.

William McCrum was a lousy goalkeeper. He rarely stopped shots coming at the goal of his club, Northern Ireland’s Milford FC. He also stuck more to gambling than to the family business (linen manufacturing). Although he was also a lousy gambler.

Penalty: Man against man

But he is also considered the inventor for the penalty kick. The penalty kick, its proper, rules-based name, supposedly occurred to him in 1890. The Milford goalkeeper was sorry to see a clear goal-scoring opportunity taken away by a foul (the emergency stop, DOGSO in international rules parlance).

And so McCrum came up with the idea of a challenge, as in a duel: man against man, with the one fouled getting an advantage.

The 2nd of June 1890 in London

He passed his idea on to the local association (Mid Ulster Football Association) and they in turn to the IFA (Irish Football Association). And the latter eventually submitted the rule change proposal to the International Football Association Board, which was formed in 1886 as an all-British association to adapt the rules of the four countries.^[1]FIFA was not formed until 1904 and first became part of the IFAB in 1913.

It was the only amendment proposed at the annual general meeting of the IFAB, held in London on 2 June 1890:

„The Irish Association’s proposal was withdrawn but it was resolved to legislate at next Annual Conference on the following lines viz.:

If any player shall deliberately trip or hold an opposing player, or deliberately handle the ball, within twelve yards of his own goal-line, the referee shall, on appeal, award the opposing side a penalty kick, to be taken from any point twelve yards from the goal-line, under the following conditions:- All players, with the exception of the player taking the penalty kick and the opposing goalkeeper shall stand at least six yards behind the ball. The ball shall be in play when the kick is taken, and a goal may be scored from the penalty kick.“

The 2nd of June 1891 in Glasgow

So the adjourned item came back on the agenda exactly one year later at the Alexandra Hotel, Bath Street, Glasgow in the evening at 6pm. The first item discussed was last year’s proposal and then, „after considerable discussion“, it was decided to modify it slightly.

Already the proposal, put forward by the Irish representative John Reid^[2]Irish footballer for Ulster FC until 1890, then international referee. Also Secretary of the Irish Football Association from 1888 to 1905 and as such also present at all IFAB meetings. and put forward by the English representative Charles Crump ^[3]A vicar in Wolverhampton who encouraged youngsters to play sport on Saturday afternoons. Crump was a footballer until the 1880s, then a respected referee, and Vice-President of the English FA from … Continue reading had a small but not insignificant change at the fifth word:

deliberately becomes intentionally

deliberately (intentionally, negligently) became intentionally (intentionally, with intention).  The changes discussed during the meeting were not substantive or semantic changes.

Thus the rule entered the Laws of the Game in 1891:

„If any player shall intentionally trip or hold an opposing player, or deliberately handle the ball, within twelve yards from his own goal-line, the referee shall, on appeal, award the opposing side a penalty kick, to be taken from any point twelve yards from the goal-line, under the following conditions:- All players, with the exception of the player taking the penalty kick and the opposing goalkeeper (who shall not advance more than six yards from the goal-line) shall stand behind the ball at least six yards from it. The ball shall be in play when the kick is taken. A goal may be scored from the penalty kick.“

The original penalty kick rule

In contrast to today, there are two distinct differences

• only an intentional foul resulted in a penalty kick (for comparison: until 1995 only a handball committed „intentionally“ was punishable, since 1995 „deliberately“

is sufficient.

• the penalty was only awarded „on appeal“

This is also how the goal area and penalty area came into being

With the penalty kick, the penalty area, penalty mark („penalty spot“) and also the goal area were introduced. Although in a different form, the goal area had a B-shape, the penalty spot was a field-wide line and the penalty area mark was only a short line.

Why? Because the goal area and penalty area were primarily the distance markings for the penalty kick. In 1891, the challenged goalkeeper, like all other players, had to be only 6 yards (5.5 metres) from the ball. The goalkeeper could therefore take six steps towards the kicker.

Read more in this article:

The first penalty: 1890 or 1891?

Generally, 6 June 1891 is considered to be the day when a penalty kick was first awarded. However, there is a source that describes a penalty kick as early as 1890 in the English Midlands. Was it pre-tested there by the IFAB? Probably not. It is more likely that they learned of McCrum’s idea as early as 1890 and liked it so much that they integrated it into the game.

It is quite possible that Charles Crump played a role, as he was the president of the local, Birmingham Football Association in 1875 until his death. And Birmingham is in the Midlands. It is conceivable that he allowed the penalty to be played in his association and therefore supported Reid’s proposal in 1891.

Reactions to the introduction of the penalty kick

Noted sportsman CB Fry, captain of London Corinthian FC, described the idea as „an insult to sportsmen to have to play by a rule which assumes that players will trip and kick their opponents.“ A gentleman would never cheat to give himself – deliberately! – an advantage.

Except that football was no longer a gentleman’s sport.