The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is
considered one of the best ever in terms of length and scholarship of articles.
It appears that there was a commendable effort made to capture the broadest
possible amount of knowledge in depth. That being the case, I offer the entry
about rugby football from it. I tried to clean up as many scanning errors as I
could, but in some places you will see a “(?)” indicating unknown text. There
were also lengthy explanations of Association football (soccer) and U.S.
Gridiron football, but I have deleted those and offer, here, only the rugby
text. - Wes
Definition of Football from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
FOOTBALL, a game between two opposing sides
played with a large inflated ball, which is propelled either by the feet alone or
by both feet and hands.
Pastimes
of the kind were known to many nations of antiquity, and their existence among
savage tribes, such as the Maoris, Faroe Islanders, Philippine Islanders, Polynesians
and Eskimos, points to their primitive nature. In Greece it seems to have borne
a resemblance to the modern game. Of this we read in Smiths Dictionary of
Antiquities: It was the game at football, played in much the same way as
with us, by a great number of persons divided into two parties opposed to one
another. Amongst the Romans the harpastuni, derived from the Greek verb “I
seize,” thus showing that carrying the ball was permissible, bore a certain
resemblance. Basil Kennett, in his Romae antiquae notitia, terms this
missile a larger kind of ball, which they played with, dividing into two
companies and striving to throw it into one another’s goals, which was the
conquering cast. The harpastum was a gymnastic game and probably played for the
most part indoors. The real Roman football was played with the inflated follis,
which was kicked from side to side over boundaries, and thus must have closely
resembled the modern Association game. Tradition ascribes its introduction in
northern Europe to the Roman legions. It has been played in Tuscany under the
name of Calcio from the Middle Ages down to modern times.
Regarding
the origin of the game in Great Britain the Roman tradition has been generally
accepted, although Irish antiquarians assert that a variety of football has
been played in Ireland for over 2000 years. In early times the great football
festival of the year was Shrove Tuesday, though the connection of the game with
this particular date is lost in obscurity. William Fitzstephen, in his History
of London (about 1175), speaks of the young men of the city annually going
into the fields after dinner to play at the well-known game of ball on the day
Carnilevaria. As far as is known this is the first distinct mention of football
in England. It was forbidden by Edward II (1314) in consequence of the great
noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls (rageries de grosses
pelotes). A clear reference is made ad pilam. . . pedinam in the Rotuli
Clausarum, of Edward III (1365), as one of the pastimes to be prohibited on
account of the decadence of archery, and the, same thing occurs in 12 Richard
II c. 6 (1388). Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth enacted laws against football,
which, both then and under the Stuarts and the Georges, seems to have been
violent to the point of brutality, a fact often referred to by prominent
writers. Thus Sir Thomas Elyot, in his Boke named the Governour (1531),
speaks of football as being nothyng but beastely fury and extreme violence,
whereof proceedeth hurte and consequently rancour and malice to remayne with
thym that be wounded, wherefore it is to be put in perpetual silence. In Stubbes
Anatomie of Abuses (1583) it is referred to as a develislie pastime. . .
and hereof groweth envy, rancour and malice, and sometimes brawling, murther,
homicide, and great effusion of, blood, as experience daily teacheth. Fifty
years later (1634) Davenant is quoted (in Hones Table-Book) as
remarking, I would now make a safe retreat, but methinks Jam stopped by one of
your heroic gamea called football; which I conceive (under your favor) not very
conveniently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and narrow
roads as Crooked Lane. Yet it argues your courage, much like your military
pastime of throwing at cocks, since you have long allowed these two valiant
exercises in the streets.
An
evidence of its old popularity in Ireland is that the statutes of Galway in
1527 forbade every other sport save archery, excepting onely the great foot
balle. In the time of Charles II football was popular at Cambridge,
particularly at Magdalene College, as is evidenced by the following extract
from the register book of that institution under the date 1679: That no
schollers give or receive at any time any treat or collation upon account of ye
football play, on or about Michaelmas Day, further than Colledge beere or ale
in ye open halle to quench their thirsts. And particularly that that most vile
custom of drinking and spending money Sophisters and Freshmen together upon ye
account of making or not making a speech at that football time be utterly left
off and extinguished.
It
nevertheless remained for the most part a game for the masses, and never took
root, except in educational institutions, among the upper classes until the
I9th century. No clubs or code of rules had been formed, and the sole aim seems
to have been to drive the ball through the opposing sides goal by fair means or
foul. So rough did the game become that James I forbade the heir apparent to
play it, and describes the exercise in his Basilikon Doron as meeter for
laming than making able the users thereof. Both sexes and all ages seem to have
taken part in it on Shrove Tuesday; shutters had to be put up and houses closed
in order to prevent damage; and it is not to be wondered that the game fell
into bad repute. Accidents, sometimes fatal, occurred; and Shrove Tuesday
football-day gradually died out about 1830, though a relic of the custom still
remained in a few places. For some thirty years football was only practiced at
the great English public schools, many of which possessed special games, which
in practically all cases arose from the nature of the individual ground. Thus
the rough, open game, with its charging, tackling and throwing, which were
features of football when it was taken up by the great public schools, would
have been extremely dangerous if played in the flagged and walled courts of
some schools, as, for example, the old Charterhouse. Hence at such institutions
the dribbling style of play, in which Mr. Montague Shearman (Football,
in the Badminton Library) sees the origin of the Association game, came into
existence. Only at Rugby (later at some other schools), which from the first
possessed an extensive grass field, was the old game preserved and developed,
including even its roughness, for actual hacking (i.e. intentional kicking of
an opponents legs) was not expressly abolished at Rugby until 1877. The description of the old school
game at Rugby contained in Tom Brown’s School Days has become
classic.
1.
Rugby Union. We have seen that from early times a
rudimentary game of football had been a popular form of sport in many parts of
Great Britain, and that in the old-established schools football had been a
regular game among the boys. In different schools there arose various
developments of the original game; or rather, what, at first, must have been a
somewhat rough form of horse-play with a ball began to take shape as a definite
game, with a definite object and definite rules. Rugby school had developed
such a game, and from football played according to Rugby rules has arisen Rugby
football. It was about the middle of the 19th century that football, up till
that time a regular game only among school boys, took its place as a regular
sport among men. To begin with, men who had played the game as schoolboys
formed clubs to enable them to continue playing their favorite school game, and
others were induced to join them; while in other cases, clubs were formed by
men who had not had the experience of playing the game at school, but who had
the energy and the will to follow the example of those who had had this
experience. In this way football was established as a regular game, no longer
confined to schoolboys. When football was thus first started, the game was
little developed or organized. Rules were very few, and often there was great
doubt as to what the rules were. But, almost from the first, clubs were formed
to play football according to Rugby rules, that is, according to the rules of
the game as played at Rugby school. But even the Rugby rules of that date were
few and vague, and indeed almost unintelligible to those who had not been at
Rugby school. Still, the fact that play was according to Rugby rules produced a
certain uniformity; but it was not till the establishment of the English Union,
and the commencement of international matches, that a really definite code of
rules was drawn up.
It
is an interesting question to ask why it was that the game of Rugby school
became so popular in preference to the games of other schools, such as Eton,
Winchester or Harrow. It was probably very largely due to the reputation and
success of Rugby school under Dr. Arnold, and this also led most probably to
its adoption by other schools; for in 1860 many schools besides Rugby played
football according to Rugby rules. The rapidity with which the game spread
after the middle of the 19th century was remarkable. The Blackheath club, the
senior club of the London district, was established in 1860, and Richmond, its
great rival, shortly afterwards. Before 1870, football clubs had been started
in Lancashire and Yorkshire; indeed the Sheffield football club dates back to
1855. Likewise, in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Rugby football
clubs had been formed before 1870, and by that date the game had been implanted
both in Ireland and South Wales; while in Scotland, before 1860, football had
taken a hold. Thus by 1870 the game had been established throughout the United
Kingdom, and in many districts had been regularly played for a number of years.
Rapid as, in some ways, had been the spread of the game between the years 1850
and 1870, it was as nothing to what happened in the following twenty years; for
by 1890 Rugby football, together with Association football, had become the
great winter amusement of the people, and roused universal interest; while
today on any fine Saturday afternoon in winter there are tens of thousands of
people playing football, while those who watch the game can be counted by the
hundred thousand. The causes that led to this great increase in the game and
interest taken in it were, undoubtedly, the establishment of the various
national Unions and the international matches; and, of course, the local
rivalry of various clubs, together with cup or other competitions prevalent in
certain districts, was a leading factor. The establishment of the English Union
led to a codification of the rules without which development was impossible.
In
the year 1871 the English Rugby Union was founded in London. This Union was an
association of some clubs and schools which joined together and appointed a
committee and officials to draw up a code of rules of the game. From this
beginning the English Rugby Union has become the governing body of Rugby
football in England, and has been joined by practically all the Rugby clubs in
England, and deals with all matters connected with Rugby football, notably the
choosing of the international teams. In 1873 the Scottish Football Union was
founded in Edinburgh on the same lines, and with the same objects, while in
1880 the Welsh Football Union, and in 1881 the Irish Rugby Football Union, were
established as the national Unions of Wales and Ireland, though in both
countries there had been previously Unions not thoroughly representative of the
country. All these Unions became the chief governing body within their own
country, and one of their functions was to make the rules and laws of the game;
but as this had been done to start with by the English Union, the others
adopted the English rules, with amendments to them from time to time. This
state of affairs had one element of weakness, viz, that since all the Unions
made their own rules, if ever a dispute should arise between any of them, a
dead-lock was almost certain to ensue. Such a dispute did occur in 1884 between
the English and Scottish Unions. This dispute eventually turned on the question
of the right of the English Union to make and interpret the rules of the game,
and to be the paramount authority in the game, and superior to the other
Unions. Scotland, Ireland and Wales resisted this claim, and finally, in 1889,
Lord Kingsburgh and Major Marindin were appointed as a commission to settle the
dispute. The result was the establishment of the International Board, which
consists of representatives from each Union; six from England, two from each of
the others whose duties were to settle any question that might arise between
the different Unions, and to settle the rules under which international matches
were to be played, these rules being invariably adopted by the various Unions
as the rules of the game.
With
the establishment of the International Board the organization of the game was
complete. Still harmony did not prevail, and in 1895 occurred a definite
disruption. A number of leading clubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire broke off
from the English Union and formed the Northern Union, which since that date has
had many accessions, and has become the leading body in the north of England.
The question in dispute was the payment of players. Football was originally
played by men for the sheer love of the game, and by men who were comparatively
well-to-do, and who could give the time to play it; but with the increasing
popularity of the game it became the pastime of all classes of the people, and
clubs began to grow rich by drawing big gates, that is, large numbers of
spectators, frequently many thousands in number, paid for the privilege of
witnessing the match. In these circumstances the temptation arose to reimburse
the player for any out-of-pocket expenses he might be put to for playing the
game, and thus it became universally recognized as legitimate to pay a players
expenses to and from a match. But in the case of working men it often meant
that they lost part of their weekly wage when they had to go a distance to play
a match, or to go on tour with their club, that is, go off for a few days and
play one or two matches in different parts of the country and consequently the
claim was made on their behalf to recoup them for their loss of wage; while at
the same time rich clubs began to be willing to offer inducements to good
players to join their club, and these inducements were generally most
acceptable in the form of money. In Association football (see below)
professionalism, ie. the hiring and paying of a player for his services, had
been openly recognized. A large section of the English Union, the amateur
party, would not tolerate anything that savoured of professionalism, and
regarded payments made to a player for broken time as illegitimate. The result
was the formation of the Northern Union, which allowed such payments, and has
practically recognized professionalism. This body has also somewhat altered the
laws of the game, and reduced the number of players constituting a team from
fifteen to thirteen. In Scotland and Ireland Rugby footballers are strongly
amateur; but wherever Rugby football is the popular game of the artisan the
professional element is strong.
Besides
legislation, one of the functions of the Unions is to select international
teams. On the 27th of March 1871 the first international match was played
between England and Scotland in Edinburgh. This was a match between teams
picked from English and Scottish players. These matches from the first roused
widespread interest, and were a great stimulus to the development of the game.
With the exception of a few years, when there were disputes between their
respective Unions, all the countries of the United Kingdom have annually played
one another. England having played Scotland since 1871, Ireland since 1875 and
Wales since 1880. Scotland commenced playing Ireland in 1877 and Wales in 1883,
while Ireland and Wales met first in 1882 and then in 1884, and since 1887 have
played annually. The qualifications of a player for any country were at first
vaguely considered to be birth; but they were never definitely settled, and
there has been a case of a player playing for two countries. In 1894, however,
the International Board decided that no player was to play for more than one
country, and this has been the only pronouncement on the question; and though
birth is still looked upon as the main qualification, it is not essential.
Though
international matches excite interest throughout the United Kingdom, the
matches between two rival clubs arouse just as much excitement in their
district, particularly when the clubs may be taken as representatives of two
neighboring rival towns. But when to this rivalry there is added the inducement
to play for a cup, or prize, the excitement is much more intense. Among Rugby
players cup competitions have never been so popular as among Association, but
the competition for the Yorkshire Cup was very keen in the days before the
establishment of the Northern Union, and this undoubtedly was the main cause of
the popularity of the game in that county. Similarly the competition for the
South Wales Cup from 1878 to 1887 did a great deal to establish the game in
that country. The method of carrying on these competitions is, that all the
clubs entered are drawn by lot, in pairs, to play together in the first round;
the winners of these ties are then similarly drawn in pairs for the next round,
until for the final round there is only one pair left, the winner of which
takes the cup. An elaboration of this competition is the League system of the
Association game. This, likewise, has not been popular with Rugby players.
Still it exists in some districts, especially where clubs are anxious to draw
big gates. In the League system a certain number of clubs form a league to play
one another twice each season; two points are counted for a win and one for a
draw. The club, which at the end of the season comes out with most points, wins
the competition. The advantage of this system over a cup competition is, that
interest is kept up during the whole season, and one defeat does not debar a
club from eventually coming out first.
It
is said that wherever Britons go they take their games with them, and this has
certainly been the case with Rugby football, especially in New Zealand, South
Africa and Australia. An interchange of football visits between these colonies
and the motherland is now an important feature in the game. These tours date
from 1888, when an English team visited Australia and New Zealand. In the
following season, 1889, a team of New Zealanders, some of whom were native
Maoris, came over to England, and by their play even then indicated how well
the grammar of the game had been studied in that colony. Subsequently several
British teams visited at intervals New Zealand and Australia, and in 1905 New
Zealand sent home a team which eclipsed anything previously accomplished. They
played altogether thirty-three matches, including fixtures with England,
Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and only sustained one defeat, viz. by a try in
their match with Wales, a record which speaks for itself. In 1908 a combined
team of English and Welsh players toured in New Zealand and Australia, and also
visited Canada on their way home. The team was not so strong as could have been
wished, and though they did fairly well in Australia, they lost all three test
matches against New Zealand. In South Africa the game is followed with equal
enthusiasm, and the play is hardly inferior, if at all, to that of the New Zealanders.
The first British team to visit the Cape went in 1891 through the generosity of
Cecil Rhodes, who guaranteed the undertaking against loss. Teams were also sent
out in 1896 and 1903; the result of matches played in each visit showing the
steady improvement of the colonists. In 1906 the South Africans paid their
first visit to England, and the result of their tour proved them to be equally
formidable with the New Zealanders. England managed to draw with them, but
Scotland was the only one of the home Unions to gain a victory. The success of
these colonial visits, more especially financially, created a development very
foreign to the intentions of their organizers. The Northern Union as a
professional body had drifted into a somewhat perilous state, through suffering
on the one hand from a lack of international matches, and on the other from the
competition of Association professional teams. The great financial success
resulting from the New Zealand tour of 1905 roused the attention of the
Northern Union authorities, and they quickly entered into negotiations with New
Zealand players to collect a team who would come over and play the Northern
Union clubs, the visiting players themselves taking a share of the gate money.
For this purpose a team of New Zealanders toured the north of England in 1907,
and their action caused the introduction of professional or Northern Union
football in both New Zealand and Australia.
The
spread of the game has not, however, been confined to English-speaking races.
In France it has found fruitful soil, and numerous clubs exist in that country.
Since 1906 international matches have been played between France and England,
and the energy of French players, coupled with their national elan,
makes them formidable opponents. The Rugby code has also obtained a firm
footing in Canada, India, Ceylon and the Argentine.
The
game itself is essentially a winter pastime, as two requisite conditions for
its enjoyment are a cool atmosphere and a soft though firm turf. The field of
play is oblong, not more than 150 yds. long nor more than 75 yds. broad, and it
usually approximates to these dimensions. The boundaries are marked by lines,
called touch-lines, down the sides, and goal-lines along the ends. The
touch-lines are continued beyond the goal-lines for a distance of not more than
25 yds.; and parallel to the goal 1ine and behind it, at a distance of not more
than 25 yds,, is drawn a line called the dead-ball line, joining the ends of
the touch-lines produced. On each goal-line, at an equal distance from the
touchlines, are erected two posts termed goal-posts, exceeding 11 ft. in
height, and generally much more averaging perhaps from 20 to 30 ft. from the
ground, and placed 18 ft. 6 in. apart. At a height of 10 ft. from the ground
they are joined by a cross-bar; and the object of the game is to kick the ball
over the cross-bar between the upright posts, and so obtain a goal.
The
ball is egg-shaped (strictly an oblate spheroid), and the official dimensions
are length, 11 to 11 3/4 in.; length circumference, 30 to 31 in.; width
circumference, 25 1/2 to 26 in.; weight, 13 to 14 1/2 oz. It is made of India
rubber inflated, and covered with, a leather case. Halfway between the two
goal-lines there is generally drawn the half-way line, but sometimes it is
marked by flags on the touch-line; and 25 yds. from each goal-line there is
similarly marked the 15-yds. line. In the original game the side that had
gained the majority of goals won the match, and if no goal had been scored, Or
an equal number, the game was said to be left drawn; but a modification was
adopted before long. A goal can be kicked from the field in the ordinary course
of play; but from the very first a try goal could be obtained by that aide one
of whose players either carried the ball across his opponents goal-line and
then touched it down (i.e. on the ground), or touched it down after it had been
kicked across the goal-line, before any of his opponents. The try is then
proceeded with as follows: the ball is taken out by a member of the side
obtaining the try in a straight line from the spot where it was touched down,
and is deposited in a selected position on the ground in the field of play, the
defending side being all confined behind their own goal-line until the moment
the ball so placed on the ground, when another member of the attacking side
endeavours to kick it from the ground (a place kick) over the bar and between
the goal-posts. Routinely a goal is kicked; very often not. The modification
first allowed was to count that side the winner which had gained the majority
of tries, provided no goal or an equal number of goals had been scored; but a
majority of one goal took precedence of any number of tries. But this, too, was
afterwards abolished, and a system of points instituted by which the side with
the majority of points wins. The numerical value, however, of goals and tries
has undergone several changes, the system in 1908 being as follows: A try
counts 3 points. A goal from a try (in which case the try shall not count) 5
points. A dropped goal (except from a mark or a penalty kick) 4 points; a
dropped goal being a goal obtained by a player who drops the ball from his
hands and kicks it the moment it rises off the ground, as in the half-volley at
cricket or tennis. A goal from a mark or penalty kick (?) points. Under the
Northern Union code any sort of goal counts (?) points, a try 3 points; but if
a try be converted into a goal, both try and goal count, ie. 5 points are
scored.
In
the game itself not only may the ball be kicked in the direction of the
opponent’s goal, but it may also be carried; but it must not be thrown forward
or knocked on, that is, in the direction of the opponents goal, though it may
be thrown back. Thus the game is really a combination of football and handball.
The main principle is that any one who is not offside is in play. A player is
offside if he gets in front of the ball, that is, on the opponents side of the
ball, nearer than a colleague. In possession of the ball to the opponents
goal-line; when in this position he must not interfere with an opponent or
touch the ball under penalty.
The
leading feature of the game is the scrummage. In old days at Rugby school there
was practically no limit to the numbers of players on each side, and not
infrequently there would be a hundred or more players on one side. This was
never prevalent in club football; twenty a-side was the usual number to start
with, reduced in 18 to fifteen a-side, the number still maintained. In the old
Rugby big sides the ball got settled amidst a mass of players, and each side
attempted to drive It through this mass by shoving, kicking, and otherwise
forcing their way through with the ball in front of them. This was the origin
of the scrummage.
The
game is played usually for one hour, or one hour and ten minutes, sometimes for
one hour and a half. Each side defends each goal in turn for half the time of
play. Of the fifteen players who compose a side, the usual arrangement is that
eight are called forwards, and form the scrummage; two half-backs are posted
outside the scrummage; and four three-quarter-backs, a little behind the
halves, stretch in a line across the field, their duties being mainly to run
and kick and pass the ball to other members of their own side, and to prevent
their opponents from doing the same. In recent years, owing to the development
of passing, the field position of the half-backs has undergone a change. One
stands fairly close to the scrummage and is known as the scrum-half, the other
takes a position between the latter and the three-quarters, and is termed the
stand-off half. Behind the three-quarters comes the full-back or back, a single
individual to maintain the last line of defense; his duties are entirely
defensive, either to tackle an opponent who has managed to get through, or,
more usually, to catch and return long kicks. Play is started by one side
kicking the ball off from the centre of the field in the direction of the
opponent’s goal. The ball is then caught by one of the other side, who either
kicks it or runs with it. In running he goes on until he is tackled, or caught,
by one of his opponents, unless he should choose to pass or throw it to another
of his own side, who, provided he be not offside, may either kick, or pass as
he chooses. The ball in this way is kept moving until it crosses the
touch-line, or goal-line, or is tackled. If the bail crosses the touch-line
both sides line up at right angles to the point where it crossed the line, and
the ball is thrown in straight either by one of the same side whose player
carried the ball across the touch-line, or, if the ball was kicked or thrown
out, by one of the opposite side. If the ball crosses the goal line either a
try is gained, as explained above, or if the defending side touch it down
first, the other side retire to the line 25 yds. from the goal-line, and the
defending side kick it up the field. If the ball is tackled the player carrying
the ball gets up from the ground as soon as possible, and the forwards at once
form the scrummage by putting down their heads and getting ready to shove
against one another. They shove as soon as the ball is put down between the two
front rows.
In
the scrummage the object is, by shoving the opponents back or otherwise
breaking away with the ball in front, to carry the ball in the direction of the
opponents goal-line by a series of short kicks in which the players run after
the ball as fast as possible while their opponents lie in wait to get the ball,
and either by a kick or other device stop the rush. Instead, however, of the
forwards breaking away with the ball, sometimes they let the ball come out of
the scrummage to their half-backs, who either kick or run with it, or pass it
to the three-quarter-backs, and so the game proceeds until the ball is once
more dead that is, brought to a standstill. The scrummage appears to be an
uninteresting maneuver, and a strange relic of bygone times; but it is not
merely a maneuver in which weight and strength alone tell; it also needs a lot
of dexterity in moving the ball with the feet, applying the weight to best
advantage, and also in outflanking the opposing side, as it were usually termed
wheeling directing all the force to one side of the scrummage and thus breaking
away. As a rule the game is a lively one, for the players are rarely at rest;
if there is much scrummaging it is called a slow game, but, if much running and
passing, a fast or an open one. The spectator, unless he be an expert, prefers
the open game; but in any case the game is always a bold and exciting struggle,
frequently with the balance of fortune swaying very rapidly from one side to
the other, so that it is a matter of no surprise to find the British public so
ardently attached to it. (C.J.N. F.; C.J.B.M.)