8th. September 1888

[Newbridge Wolf]

Another thing I find interesting from those early days are the pitch markings.

Up until 1901 there was a penalty line rather than a box, stretching the width of the pitch, 12 yards from the touchline. Penalties could be conceded anywhere in there and the takers could place the ball anywhere along the line.

Also the goalkeepers areas for taking goal kicks were marked 6 yards out from each post rather than a box.

So they looked like this (Southampton vs Brighton United at The Dell in 1898)

 

[Frank Lincoln]

Another thing I find interesting from those early days are the pitch markings.

Up until 1901 there was a penalty line rather than a box, stretching the width of the pitch, 12 yards from the touchline. Penalties could be conceded anywhere in there and the takers could place the ball anywhere along the line.

Also the goalkeepers areas for taking goal kicks were marked 6 yards out from each post rather than a box.

So they looked like this (Southampton vs Brighton United at The Dell in 1898)

View attachment 23860

Brighton United? Were they the team that would become Brighton and Hove Albion, or were they a different club?

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Brighton United? Were they the team that would become Brighton and Hove Albion, or were they a different club?

Different club. Disbanded in 1900. Brighton and Hove Rangers were formed from the ashes, playing in the Withdean area, before they quickly went bust and the present day Albion were formed in 1901.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

Another thing I find interesting from those early days are the pitch markings.

Up until 1901 there was a penalty line rather than a box, stretching the width of the pitch, 12 yards from the touchline. Penalties could be conceded anywhere in there and the takers could place the ball anywhere along the line.

Also the goalkeepers areas for taking goal kicks were marked 6 yards out from each post rather than a box.

So they looked like this (Southampton vs Brighton United at The Dell in 1898)

View attachment 23860

Wow, that is such a great picture. Love the idea of getting a penalty virtually across the whole width of the pitch! There would be about 10 penalties every game today, more if Grealish was playing! And I love the idea of taking a pen anywhere along that line. I'm left footed and would have placed the ball just to the right of centre and tried to curl it into the top left hand corner; in my dreams!

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Wow, that is such a great picture. Love the idea of getting a penalty virtually across the whole width of the pitch! There would be about 10 penalties every game today, more if Grealish was playing! And I love the idea of taking a pen anywhere along that line. I'm left footed and would have placed the ball just to the right of centre and tried to curl it into the top left hand corner; in my dreams!

Yeah, I’d like to see a line rather than a spot. Would make for some fascinating duels

 

[Big Saft Kid]

Been trawling through Amazon, you can get a used copy for £3.88 - tempted! When you look inside the book there are 10 pages of bibliography at the back. So plenty of literature on the subject. I see one guy did his PHD thesis on the history of football in Lancashire. The history of football in the Midlands would have been worth going to University for! The only name in the bibliography that I kind of recognise is Percy Young but I can't think why?

Percy Young used to have a column in Wolves programmes in the 40s and 50s.

 

[Frank Lincoln]

I was taking about this to a friend earlier today, and he said that in the early days when Gentlemen played, if a penalty was given against his team the goalkeeper would walk to the side of the goals and allow the penalty taker a free shot a goal.

I have no idea if this is correct.

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

I was taking about this to a friend earlier today, and he said that in the early days when Gentlemen played, if a penalty was given against his team the goalkeeper would walk to the side of the goals and allow the penalty taker a free shot a goal.

I have no idea if this is correct.

corinthians an amateur club said that a gentleman would never commit a foul
so the goalie would stand aside
if they had a pen they would miss on purpose

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

Did they have some sort of clockwork VAR in those days?

Controlled by governors balls

 

[SuperGran]

I was taking about this to a friend earlier today, and he said that in the early days when Gentlemen played, if a penalty was given against his team the goalkeeper would walk to the side of the goals and allow the penalty taker a free shot a goal.

I have no idea if this is correct.

Penalty shootouts would go on for ever

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Controlled by governors balls

does paul ince know about this yet?

 

[maws]

Was Mike Dean reffing?

 

[Frank Lincoln]

corinthians an amateur club said that a gentleman would never commit a foul
so the goalie would stand aside
if they had a pen they would miss on purpose

Thank you. That is what I was told. I am just surprised a referee would award a penalty given those circumstances.

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Thank you. That is what I was told. I am just surprised a referee would award a penalty given those circumstances.

refs are not gentlemen!!!
think they were in the news not so long ago as they went on a tour to s.america
to visit corinthians in brazil.probably more known abroad than here
not sure but real madrid supposed to wear white in tribute to them

 

[ricki herberts moustache]

Sheffield FC are the oldest football club in the world, yet were not invited to join the newly formed football league, I can only presume that is because they insisted on remaining amateur. Though they were the pioneers of FA Amateur Cup.

Sheffield FC currently play in the Northern Premier League and are based at Dronfield in Derbyshire.

nice little video tour here

 

[ricki herberts moustache]

As a Londoner I'm interested why there were no Southern teams in the original league?

At that time there weren't many teams in the south I guess

Fulham 1879
Orient 1881
Tottenham 1882
Arsenal 1887

other london clubs didn't arrive til later:

Brentford 1889
west ham 1895
Charlton, Palace and Chelsea all 1905 etc

 

[Frank Lincoln]

At that time there weren't many teams in the south I guess

Fulham 1879
Orient 1881
Tottenham 1882
Arsenal 1887

other london clubs didn't arrive til later:

Brentford 1889
west ham 1895
Charlton, Palace and Chelsea all 1905 etc

There were plenty of southern teams but they were all amateur teams and did not want to be professional. So they played each other, helped form the football association and played in the FA Cup. All the early winners of the cup were from the south.

 

[AW]

Watch “the English game“ was on Netflix, about the start of football, basically toffs down south had their own rules and always won the cup, think Blackburn are in it and they were naughty getting a couple of jocks down to play for them..

Yes although I think it was Blackburn Olympic rather than Rovers.

 

[Frank Lincoln]

Yes although I think it was Blackburn Olympic rather than Rovers.

You are correct. I thought it was Rovers, but just checked and it was indeed Blackburn Olympic. Though they were soon eclipsed by Blackburn Rovers, and couldn’t compete financially. Olympic folded just a couple of years later.

 

[Ironfistedmonk]

refs are not gentlemen!!!
think they were in the news not so long ago as they went on a tour to s.america
to visit corinthians in brazil.probably more known abroad than here
not sure but real madrid supposed to wear white in tribute to them

Yeah I watched a documentary about it, I can't remember what platform it was on? Fans of the Corinthians team in Brazil regularly fly over to watch what's left of the original Corinthians and they touched on a bit of the history whilst following the modern day team around.

 

[Spitfire]

Yeah I watched a documentary about it, I can't remember what platform it was on? Fans of the Corinthians team in Brazil regularly fly over to watch what's left of the original Corinthians and they touched on a bit of the history whilst following the modern day team around.

It’s a BT Sport film. Think it may also have been aired on ITV at some point too.