Combination Game
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The Combination Game was a style of football (soccer) that favoured the passing of the ball between players instead of individual dribbling skills. It is considered to be the predecessor of the modern passing game of football. Whatever its origin - and this may have been in more than one place - the game spread throughout Britain and then overseas.
[edit] Development of football codes permitting ball passing
The public schools of England (early 19th century)
These schools had developed their own forms of football during the centuries preceding the 1863 first ever rules of modern Association Football by the Football Association. There was a wide range of games and codes, as these had evolved in isolation. Many involved dribbling and players were often very skilful at this art. Passing was certainly part of some games, as can be seen in the game of rugby football. In rugby football, however, passing is only allowed in a backwards direction and this clearly very different from modern soccer. The value of passing the ball in these various games depended upon the Offside Rule in that particular code. Many public school games kept a very tight offside rule, thus making forward passing worthless. Some rules, however, allowed for forward passing so long as there were more than 3 opposition players behind the ball. This rule permitted the positioning of players ahead of the ball. Such passing was called "passing on" and some players became deft at spying gaps to move the ball forward to team mates. This is noteworthy for marking the origins of forward passing and is very likely to have been the predecessor of the "combination game". During FA meetings to discuss the development of the rules of soccer before 1867 there is evidence that representatives of Charterhouse and Westminster School (whose football games did not involve handling) were advocates of the forward pass. As a result forward passing was not forbidden under the subsequent versions of the FA's rules and the original Cambridge rules off-side rule was introduced to the FA rules in 1867 [1].
[edit] Development of the Combination Game
Following the adoption of the Football Association of a "loose" off side rule (i.e. one that permitted the forward pass) in 1867 A number of places have been credited with the development of combination football:
The earliest reference to the term "combination game" comes in 1874 by Charles Alcock who states "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a "combination game""[2]
Sir Frederick Wall who was the secretary of the Football Association from 1895-1934 states in his biography that the passing game was created by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s [3].
There is some evidence that different playing styles evolved in the north of Britain, in particular Scotland.[citation needed] There was a clash of styles in 1872 when Scotland played England in the world's first official football international. (A series of football games with representatives from England and Scotland had previously been played at the Oval, London). This clash was the result of the sides adopting different ways of exploiting the Offside Rule that had been introduced in the 1866 revision of the rules by the Football Association and stating that: "If the ball has passed a player and has come from the direction of his own goal, he may not touch it till the other side have kicked it, unless there are more than three of the other side before him. No player is allowed to loiter between the ball and the adversaries' goal." [4]. This rule had been part of the 1856 Cambridge rules, but had been not included in the 1863 Football Association rules. At the match England played a 1-2-7 formation [5] and favoured dribbling the ball at the opponents and passing the ball up field ("passing on") before being tackled. One of the seven forwards, following behind, would then chase the ball. Scotland played with a 2-2-6 system, with three banks of forwards divided into pairs. Each pair of players - in defence, midfield and attack - knew who their partner was and their role was to pass to them when possible. This tactic of 'passing and running' was known as the "combination game" and is believed by some to have originated in Scotland. Despite this clash of tactics the game resulted in a 0-0 draw. The "combination game" spread throughout Britain and then overseas. The passing game continued to undergo development, as is shown by typical modern football formations of 4-4-2.
Certain Lancashire sides (for example Blackburn Olympic) have also been considered to be innovators of the early passing game.[6]
