Combination Game

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Contents

[edit] Development of football codes permitting ball passing

The earliest reference in English to "passing" of the ball occurs in the early 1860s [1], around the time that Association Football was being "invented". The original Football Association rules of 1863 state that: "A player shall not be allowed to throw the ball or pass it to another with his hands". It is clear that at this time players were familiar with the concept of passing the ball to each other with their feet.

There is, however, some evidence that passing ball games existed prior to this time, although it is obviously difficult to know if these resembled modern tactics.

[edit] Early references to Team games with ball passing

The earliest specific reference to player to player passing in early ball games comes from Carew in his 1602 account of Cornish Hurling [2]. In this he describes "dealing" as the ball being specifically passed from one member of the same team to another by throwing. The next definite description of team players passing the ball to each other comes in 1823 in Suffolk[3] [4]. In this Moor describes a team ball game with goals in which a player who can not advance further "throws the ball [he must in no case give it] to some less beleaguered friend more free and more in breath than himself". Although this description refers to throwing, Moor tells us that the game was at other times a football one: "Sometimes a large football was used; the game was then called “kicking camp”".

There are other early references to football games which imply ball passing. In 1581 Richard Mulcaster is the first describe refereed "foteball" teams consisting of players of different positions ("standings"). This suggests that passing probably took place between players, although this is not stated explicitly. David Wedderburn in 1633 suggests that his students might want to use the Latin words literally meaning "strike it here" and "strike it again (or back)" during football games. One 1950s translation of this text uses the English word "pass", but it is not clear whether this was intended to be used between players of the same team. Other early references to passing include English puritan Richard Baxter 1650's allusion to player to player passing of the ball during a football game in his book Everlasting Rest: "like a Football in the midst of a crowd of Boys, tost about in contention from one to another"[5].

[edit] The public schools of England (early 19th century) and the Cambridge Rules

The public schools of England had developed their own forms of football since at least the Fifteenth Century and these were subsequently very influential in the formulation of the 1863 first ever rules of modern Association Football by the Football Association. There was a wide range of games and codes at these schools, as these games had evolved in isolation. Many involved dribbling and players were often very skillful at this art. Passing was certainly part of some games, as can be seen in the game of rugby football. The value of passing the ball in these various games depended upon the Offside Rule in that particular code. Some 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. The earliest evidence of an off side rule resembling modern rules and permitting the forward pass come in 1847 from Eton College. This stated that "A player is considered 'sneaking' [an old, and probably more logical, word for being offside] when only three or less than three of the opposite side are before him and the ball behind him, and in such a case, he may not kick the ball". [6]

Such forward 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". Rules permitting such "passing on" begins with the Cambridge Rules of 1856 but is likely to have been included in even earlier versions. As these were based upon public school football games it is also very probable that the origin of the passing game comes from certain English public schools. Certainly, 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 of these schools' enthusiasm for a "loose" offside rule, forward passing was not forbidden under the subsequent versions of the FA's rules and the original Cambridge rules offside rule was introduced to the FA rules in 1867 [7]. An offside rule had not been specified in the 1863 rules and, presumably, these would have been decided between teams prior to matches.

It should be noted that in Rugby football although the forward pass is not permitted when the ball is thrown with the hands, it can - and often is - kicked forward to teammates who are usually running forward in open play. The offside rule in Rugby is, however, much tighter than even the original Cambridge Rules offside law (see paragraph above). The adoption at Cambridge of a loose offside rule marks the beginning of a split into two football games: one a more physical, handling game with a tight offside law (Rugby Football) and the other involving less handling and physical contact with a loose offside law (Association football from 1863). Such rules permitting the forward pass opened the door to more complex combination of passes. Despite this one often sees significant combinations of passing in rugby games usually involving the fast running "backs".

[edit] Subsequent development of passing and the "Combination Game"

Following the adoption of the Football Association of a "loose" offside rule (i.e. one that permitted the forward pass) in 1867 a number of people and places have been credited with the development of combination football:

[edit] C. W. Alcock

The earliest reference to the term "combination game" comes in 1874 by C. W. Alcock who states "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a "combination game"" [8] This is notable as it confirms that combination games were established at least by 1874, i.e. prior to the period of Scottish domination over England in international games which started in 1876. Interestingly Alcock was the first soccer player ever to be ruled offside on the 31st March 1866, confirming that players were probing ways of exploiting the new offside rule right from the start [9]. In 1866 goal kicks became exempt from the offside rule, clearly allowing the ball to be passed forward by the goal keeper to someone who would otherwise have been offside.

[edit] Sheffield

According to Alcock, Sheffield FA team provides the first evidence of combination, in particular the "passing on" of the Sheffield FA team and their Sheffield Rules. The offside system of the Sheffield rules allowed poaching or sneaking and the forward pass was permitted: Players known as "kick throughs" were positioned permanently near the opponents goal to receive these balls.

[edit] The Royal Engineers A.F.C.

Sir Frederick Wall (who was the secretary of the Football Association from 1895-1934) states in his biography that the combination game was first used by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s, in particular prior to their 1873 tour of Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield [10][11][12] Wall states that the "Sappers moved in unison" and showed the "advantages of combination over the old style of individualism". He goes on to state that they were the first "to show the value of combination in Sheffield and Nottingham[13] Wall attended and regularly refers to the 1872 international match in his account (see below) and speaks very highly of many Scottish teams and players he does not attribute the combination game to either of these.

Supporters of the Royal Engineers as the origin of the "combination game" acknowledge one contemporary reference to Scottish passing in the 1872 match (see below). The contemporary account in the Scotsman newspaper, however, makes no mention of passing or combination by the Scottish team and specifically describes the Scottish attacks in terms of dribbling: "The Scotch now came away with a great rush, Leckie and others dribbling the ball so smartly that the English lines were closely besieged and the ball was soon behind" and "Weir now had a splendid run for Scotland into the heart of his opponents' territory". Although the Scottish team are acknowledged to have worked better together during the first half, this contemporary account acknowledges that in the second half England played similarly: "During the first half of the game the English team did not work so well together, but in the second half they left nothing to be desired in this respect". The Scotsman concludes that the difference in styles in the first half is the advantage the Queens' Park players had "through knowing each others' play" as all came from the same team.

Proponents of the Royal Engineers consider that the Queens Park players combination game is unlikely to have evolved fully by the time of the 1872 international. In addition to the description of the play above, they point to the absence of any real benefits (i.e. winning) against the English side until 1874. In this 1874 game the Scotsman newspaper confirms that the English players were "surprised" by the Scottish passing.

[edit] Scotland

The combination game was pioneered in Scotland by the famous Glasgow club Queen’s Park FC, one of the most influential club sides in the history of the game. The Queen’s Park combination game centred around a 2-2-6 formation with the players working together in pairs. Two full-backs played together in defence, two half-backs operated in midfield with six forwards dividing up into pairs covering the right wing, left wing and centre of the field. This successful formation would last from 1872 until 1886 (when it was used by the Scotland national team for the last time) while rudimentary systems like 1-1-8 and 1-2-7, which focused primarily on individualism, would largely disappear by the mid 1870s. Queen’s Park were the first club to introduce Association football to Scotland and would become known, north of the border, as the ‘senior’ or ‘premier’ club. They organised the first international match, which was played on 30th November 1872, and provided all of Scotland’s players from within its own membership. The club’s pre-eminent role in the development of the Association game in Scotland is also acknowledged through their decisive influence in the formation of the Scottish FA and Scottish Cup competition in 1873. As a club side which, from 1868 to 1872, had limited access to challenge matches they played regular internal games and experimented with both the playing rules and playing style. Towards the end of this period their innovative brand of combination football evolved.

It appears that the short passing style was introduced by Queen’s Park as a tactic to combat the superior weight and strength of the English players in the 1872 international and to counteract their traditional dribbling style of game. During the early 1870s the Football Association’s playing rules were rudimentary and heavy charging was common place making superior weight and power an important advantage. While Queen’s Park lined up in a 2-2-6 formation for the FA Cup semi final tie against Wanderers (played on 5th March 1872) specific evidence of passing was not reported in this match. The contrast in weight and in playing styles was noted, however, in a match report from the Sportsman newspaper,

The Scotch team were much inferior in point of weight to their antagonists, but for this defect they amply atoned by the energy of their play, which enabled them at the outset to surprise and rather overcome their opponents.

It is therefore the international match where the first specific reference to a passing game is recorded within the history of Association football. The earliest contemporary reference, dating from 14th December 1872, appears in The Graphic, a weekly illustrated newspaper published in London, and gives clear detail as to the opposing playing styles of the two teams,

Individual skill was generally on England's side, the dribbling of Kirke Smith, Brockbank, and Ottaway being very fine, while Welch, half-back, showed himself a safe and good kick. The Southrons, however, did not play to each other so well as their opponents, who seem to be adepts in passing the ball.

Testament to the combination style of football adopted by Queen’s Park in the game is given in an eyewitness account by Walter Arnott, who would himself become a leading player for Queen’s Park and Scotland during the 1880s and early 1890s. Writing in Association Football and the Men Who Made it (1906) Arnott gives a clear description of the historic event at which he was present as a spectator. Once again the difference in weight is mentioned,

The English team was by far the heavier one. Their forwards played an individual game, and were much faster than those on the Scotch side, whose forward work was done in pairs. What a treat it was to see Clegg or Ottaway getting their ball near their own goal, and making off at a great pace down the field, and only being robbed of it by someone in the last line of the Scotch defence! Then, again, to watch the great Jamie Weir – the prince of dribblers – and his partner, by splendid combination play rushing down the wing and centring the ball with great accuracy right into the goal-mouth.

It would appear that the Queen’s Park players, unable to match their opponents individually for strength, paired up to stop the dribbling runs of the England players when defending their own goal and played short passes on the run when attacking their opponent’s goal. This can be found in the North British Daily Mail article of 2nd December 1872 which alludes to the team work of the Queen’s Park players when defending,

Once the goal was only saved through the combined efforts of Weir, Rhind, Wotherspoon, Leckie, and Ker, the last named passing all opponents and bringing the ball to midfield…

In the same article the Queen’s Park players are mentioned in pairs when attacking,

Rhind and Weir turned the tables and passed the English forwards, until Welch stopped their career. Weir and Leckie once more put the Saxon goal in danger. Greenhalgh, however, came to the rescue, and, after charging first one and then another, piloted the ball out of danger…

Scotland’s defeat in the second international match, played on 8th March 1873, is attributed to a lack of knowledge of the three “Anglo Scots” (H. W. Rennie Tailyour and J. E. Blackburn of the Royal Engineers and A.F. Kinnaird of Wanderers) with the Queen’s Park combination game. Richard Robinson, in his early history of Queen’s Park (1917) conveys the problem faced by the Scotland team in the 1873 international match,

In this latter game the combination and knowledge of each other which characterised the play of the Queen's Park in the 1872 game were wholly destroyed, and this was in a great measure the cause of the loss of this game. Only seven Queen's Park players took part in it... The back divisions did not understand what the forwards were about, and the two great Queen's Park players in the attack placed no reliance, or could place none, on the outsiders, who had learned their style of play in England, save Gibb, and played accordingly.

The Scotsman's coverage of the 1873 international does suggest that some attempts at combination did occur in this match, from Gibb of Clydesdale and almost certainly from members of the Queen's Park contingent,

At length a well combined rush of the Scottish forwards carried the ball into the centre of the English post. W. Gibb, of the Clydesdale club, who backed up well throughout, by a good straight kick achieved the second goal for Scotland…

No doubt the traces of combination displayed by Gibb and the Queen’s Park players would have been observed by the four members of the Royal Engineers club who participated in the match (two on each side).

The argument which suggests that Scotland first adopted their combination game in 1874 due to the fact that that England players were surprised by the ‘passing on the part of Scotland’ does not acknowledge the fact that no less than seven members of the England team were making their international debuts and would be unaccustomed to the style. As well as this the England national team is attributed with individualism as late as the 1882 international match with Scotland, long after Scotland's period of domination had begun. This suggests that individualism remained an important part of the football ethos of English football with particular regard to London based players.

Arguments which oppose the Scottish view of the first international match focus on the contemporary Scotsman newspaper article which gives reference to Scottish players dribbling the ball but does not mention them passing the ball. The Scottish argument, however, contends that the playing style of the Queen’s Park players, throughout the 1870s, accommodated both dribbling and passing. This can be seen in the Graphic newspaper article which on the one hand refers to the Scots as being adept at passing the ball but on the other also presents evidence of Scottish players dribbling the ball,

Let it suffice to say that Ker (Scotland) closed the match by the most brilliant run of the day, dribbling the ball past the whole field close on the English lines before he was stopped...

Walter Arnott gives reference (above) to Jamie Weir as ‘the prince of dribblers’ and one newspaper article on Queen's Park's 5-0 victory over the Wanderers of London, on 9th October 1875, pays the following complement to his playing style,

Most of the early play was along his line, and he certainly had many opportunities for some fine exhibition of his dribbling powers, but he never kept the ball too long, “centring” it with great skill and judgement.

The Scottish FA Annuals from 1875/76 onwards commend players like Queen’s Park’s Billy MacKinnon, in player profiles, for their dribbling ability. One quote from 1877 even uses the term 'combined dribbling' (see below). In short, the playing tactics of Queen’s Park FC allowed for the ball to be passed when possession was about to be lost or when a greater advantage could be attained; the dribble forward was augmented with a short pass to a team mate. The newspaper article which features Queen's Park's victory over Wanderers in October 1875 (a match in which C.W. Alcock and the Anglo Scot A.F. Kinnaird played in for Wanderers) gives a concise description of the style of combination adopted by the club, particularly in the section which describes the second and third goals,

After a “hand” within thirty yards of the Wanderers’ lines, Weir got possession, and, successfully charging the English forwards, passed it on to Herriot, who in turn placed it to Campbell, who by a well judged kick dropped the ball just below the bar, thus securing another goal for the Scotchmen in sixteen minutes. No sooner had the English captain started the ball than Herriot, Weir and Lawrie, by neat passing sent it back, and after the backs and half backs had shown good play, the two M'Neills brought it along the left side, and passing it to Lawrie, the latter made a shot for goal, but the ball passed just outside the goal post. The play was now in the centre, the Queen’s Park men dribbling and passing, while their opponents indulged chiefly in heavy kicking. In 33 minutes from the commencement of operations H. M'Neill, obtaining possession, kicked the ball to Herriot, who unselfishly serving it to Lawrie, the latter again made a shot for goal, this time with more success, as the ball, passing above the goalkeeper’s head, went clean through thus obtaining the third goal.

Another important point which is overlooked by those who place an emphasis on the Scotsman article for the 1872 international is the simplistic and rather peculiar (from a 21st century perspective) writing styles of journalists covering games during this period. With football journalism still in its infancy many technical terms had not been invented and observations are often vague or obscure. While the Graphic article gives irrefutable evidence that passing did occur the Scotsman does acknowledge the teamwork of the Scots,

The Scotch team, on the other hand, though not comprising so many brilliant players, worked from first to last well together, through knowing each others play.

This is replicated in the North British Daily Mail,

The Scotch team though not comprising so many brilliant players as were in the English eleven, worked from first to last well together through knowing each other’s play.

The Glasgow Herald, dated 2nd December 1872, commends English players for their dribbling ability and acknowledges their advantage in weight (noted as being on average two stones heavier) and in pace. Of Queen’s Park, the article alludes to team work on a number of occasions,

The home club played played well together, and carried the ball down into the enemy’s quarters by vigorous rushes… Near the end of the first three-quarters of an hour the ball was taken well down to the English goal by Wotherspoon, Weir, and R. Smith… The strong point with the home club was that they played excellently well together.

Supporters of Scotland’s claim also point to the fact that the 1872 international took place more than a year before the Royal Engineers’ tour of Sheffield and Nottingham (late December 1873) and before Alcock’s reference to combination in 1874. Indeed Alcock was present at the 1872 international match, acting as umpire on behalf of England, and he does not support the claim of F.J. Wall (presented in his 1935 autobiography), preferring a diverging argument based on the ‘passing on’ game of Sheffield rules football. Games held between Glasgow’s club sides and representative teams and those from the Midlands and Yorkshire during the mid 1870s also demonstrate that combination does not appear to have taken root in these areas following the visit of the Royal Engineers in 1873. For example, the Scottish FA Annual’s report on Queen’s Park’s 5-1 victory over Notts County in 1876 points to the lack of combination of the Nottingham club which adopted a rudimentary 1-2-7 formation with only one defender (termed cover-goal),

Some of the individual play shown by the strangers was remarkably good, but united action and judicious passing on, had no part in their tactics. There is a weakness in the back play of a large number of English teams when tackling Scotch opponents, and it was well illustrated on Saturday. The English captain applied the remedy, but it came too late. One back is too little to defend a hard pressed goal after a smart piece of dribbling, when the dribbler leaves the opposing forwards all in the rear, and two of the goals lost by Notts in the last half of the game, were due to the defective falling back on their fortress.

Indeed the proponents of the Scottish view point out that the rudimentary style of game and playing formation (1-2-7) adopted by the Engineers contrasts significantly with the supremacy of 2-2-6 and the Scottish short passing game. A detailed account of the robust nature of the Sappers playing style during the 1870s is indeed quoted on the official website of the Royal Engineers museum,

As regards the kind of game played at this period, the team formation was generally a goalkeeper, one back, two half-backs, two players on each wing and three centres. The latter were usually selected for their weight, strength and charging powers in addition to their talent as dribblers, the game being a bit strenuous, and many goals were got by the combined forwards hustling the rival goalkeeper through his own goal all ends up, so to speak.

The official website of the Royal Engineers museum also gives a detailed example of the style of play of the Engineers team which is very different from the 'scientific' style of game which has traditionally been attributed to Queen's Park,

Determined charging and hacking were accepted features of play and the Royal Engineers team held its own well in this phase of the game, more particularly as a considerable proportion were old rugby players. An amusing instance of what was called `fair hacking' is recorded in the account of a match in 1873 when the R.E. team were a little peeved with the unpunctuality of their opponents and the condition of the ground; it runs as follows:

"Our fellows being by this time fairly well disgusted, began to peg into them pretty sharp and "little George" (later Major General Sir George Barker) very soon sent a man to grass with a very sweet though fair hack, which was heard all over the ground; the individual subsequently finishing up in goal standing on one leg like a stork for the rest of the game."

The Royal Engineers also do not appear to have created a legacy for combination amongst the ’Old Boys’ teams in London as individualism continued in the metropolis up until 1882. It was England’s crushing 5-1 defeat in 1882 to a Scotland team featuring seven Queen’s Park players which led to Nicholas Lane Jackson, a prominent member of the FA, creating the famous Corinthians team. This direct reaction to the success of Queen’s Park and the Scotland national team is quoted in the book Corinthians and Cricketers, published in 1957,

It would not be wrong to claim for Queen's Park the building of Scottish football almost single-handed.... It has wielded a profound influence in fashioning the technique of the game, and its development of scientific passing and cohesion between the half-backs and the forwards as a counter to the traditional dribbling and individuality...During those barren years England's teams consisted of amateur players from many different clubs...who had to combine their individuality without any pre-match knowledge of each other's play...Not surprisingly, England failed to beat an enemy nurtured on scientific combination. This position might have continued much longer until the flood tide of professionalism had its inevitable effect; but one of the most industrious and enthusiastic of the game's earliest legislators, N. Lane ('Pa') Jackson, who was then honorary assistant secretary of The Football Association, sought a more immediate solution. 'At that period', he has recorded for us in his autobiography, Sporting Days and Sporting Ways, 'public school and university men provided most of the players for the English side, so I thought that by giving them plenty of practice together they would acquire a certain measure of combination.

Advocates of the Scottish claim also point to the rudimentary style of game which was played at Sheffield throughout the 1860s and even after the visit of the Royal Engineers in December 1873. Alcock refers to the Sheffield rules tactic of the long punt forward which he terms as 'passing on'. This rudimentary style was possible due to Sheffield's peculiar offside rule which enabled players to poach or 'sneak' in front of goal. This long ball style does not represent the definitive team based game of inter passing which would develop in Scotland. Even Alcock acknowledges this in his article in the Football Annual of 1883 (P11),

Combination is the great object to be studied in the attainment of success in Association football. By combination I mean much more than the mere “passing on” which seems to be the one common idea of perfection among a large number of English Associationists.

In the same article he goes on to attack the rudimentary nature of the 'passing on' game (P12),

Whether such a wholesale system pays or not is a question open to doubt. For myself I think that it does not. The game suffers as equally by an adhesion to one extreme as the other. “Passing on” is different to “backing up” and it was only the evident aversion to pass on at the proper time that suggested the necessity of more general passing on, and place dribblers comparatively at a discount. It has been the combination of dribbling and passing that has made the Queen’s Park and other Scotch elevens such splendid teams.

The rudimentary 'passing on' game of Sheffield could not compete with the scientific short passing style championed by Queen's Park and at representative level the Glasgow FA would experience 14 wins and only one defeat against the Sheffield FA in the 17 fixtures played between 1874 and 1890. A good example of the difference in playing styles is cited in the Scottish Football Annual of 1877/78 which gives the following comments on the Glasgow v Sheffield match of 1877,

That the game was a very well contested one, and victory has rested with the best side, no one will deny; but that it was a pretty game, abounding in fine displays of combined dribbling, which has frequently distinguished a Scottish team above all others, few will admit…The fact cannot be hidden…that the tactics pursued by the Sheffield team on Saturday were partially responsible for this inasmuch as they play a different set of rules from those of the English and Scottish Associations, and to them our “off-side” rule is next to a dead letter. In this manner, long kicking was largely indulged in on Saturday on their side; and in order to meet the same style of play, the Glasgow men actually lost that united action which had led them on to victory in many a harder fought field.

Queen’s Park’s combination game, which had emerged as a general ‘Scottish style’ due to the club’s high standing and her energetic promotion of the game, would spread south of the border to the north and midlands of England with the arrival of the celebrated ‘Scotch Professors’. In a contradiction of the Royal Engineer’s claim, Queen’s Park is also widely presented in areas like the Midlands, Lancashire and the north of England, as the first great exponent of the science of combination. William McGregor, the Father of the Football League, pays the following tribute,

If I were asked to specify which club in Association football had done most to inculcate and foster a love of the Association game, I should answer most unhesitatingly, Queen’s Park. They were the club which introduced the Association game to Glasgow, their origin dating from 1867. They founded the Scottish Football Association; from their own ranks they found the opposition to England in the first international between the two countries, and their missionary visits to the Midlands and Lancashire did much to create a true love for Association football in those districts and also to give a tone and polish to local football effort. They were the first club to introduce really scientific methods into the game. Their football was as perfect and polished as football has ever been played at a time when most clubs were content with merely scrambling after the ball.

[edit] Lancashire

Certain Lancashire sides (for example Blackburn Olympic) have also been considered to be innovators of the early passing game.[14]

[edit] Spread of the game overseas

In 1894 soccer was taken to Brazil by Charles William Miller, a Brazilian of British descent. He had been sent to England for schooling and learned to play football whilst at Banister Court School in Southampton, Hampshire. [15]. The Scottish style is believed to have been adopted by the Austrians, Hungarians, Argentinians and Uruguayans[citation needed].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
  2. ^ http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/srvcr10.txt
  3. ^ Edward Moor, Suffolk Words and Phrases: Or, An Attempt to Collect the Lingual Localisms, J. Loder, London
  4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=6BMLAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:moor+date:1823-2007&as_brr=0&ei=MAMpR-zeI5Le7QLx862uDw#PPP7,M1
  5. ^ Marples, M. 1954. A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London
  6. ^ Offside History
  7. ^ [Marples, Morris (1954) A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London]
  8. ^ "Football: our winter game", Charles Alcock, London, 1874
  9. ^ Offside History
  10. ^ Wall, Sir Frederick (2005). 50 Years of Football, 1884-1934. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-8622-3116-8. 
  11. ^ [Cox, Richard (2002) The encyclopaedia of British Football, Routledge, United Kingdom]
  12. ^ History of Football
  13. ^ Royal Engineers - Football - History
  14. ^ [Cox, Richard (2002) The encyclopaedia of British Football, Routledge, United Kingdom]
  15. ^ BBC - southampton Football First