Combination Game - Scientific Football (1839 Onwards)

Scientific Football (1839 Onwards)

The earliest uses of the term "scientific" in the context of sport are in the description of the obligatory team game cricket (1833) The first use of the term "scientific" to describe football comes from Dragley Beck, Ulverston, Lancashire in 1839. This states:

FOOT-BALL. Last week a match took place in a field near Dragley Beck between the men of leather and the other trades of Ulverstone. The shoemakers &c challenged the other parties, and it was eventually agreed that each side should have 15 men. The ball was placed about the centre of the ground, and one from each side stood twenty yards from it. At a given signal, two opponents rushed forward, and the representative of leather, Roger Gaskell, took the ball in grand style, thereby winning the glaves. The action then became general, but leather was forced to be content with the laurels already won, as the other party won every bye that was played. Many of the gentle craft were good millers, and carried on the contest toughly, but their opponents played more scientifically, and out maneouvred them, and carried the day in triumph."

"Scientific" was first used to describe a modern football code in 1862 with reference to Rugby football: and in 1868 the "great science" of rugby football consisted of "off your side, drop kicks punts, places and the other intricacies" It is uncertain what these other intricacies were exactly, however it is, clear that this playing style was more systematic than in the past. References to scientific soccer come in accounts in the mid-1860s, particularly Sheffield FC (see later). Later contemporary accounts include internationals, for example the November 1870 soccer match between England and Scotland which "was of unusual excellence for the many scientific points it involved" Alcock advocated scientific football as early as 1870 (see below).