This October is the 160th
Anniversary of the 1858 Sheffield Football Rules. To mark the occasion we have invited football historian Martin Westby to shine a light on this important moment in football history.
If you would like to discover more about Sheffield's unique footballing history, drop in to our Sheffield Football Treasures Revealed event on Thursday 25th October at Sheffield Central Library.
Forging the Modern Game
A year after Sheffield FC had been founded, the club
members felt a need to produce a set of rules to play by and in October 1858
this process began. This proved to be a hugely important milestone in the
history of Association football.
For only the third time in history, a football club
decided to write itself some rules to play by, following in the footsteps of
John Hope’s Foot-Ball Club (1833) and Surrey FC (1849). What sets the Sheffield
Rules of 1858 apart is that they would go on to influence the evolution of the modern
game. This moment is a full five years before the London Football Association
would begin its bad-tempered debate at the Freemason’s Tavern in 1863 to devise
a set of universal footballing laws.
What follows is from a Sheffield FC club manuscript
written in 1907:
“After
season 1857-8 the Hon. Sec. Nathaniel Creswick and committee drew up printed
rules, regulations and laws for the club, and from these is to be seen that
game was half rugby and half association.”
The process for creating the 1858 Sheffield Rules began
with a copy letter by Nathaniel Creswick dated 9th October 1858, calling a
meeting of the club at his office ‘on Thursday next 7 O’ Clock’. The minutes of
that meeting included the resolution that ‘the following Rules & Laws be
submitted to a meeting of the Members to be held at 6 O’ Clock on Thursday next
the 28 inst. at the Adelphi Hotel’. These included a draft of four club rules,
minutes of a meeting on 14 October appointing club officers and committee
signed by the President Frederick Ward. It is not known where these later
meetings took place, but it is likely they were held at Park House.
The first draft of
the rules from 14th October were written down by Nathaniel Creswick:
- Kick off from the middle must be a place kick.
- Kick out must not be more than 25 yards out of goal.
- Fair catch is a catch direct from the foot of the opposite side and entitles a free kick.
- Charging is fair in case of a place kick (with the exception of a kick off) as soon as a player offers to kick, but he may always draw back unless he has actually touched the ball with his foot.
- No pushing with the Hands or Hacking is fair under any circumstances whatsoever.
- Knocking or pushing on the Ball is altogether disallowed. The side breaking this rule forfeits a free kick to the opposite side.
The next item in the club archive is the minutes of a
committee meeting held on the 21st October with drafts of nine club
rules and the ‘First draft of the Laws of the Game, with 12 Laws’ which had
been extensively revised in pen and pencil by Nathaniel Creswick. We can see by
comparing the two drafts that the committee was strongly opposed to hacking and
tripping but were not averse to pushing. Use of hands was acceptable to push or
knock it were permitted but holding of the ball (except when fielding a fair
catch) was against the rules. These rules clearly favour the dribbling game and
legislate against a rugby-type game.
The second draft
of the rules from 21st October 1858:
- Kick off from the middle must be a place kick.
- Kick out must not be more than 25 yards out of goal.
- Fair catch is a catch from any player provided the Ball has not touched the ground and has not been thrown from touch. Entitles a free kick.
- Charging is fair in case of a place kick (with the exception of a kick off) as soon as a player offers to kick, but he may always draw back unless he has actually touched the ball with his foot.
- Pushing with the Hands is allowed but no Hacking (or tripping up) is fair under any circumstances whatsoever.
- Holding the Ball, excepting the case of a free kick is altogether disallowed.
- No player may be held or pulled over.
- It is not lawful to take the ball off the ground (except in touch) for any purpose whatever.
- The ball maybe be pushed or hit.
- A goal must be kicked but not from touch nor by a free kick from a catch.
- A Ball in touch is dead, consequently, the side that touches it down, must bring it to the edge of touch & throw it straight out at least six yards from touch.
- Each player must provide himself with a red and dark blue flannel cap- one colour to be worn by each side.
Finally, in the archives we see the minutes of a meeting
from 28th October passing the above rules and laws, which included even more
revisions. This final seminal meeting was held at the Adelphi hotel, which was
demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Crucible Theatre.
Before the rules were handed over to Pawson and
Brailsford of the High Street to print in 1859, an official ‘Rules,
Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot-ball Club’ some further
restructuring ensued, and the twelve laws were reduced to eleven. Original laws
6 and 9 were removed and replaced by a new law: ‘The Ball may be pushed or hit
with the hand, but holding the Ball (except in the case of a free kick) is
altogether disallowed.
Sheffield
football can be further credited with the following rule innovations:
- Crossbar
- Half way line kick-off
- Corner kick
- Umpires
- 90 minute game - The 1867 Youdan Cup rules introduced the concept of the golden goal and that matches should last for ‘one hour and a half’.
- Heading the ball - This was initially developed in the Sheffield game but was not mentioned in the rules; it was just accepted as part of the local game. They didn’t realise how alien it looked until it generated mirth from members of the London FA in a match in 1866.
- Penalty arc ‘D’ - This became an FA law in 1937 but it was Sheffield football that first suggested the idea a long time before in 1924, following an incident match between Sheffield United and Burnley FC. A Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA referee submitted a sketch to the Green ’Un newspaper that could prevent further disputes. The idea was also submitted to Sir Charles Clegg the President of the FA, but nothing was instigated for thirteen years. The idea was claimed later by a Mr. Leith but was disputed by a new article that reprinted the original Green ‘Un story.
Martin Westby is the author of A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889: Speed, Science and Bottom.
