Combination Game

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.

Development of football codes permitting ball passing

The earliest reference in English to "passing" of the ball occurs in the mid-1860s , around the time that Association Football was being "invented". There is, however, evidence that passing ball games existed prior to this time, although it is obviously difficult to know if these resembled modern tactics.

Early References to ball passing

In 1581 Richard Mulcaster is the first describe football teams consisting of players of different positions ("standings"). This suggests that passsing probably took place between players, although this is not stated explicitly.

The earliest specific reference to player to player passing in football like ball games comes from Carew in his [1602]] account of Cornish Hurling . In this he describes "dealing" as the ball being specifically passed from one member of the same team to another.

There are other early references to what might have been passing the ball between team members. For example David Wedderburn in 1633 suggests that his students might want to use the latin words literally meaning "strike it here" during ball games. One modern translation of this text uses the English word "pass", but this is not used explicitly in the original Latin or the original translation. Similarly in 1650 Richard Baxer alludes 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".

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 .

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 people and places have been credited with the development of combination football:

C. W. Alcock

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"" Alcock was the first player ever to be ruled off side on the 31st March 1866, confirming that players were probing ways of exploiting the new off side rule right from the start <. 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 off side.

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 passing game was created by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s .

Scotland

There is some evidence that there was a bit of a clash of styles in 1872 when Scotland played England in the world's first official football international. (A series of football games with players 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." . 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 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 attack knew who their partner was and their role was to pass to them when possible. This tactic of 'passing and running' became known as the "combination game" and is believed by some to have originated in Scotland. The benefit of these tactics on the day must have been minimal as the game resulted in a 0-0 draw. Critics of this theory note that there were many Scottish people living and playing football throughout Britain in the 1860s (i.e. prior to the first official international match) and given this it is unlikely that such a technique would evolve in isolation. This is especially true since a team of Scottish players had played against an England side the year before. Certainly the passing game continued to undergo development, as is shown by typical modern football formations of 4-4-2.

Lancashire

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