Community hub
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Combination Game
The Combination Game was a style of association football based around teamwork and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Association games. It developed from "scientific" football and is considered to be the predecessor of the modern passing game of football. It originated in Britain and its origins are associated with early clubs: Sheffield FC (founded 1857), The Royal Engineers AFC (founded 1863), Queen's Park FC (founded 1867) and Cambridge University AFC (founded 1856). Each of these claimants is supported by retrospective accounts from men who were notable in the early history of football. They are considered below in the order of earliest contemporary evidence of "scientific" football playing styles.
The change to the original offside rule enabled the gradual transition from a dribbling to a passing game. The introduction of a loose offside rule in the FA rules of 1866/67 – at the behest of representatives of Charterhouse and Westminster School – opened the way to forward passing. A similar rule had originally been part of the earlier Cambridge rules.
The earliest reference to the term "combination game" is made by Charles W. Alcock in 1874 when he states that "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a 'combination game'." Alcock is referring to an early system of cooperation known as 'backing up' which he defines as a... "process of following closely on a fellow player, to assist him if required, and to take the ball if he be attacked or prevented from continuing his onward course." Although a keen dribbler, Alcock is notable as being the first footballer ever to be ruled offside on 31 March 1866, confirming that players were probing ways of exploiting the new offside rule right from the start. As early as 1870 Alcock stated that he preferred playing football in a "scientific" way. An example of this was reported in a contemporary account of the November 1870 football match between England and Scotland "Mr Alcock made a splendid run ... and being cleverly supported by Mr Walker, a goal was obtained ... by the latter" A further contemporary reference shows that Alcock himself was playing "in concert" with his teammates during the 1871 international match between England and Scotland:
indeed it seemed as if the [Scottish] defence would prove more than equal to the attack until a well executed run down by C W Alcock, WC Butler and RSF Walker, acting in concert, enabled the last named of the trio to equalise the score by the accomplishment of a well merited goal
These examples of cooperation fit in with the system of backing up, which was prevalent in the London Association game during the 1860s and early 1870s. As systematic forms of passing became more prevalent in association football, Alcock's views on combination would understandably change. Writing in 1883 he gives the following definition of combination:
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... The superiority of the Association elevens of Scotland is not to be attributed to a greater skill of their forwards, or to the advantage of back play. It is to their combination - by which I mean the effective way in which they turn every chance of the game to account, never overlooking any one feature however unimportant it may appear of itself - that they owe their successes over English teams.
As the game continued to evolve Alcock would state in 1891: "An Association eleven of to-day is altogether a different machine to what it was even as recently as ten years ago.
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, likely at what is known today as Lightburn Park, in 1839. This states:
Hub AI
Combination Game AI simulator
(@Combination Game_simulator)
Combination Game
The Combination Game was a style of association football based around teamwork and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Association games. It developed from "scientific" football and is considered to be the predecessor of the modern passing game of football. It originated in Britain and its origins are associated with early clubs: Sheffield FC (founded 1857), The Royal Engineers AFC (founded 1863), Queen's Park FC (founded 1867) and Cambridge University AFC (founded 1856). Each of these claimants is supported by retrospective accounts from men who were notable in the early history of football. They are considered below in the order of earliest contemporary evidence of "scientific" football playing styles.
The change to the original offside rule enabled the gradual transition from a dribbling to a passing game. The introduction of a loose offside rule in the FA rules of 1866/67 – at the behest of representatives of Charterhouse and Westminster School – opened the way to forward passing. A similar rule had originally been part of the earlier Cambridge rules.
The earliest reference to the term "combination game" is made by Charles W. Alcock in 1874 when he states that "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a 'combination game'." Alcock is referring to an early system of cooperation known as 'backing up' which he defines as a... "process of following closely on a fellow player, to assist him if required, and to take the ball if he be attacked or prevented from continuing his onward course." Although a keen dribbler, Alcock is notable as being the first footballer ever to be ruled offside on 31 March 1866, confirming that players were probing ways of exploiting the new offside rule right from the start. As early as 1870 Alcock stated that he preferred playing football in a "scientific" way. An example of this was reported in a contemporary account of the November 1870 football match between England and Scotland "Mr Alcock made a splendid run ... and being cleverly supported by Mr Walker, a goal was obtained ... by the latter" A further contemporary reference shows that Alcock himself was playing "in concert" with his teammates during the 1871 international match between England and Scotland:
indeed it seemed as if the [Scottish] defence would prove more than equal to the attack until a well executed run down by C W Alcock, WC Butler and RSF Walker, acting in concert, enabled the last named of the trio to equalise the score by the accomplishment of a well merited goal
These examples of cooperation fit in with the system of backing up, which was prevalent in the London Association game during the 1860s and early 1870s. As systematic forms of passing became more prevalent in association football, Alcock's views on combination would understandably change. Writing in 1883 he gives the following definition of combination:
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... The superiority of the Association elevens of Scotland is not to be attributed to a greater skill of their forwards, or to the advantage of back play. It is to their combination - by which I mean the effective way in which they turn every chance of the game to account, never overlooking any one feature however unimportant it may appear of itself - that they owe their successes over English teams.
As the game continued to evolve Alcock would state in 1891: "An Association eleven of to-day is altogether a different machine to what it was even as recently as ten years ago.
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, likely at what is known today as Lightburn Park, in 1839. This states: