Quick summary for those who can’t access the article:
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The Scottish team was made up of players from Queen’s Park since the Scottish Football Association hadn’t been formed yet.
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On the other hand, the English team traveled by train for 12 and a half hours to get there. They had players from Oxford University, Cambridge University, 1st Surrey Rifles, and Crystal Palace.
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Around 2,500 to 4,000 people attended the match.
Interesting Rules of the Game at the Time:
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Goalkeepers were allowed to handle the ball all the way up to the halfway line.
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There were no penalties, yellow or red cards, and even shin pads weren’t required.
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Teams changed ends after each goal or at halftime if the game was tied.
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There were two “umpires” in each half of the field, one representing each team. If the umpires couldn’t agree on a decision, the referee, who stood off the pitch on halfway, would make the final call.
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There were also some differences in how Scotland and England played.
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Scotland liked to pass the ball as a team, while England’s players preferred to dribble like rugby players with the ball, surrounded by their teammates for protection. This is actually pretty cool concept to me lol
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Both teams had a lot of forwards on their sides, with Scotland playing 2-2-6 and England playing 1-2-7.
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So, how did the game turn out? Was it a good match? Well, according to reports, it was an exciting and fast-paced game between two evenly matched teams, despite their different approaches to this new style of football. Scotland hit the crossbar once and England hit the post, but despite having 13 strikers on the field, the game ended with no goals scored.
Scotland liked to pass the ball as a team, while England’s players preferred to dribble like rugby players with the ball, surrounded by their teammates for protection. This is actually pretty cool concept to me lol
This match had a huge impact because of this very reason.
The English system was to dribble the ball right into the opposition, then your ‘backs’ would try to recover it and repeat the process.
They were highly sceptical of the passing game, and it was only when they were held to a 0-0 by Scotland that they started incorporating it - England saw themselves as markedly superior to Scotland so a neutral result was a bouy to Scottish style and England thought well, if they can do that, what if we did it too?
English football has had periods at the zenith of innovation, but it’s equally had periods of stagnation and stubbornness.
Even later on, once they’d adapted to passing, the English 2-3-5 system was considered the only way to play football. The numbers on shirts still carry that over, because no matter how teams lined up in their formation, the English would just pretend they 1 goalie, 2 backs, 3 half backs, and five forwards.
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