Fosse v Luffs , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Nigel Freestone

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

216 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Fosse v Luffs is a story filled with drama, excitement, controversy - and violence - about a footballing rivalry as intense as any in modern English football. The Fosse (forerunner of Leicester City) were the dominant club in the town of Leicester, and Loughborough (the Luffs) were the biggest and most successful team in the county of Leicestershire. Each encounter between these two sides was a battle for supremacy within the county. Fosse v Luffs charts the growth of the rivalry, from amateur games played in front of a handful of family and friends to Football League encounters witnessed by 10,000-plus spectators, with thousands more eagerly awaiting the outcome. Drawing on extensive newspaper research, Nigel Freestone brings to life this forgotten era when football was a bone-crunching game and not for the faint-hearted. It's a must-read for anyone interested in Leicester City FC, Victorian sport or local history.

Sujets

Leicestershire

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	21 février 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781801502269
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Nigel Freestone, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801500616
eBook ISBN 9781801502269
---
eBook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
1. Introduction to Victorian Football
2. Friendlies and County Cup Games
3. The Midland League Years
4. Football League Encounters
Statistics
Complete Records
Bibliography
Photos
1
Introduction to Victorian Football
THE INTER-COUNTY footballing rivalry between Leicester Fosse - the forerunner of Leicester City - and Loughborough Town at the end of the 19th century, although short-lived, was as intense as any in modern English football. Loughborough, known as the Luffs, played an important role in the history and development of the Fosse and hence Leicester City FC. Club rivalry stemmed predominantly from their geographical proximity. The Fosse were the dominant club in the town of Leicester, while Loughborough were the biggest and most successful club in the county of Leicestershire, so each encounter was seen by both clubs and sets of supporters as a battle for footballing supremacy in Leicestershire.
Prior to discussing encounters between Leicester Fosse and Loughborough on the field, we need to acclimatise to the period and better understand the game played during the Victorian era. Hopefully, this chapter will cover all you need to know to get into football of the 1880s and 1890s. This will be of benefit as we chronicle the intense rivalry between the Fosse and the Luffs from their formation in the early 1880s to the demise of the latter at the very beginning of the 20th century. The story is full of drama, controversy, excitement, and passion, and peppered with sadness.
Introduction to 19th-Century Football
Although football had been played in one form or another for hundreds of years in Britain, it was not until the Victorian period that clubs formed and rules were codified. The Factory Act of 1850, among other things, stated that all work must stop at 2pm on Saturdays. This meant that the working class had free time for recreational activity, which was unheard of for ordinary people .
Free time could also mean trouble. Groups of young men on the streets being a nuisance or propping up a bar was likely to become something of a Victorian problem, and indeed that happened.
The first football clubs were started by churches through the emergence of Muscular Christianity, a movement that encouraged participation in sport to develop Christian morality, physical fitness, and manly character. Promoting abstinence from the demon drink and clean living were also high on the religious agenda. Leaders worked with factory owners hoping to encourage healthy pursuits, which would be beneficial to the Church and employers alike. Football clubs were formed from Church groups (such as Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Leicester Fosse, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur), factory groups (Manchester United - from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath, as the club was first known; Arsenal from Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, known as Woolwich Arsenal; West Ham United who were formerly Thames Ironworks; Coventry City who were first Singers FC, having been founded by employees of the Singer bicycle company), or existing sports clubs (such as Loughborough Town from Loughborough Athletics Club, and Derby County from Derbyshire County Cricket Club).
The Rules
Football has been played in England for over 1,300 years, with each region or county or school having its own unique set of rules. This severely limited the number of potential opponents and hindered its growth. The Cambridge Rules, drawn up in 1848 at a meeting of Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury and Winchester public schools at the University of Cambridge, were highly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. They were not universally adopted and other rules, most notably those of the Sheffield Football Club, were written nine years later in 1857, which led to the formation of the Sheffield FA in 1867.
The Football Association first met on 26 October 1863 at Freemasons Tavern, on Great Queen Street in London, and over several meetings across a period of three months produced the first comprehensive set of rules. Blackheath withdrew from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: those allowed running with the ball, and hacking. Other clubs followed and instead of joining the Football Association, they were instrumental in the formation of the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s, with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games.
The FA Cup, the world s oldest football competition, has been contested since 1872, while in the same year the first international football match took place, between England and Scotland. England is also home to the world s first football league, which was founded in Birmingham in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor.
The following are the rules in place when Leicester Fosse were founded in 1884:
1. The limits of the ground shall be, maximum length, 200 yards; minimum length, 100 yards; maximum breadth, 100 yards; minimum breadth, 50 yards. The length and breadth shall be marked off with flags and touchline; and the goals shall be upright posts, eight yards apart, with a bar across them eight feet from the ground. The average circumference of the association ball shall be not less than 27 inches and not more than 28 inches.
2. The winners of the toss shall have the option of kick-off or choice of goals. The game shall be commenced by a place kick from the centre of the ground in the direction of the opposite goal line; the other side shall not approach within ten yards of the ball until it is kicked off, nor shall any player on either side pass the centre of the ground in the direction of his opponents goal until the ball is kicked off.
3. Ends shall only be changed at half-time. After a goal is won the losing side shall kick off, but after the change of ends at half-time the ball shall be kicked off by the opposite side from that which originally did so; and always as provided in Law 2.
4. A goal shall be won when the ball has passed between the goal posts under the bar, not being thrown, knocked on, or carried by any one of the attacking side. The ball hitting the goal, or boundary posts, or goal bar, and rebounding into play, is considered in play.
5. When the ball is in touch, a player of the opposite side to that which kicked it out shall throw it from the point on the boundary line where it left the ground. The thrower, facing the field of play, shall hold the ball above his head and throw it with both hands in any direction, and it shall be in play when thrown in. The player throwing it shall not play it until it has been played by another player.
6. When a player kicks the ball, or throws it in from touch, any one of the same side who, at such moment of kicking or throwing, is nearer to the opponents goal line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so until the ball has been played, unless there are at such moment of kicking or throwing at least three of his opponents nearer their own goal line; but no player is out of play in the case of a corner kick or when the ball is kicked from the goal line, or when it has been last played by an opponent.
7. When the ball is kicked behind the goal line by one of the opposite side it shall be kicked off by any one of the players behind whose goal line it went, within six yards of the nearest goal post; but if kicked behind by any one of the side whose goal line it is, a player of the opposite side shall kick it from within one yard of the nearest corner flag post. In either case no other player shall be allowed within six yards of the ball until it is kicked off.
8. No player shall carry, knock on, or handle the ball under any pretence whatever, except in the case of the goalkeeper, who shall be allowed to use his hands in defence of his goal, either by knocking on or throwing, but not carrying the ball. The goalkeeper may be changed during the game, but not more than one player shall act as goalkeeper at the same time; and no second player shall step in and act during any period in which the regular goalkeeper may have vacated his position.
9. In no case shall a goal be scored from any free kick, nor shall the ball be again played by the kicker until it has been played by another player. The kick-off and corner flag kick shall be free kicks within the meaning of this rule.
10. Neither tripping, hacking, nor jumping at a player, shall be allowed, and no player shall use his hands to hold or push his adversary, or charge him from behind. A player with his back towards his opponents goal cannot claim the protection of this rule when charged from behind, provided, in the opinion of the umpires or referee, he, in that position, is wilfully impeding his opp