We dive into the history behind one of football’s most iconic spectacles, from The FA’s founding laws to the pioneering defensive wall.
The free kick
The free-kick rule originated back in the mid-1800s, during a time when football’s uncodified laws varied depending on which part of England the game was being played.
But, free kicks weren’t awarded for what you might initially expect.
Opposite to the laws of today, if a player cleanly caught the ball with their hands – a ‘fair catch’ – to intercept the opposing team’s possession, they were allowed to place the ball on the floor for a free kick.
A free kick was also rewarded when the ball went out of play behind the goal line, and whether this was for the attacking (direct free kick) or defending team (a goal kick) depended on who touched the ball first after the ball had left the field.
The founding rules
These free-kick rules became one of the 13 founding rules in the codified game in 1863, written by the secretary of the world’s first football association – The FA.
According to the National Football Museum in Manchester, England, these rules also stated that the player must claim the ‘fair catch’ by digging his heel into the ground to make a mark. This is in addition to clarifying that no player was allowed to pick up the ball with their hands while in play, as well as disallowing tripping, kicking, pushing, or holding opponents.
These were integral aspects of the game before the formation of The FA, and although the fair-catch rule survived the first codification, it was also soon abolished.
While these removals paved the way for football we know today, they did go on to inspire laws in sports like rugby, Aussie rules football, and American football.
The distance rule
In the decade following the first codification of the football rules, the free kick started being awarded to teams if their opponents illegally handled the ball – a nuance that’s claimed to have developed in Sheffield and later adopted by The FA.
The ball-to-wall distance rule was also reportedly added at this point, requiring opponents to be at least six yards away from the ball unless behind their own goal line.
It took several more decades until this was extended to the 10 yards (9.15 meters) that we know today, in addition to being able to score directly from a free kick. Both were allegedly added to the rule book in the early 20th century.
The defensive wall
Modern-day interviews and articles indicate that Danny Blanchflower, a former footballer, claimed his 1957 Northern Ireland side were the creators of the free-kick wall as a defensive tactic to make it harder for attacking teams to score from these dead-ball situations.
One article dates back even further than Blanchflower’s career, with an FA Charity Shield match report published by The Times on 13 October 1927 – 99 years ago today – describing a free kick from Cardiff City’s Fred Keenor hitting one player in a wall of Corinthians at Stamford Bridge.
Since these historic moments 30 years apart, several subsequent generations of attacking football players have been required to master the art of the dead-ball situation, creating an iconic part of the game that we know and love today.