with the Queen's Park, the Vale of Leven, and others of the leading Scotch clubs, failed for some time to make any impression on the general body of footballers in the South of England.
The rearrangement of an eleven so as to suit the alteration in the general method of play, as I have said, proved to be a very slow process. The main object of the new reforms was to strengthen the defence without sacrificing to any extent the offensive powers of a team. As it was, the introduction of the passing game revolutionized the forward play to such a degree, that it was quite possible to spare one of the forwards without materially weakening the attack.
The formation of an eleven in the early days of Association football was a premium on forward play, and the backs were for a long time, to all intents and purposes, ignored. To be a good dribbler, as well as a safe, short passer, was the perfection of art when the game was in its infancy. It is hardly to be wondered at that this should have been the highest possible development of football at the time, for the bulk of the players were merely carrying out a system which had been inculcated at the public schools. Under the original constitution, indeed, there was little to encourage the cultivation of defensive play. At first an eleven was constituted of eight forwards, one back, one half-back, and a goal-keeper; and even at a later date, where there was practically no offside the player who had charge of the posts had about as thankless a position as it would be possible to conceive. This method of distributing the players, however, did not last very long. It soon became evident that the policy was not the most conducive to the best interests of the game. A player possessed of great pace, as well as capable of working the ball with any degree of dexterity, when he once got away, had practically little or
