XVI
When the game is played by two players only, no ball counts unless it fall upon the 011wall," but a player may return a ball which falls on the "off-wall" if he pleases, except the " vice." Of the two players, he who is "in" stands on the right-hand side of the court, and he who is "out" on the left-hand side. The "service" must hit first the right-hand wall and then the front wall above the "line." The "first-cut" must hit either (1) first the left-hand wall and then the front wall above the "line," or (2) first the front wall above the "line" and then the By permission of Mr. A. J. TOYE.
Note. These notes do not correspond exactly in all schools. The court is enclosed on four sides.
The buttress (if there be one) projects from the left-hand wall from 9 to 10 in., at an angle of 135°, and at a distance of 9 ft. 9 in. from the front wall. In height it is co-extensive with the wall, which is flush with it at both angles, so that it is impossible to hit over or behind the buttress as it has but one face.
The "line" either simply painted on the wall, or better still set upon wood, runs across the front wall at a distance of 34 in. from the ground.
I. Each game shall consist of 14 points, or aces, and a game-ball; if both sides are at 13, the game may be set at 5, or at 3, if both have reached 14, at the option of the "out" side; provided that the "in" side at the time of setting shall only take one hand the first innings after the setting, and also that no false return of the game-ball shall be allowed.
II. The first innings of the first game shall be by lot; but, afterwards, the winner of the preceding game shall go in first. III. The side going in first can only take one hand the first innings.
IV. In serving, the server must stand by or near the buttress, the player who returns the service standing in a line with him; the outplaying partner of the server stands behind the returner, and the out-playing partner of the returner stands behind the server.
V. The ball must be served to the front and right walls in that order, and returned on one of the side walls, and then on the front wall above the line, but if a ball be falsely served, it is at the option of the adversary to return it.
VI. The player who has to return the service may not, under any circumstances, change places with his partner.
VII. If a ball, after being struck by a player, touch his partner or himself, before one of his adversaries have touched it and before it has bounded a second time, it counts as an ace or hand-out against him, as the case may be.
Note. The players shall be at liberty, before beginning to play, to agree that if the ball in returning from the wall hit the player or his partner it shall be a let instead of an ace or handout, but this shall only be allowed if the players are unanimous, and the marker is informed of it before the beginning of the game.
VIII. If a player strike at and miss a ball, his partner may play it, but he cannot claim a let if his adversary is in the way.
IX. If a ball strike the roof or gallery of a covered court, it is a hand-out.
X. Under no circumstances may kicking the ball be allowed.
XI. In returning the game-ball, the third successive false return counts against the striker. Only on the first occasion of game-ball being served need game-ball be called.
XII. Any service returned below the line counts against the striker.
XIII. The above rules apply to single as well as to double fives.
FLY-TYING.- [See SALMON and TROUT.] FOOTBALL. - RUGBY FOOTBALL. [The article on Rugby Football was written in 1897 by the late Mr. Arthur Budd, and lays down in admirable manner the great principles of the game. At the same time, it must be admitted that his views were ultra-conservative, nor, we believe, is there anyone now who expects to see the return of the three three-quarter game, even though the last few years have seen the revival of the type of forward who goes on with the ball. In some respects Mr. Budd would probably have modified his views by this time, but it has seemed wiser and fairer to leave his statements exactly as they were originally made. In the same way attempt has been made to select prominent players since his day, for upon that point opinion would be even more widely divergent than upon methods of play. no The New Zealand scrummage formation would have doubtless attracted his attention, and probably his unfavourable attention, for it certainly did not favour 66 straight pushing," and the "loose head" would also have incurred disapproval, for he fully believed in the orthodox 3-2-3 combination for eight forwards. Generally speaking, it may be said that at no time since the article was written have its main principles been more widely and thoroughly accepted than in the present year of 1910.- ED.] History of the Game. - I propose to devote this part of the article to a sketch of the various phases of development which the game has undergone from the period of twenty a side up to the present time.
When I was a school-boy at Clifton College in the middle seventies, the game played there was identical with that at Rugby School. The number on each side was twenty, and the arrangement of the field was as follows: two full backs, one three-quarter, and two halves. It was an act of high treason to put down one's head in the scrummage, and, if anybody did so, an opponent would promptly remind him of this breach of etiquette by raising his knee sharply against it. Hacking was permissible, and, as there were no umpires to appeal to in the case of a breach of the rules, such as, for example, off-side play, the innocent party used to take the law into his own hands, and with a shout of "off-side, Sir," administer the orthodox punishment for the infringement by violently kicking the shin bone of the offender. Hacking or tripping over were quite as much resorted to as tackling, and though they may in these more civilised days appear [FOOTBALL a rather brutal and crude method of stopping a runner, they required for success the greatest skill and accuracy. W. O. Moberley, the old Rugbeian and Gloucestershire cricketer, was a perfect master of the art.
And not only was it legal to hack over the carrier of the ball, but also the first on side, and I have seen as many as four of the van brought to earth by this means.
There were extraordinary formalities to be gone through in taking the ball out for a place kick at goal. The kicker used to pick up the ball and make a mark at the place where the try was gained. He then went to the goal line, and, having made a second mark opposite the former one, he and the placer proceeded parallel with the goal line to as far away from the goal posts as they liked.
The defending sides were allowed to stretch forward to their utmost, provided they kept the hindmost foot on the second mark. The kicker, facing the placer and a few feet apart from him, gently punted the ball to him, and he made another mark as far inwards and towards the goal line as he could manage to do with safety.
The defending side endeavoured to frustrate this manœuvre, either by spoiling the catch, if they were able to reach the ball, or by seizing the leg of the placer while he was attempting to make, but before he had actually made, his mark. If they were successful in either, the kick at goal was lost. Mauls in goal were very frequent. I have seen as many as ten men in one, and there was no limit to their duration imposed by the laws.
The art of scrummaging consisted in straightforward propulsion. One of those in the front rank was expected to get the ball between his legs, and hold it there tight, while his forwards pushed on him might and main. The packs frequently lasted two or three minutes, with forwards equipoised; and, to show how times have altered, I have only to mention that in those days the longest scrummage was considered the best and that the spectators on the touch line often had their watches out, timing its duration.
The half-back, owing to the tight packing of the forwards, had a much easier task than he has now, and it sometimes occurred that he was right across the field before the scrummage had become dismembered.
When a ball was kicked into touch, both sides raced to touch it down, and it was legal for opponents to charge one another in the struggle for its possession.
The first step towards a faster game was the diminution in the number of players FOOTBALL] from twenty to fifteen. For a very long time after this, however, the original arrangement of the back players was preserved. By this change the forwards, now ten in number, found themselves able to break away from the scrummage, in which they had hitherto been boxed up, and to the art of dribbling, in consequence, there was imparted an enormous impetus. Heads down and watching the ball in the scrummage followed. Hacking in club games was abolished, though Rugby School re- THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, SO W to hold the field, and he was reinforced by a second, an addition which reduced the number of forwards to nine.
Next in order there was evolved a science which has had more to do with revolutionising the character of the game than any other innovation. I refer, of course, to "passing." To whom belongs the credit of the invention is a matter of much dispute, but its elaboration was unquestionably the work of the Blackheath team. It was at first entirely confined to the forwards, but A TRY SCORED FROM A SCRIMMAGE ON THE LINE. tained it for some years later; a ball going into touch was declared by the rules to belong to the side other than the one which kicked it in, and two umpires and a referee made their début as adjuncts to the game, but the referee was only authorised to adjudicate when there was a diversity of opinion between the umpires. The maul in goal was retained even later than Vassall's day, but the preliminaries to a place kick, which I have described, were never in vogue in club football.
The next step in the same direction was a device known by the name of "Foiking," which emanated from Oxford. It consisted in a wing forward dexterously extricating the ball with his foot from the side scrummage. When the play had become very much faster, it was found that one man at three-quarter was no longer able of a by degrees spread to the halves. Who was the first half to pass out a ball is by no means clear. Many aver that J. Payne, of Lancashire, set the example, but Alan Rotherham was the first to reduce the art of feeding to a science, and remains to this day the pattern whom every half-back strives to imitate.
We come now to the addition of a third three-quarter. It happened in a somewhat peculiar manner. The South team, as originally selected, only contained two threequarters. One of the forwards, P. Newton, however, could not play, and Harry Vassall wrote to the Committee from Oxford that they had a player there of extraordinary ability in the person of C. W. Wade, and strongly urged his inclusion. Under the circumstances the Committee resolved to play him, though not without considerable misgiving. The brilliant success of the Southern trio, W. N. Bolton, A. M. Evanson, and C. W. Wade, on Richardson's field, settled this question for good.
The next development was the passing by the centre three-quarter to his wings, and in this the pioneer was Rawson Robertshaw, who, at centre, applied the same principles which Rotherham had demonstrated at half. Coincidently with the addition of a third three-quarter the backs were reduced from two to one.
It remained for the Welshmen to add yet another three-quarter, but for a long time the other countries did not adopt the alteration, nor indeed was this to be wondered at, seeing that Wales for a number of years was badly beaten by England, Scotland, and Ireland, who adhered to the three system.
But, just at the moment when the four three-quarter game appeared likely to die out, there came to its aid two most powerful allies in new methods of scrummaging, viz., heeling andwheeling, which very soon became the fashion, and superseded the time-honoured straightforward pushing game.
It is important here to note that up to this time the four three-quarter game had been a failure, because eight men were unable to hold their own against nine in the packs in the old style. By the introduction of heeling and wheeling this state of things was altered. The ninth man was no longer of the same value in a scrummage which was worked by the manœuvre of wheeling, or from which the ball was heeled back almost at the very moment of its insertion, as he was when the pack had to be carried by superior power and weight.
The device of wheeling originated in