Royal Engineers AFC no relation association football
Modern history
The earliest reference in English to "passing" of the ball occurs in the early 1860s. The original Football Association rules of 1863 state that, "A player shall not be allowed to throw the ball or pass it to another with his hands". It is clear that at this time players were familiar with the concept of passing the ball to each other with their feet. The direction of the pass was not regulated in the early rules of the Football Association.
"Scientific" football is first recorded in 1839 from Lancashire and in the modern game from Sheffield FC as early as 1865. The earliest contemporary reference to ball passing in soccer comes from 1870 from the Royal Engineers AFC. For example, a contemporary match report clearly shows that by 1870, ball passing was a feature of the Engineers style: "Lieut. Creswell, who having brought it up the side then kicked it into the middle to another of his side, who kicked it through the posts the minute before time was called" Passing is reported from Sheffield FC from at least January 1872. For example, In January 1872 the following account is given against Derby: "W. Orton, by a specimen of careful play, running the ball up in close proximity to the goal, from which it was returned to J. Marsh, who by a fine straight shot kicked it through" This play taking place "in close proximity to the goal" suggests a short pass and the "return" of the ball to Marsh suggests that this was the second of two passes. A double pass is first reported from Derby school against Nottingham Forest in March 1872, the first of which is irrefutably a short pass: "Mr Absey dribbling the ball half the length of the field delivered it to Wallis, who kicking it cleverly in front of the goal, sent it to the captain who drove it at once between the Nottingham posts" Possibly the most important passing manoeuvre in the early history of soccer was the pass from Vidal ("the prince of the dribblers") to M. P. Betts who then scored the only goal in the first-ever FA cup final in March 1872.The short pass was the favoured style of Queens Park FC during the 1870s, although the club's original offside rule (August 1867) suggests that forward passing was part of their game at this early stage. Short passing (amongst the forwards), and long passing (from the backs), appears to have been used by Queen's Park in their FA Cup tie against Wanderers FC in March 1872,They dribble little and usually convey the ball by a series of long kicks, combined with a judicious plan of passing on.
The first evidence of passing as a collective team based game (as opposed to sporadic references to passing in games, or references to the 'backing up' game) can be found in the first official international match between Scotland and England (30 November 1872). The Graphic, a London-based weekly newspaper, specifically states,
no relation