page_title: Combination Game
section_title: The Royal Engineers A.F.C.: The first combination team (late 1860s to mid-1870s)
hierarchical_section_title: Combination Game / The Royal Engineers A.F.C.: The first combination team (late 1860s to mid-1870s)
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Engineers AFC team. Back: Merriman, Ord, Marindin, Addison, Mitchell; Front: Hoskyns, Renny-Tailyour, Creswell, Goodwyn, Barker, Rich.
context_page_description: The Combination Game was a style of association football based around teamwork and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Association games. It developed from "scientific" football and is considered to be the predecessor of the modern passing game of football. It originated in Britain and its origins are associated with early clubs: Sheffield FC, The Royal Engineers AFC, Queen's Park FC and Cambridge University AFC. Each of these claimants is supported by retrospective accounts from men who were notable in the early history of football. They are considered below in the order of earliest contemporary evidence of "scientific" football playing styles.
context_section_description: Sir Frederick Wall (who was the secretary of the Football Association from 1895–1934) states in his biography that the combination game was first used by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s, in particular prior to their 1873 tour of Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield .   Wall states that the "Sappers moved in unison" and showed the "advantages of combination over the old style of individualism".  He goes on to state that they were the first "to show the value of combination in Sheffield and Nottingham.  Wall attended and regularly refers to the 1872 international match in his account (see below) and speaks very highly of many Scottish teams and players he does not attribute the combination game to either of these. The Engineers were also capable of dribbling the ball, for example one 1868  match reports states "Lieut. Morris got off and dribbling the ball quite round his opponents, brought it in front of the goal and a kick from Lieut Dorward scored the first goal for the Royal Engineers".
caption: The Royal Engineers: the first passing side. The team that reached the first FA Cup final
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