MODERN BACK PLAY
— C. B. Fry | 24/11/1900 —

The most successful backs have usually in physique combined weight, strength, and activity. Very big men of exceptional stature and weight are liable to be too slow and clumsy; very small men, however clever and quick, to be too light and too easily brushed aside. A strong man, rather above middle height, sturdy without being slow, and solid without being clumsy, is the best type for this position. Still a heavy, clumsy, slow player is better employed at back than anywhere else; since his special physical characteristics have more value there than elsewhere, and his defects, too, are less detrimental.

There have been some fine heavy backs who have altogether lacked quickness and cleverness. Weight is very useful in defence near goal, the most critical point of defence. Height, too, is an advantage, because it enables you to reach the ball with your head more easily than can shorter players — another telling quality, especially near goal-mouth. A back, a manoeuvring skilfully, can usually secure the advantage of interior lines o movement, and can thus make up for a certain want of pace. Very light men are liable to be impresionable, unstable, and too easily hustled off the ball; but there certainly have been players of small stature who have, by extraordinary quickness, activity, and dash, compensated for their lack of weight and proved themselves grand backs.

A light man, however, neither fast nor clever, had better be put in any other position, for his defect of weight is more serious at back than anywhere. Pace is so valuable in the forward line that players possessed of it usually drift to that position, but pace tells wonderfully in back play, sine it provides against the success of sprinting forwards, and, what is particularly useful, enables the back to play close up to, and therefore in more complete unison with the halves, yet without the risk of allowing the opposing forwards to get clean through when the ball is kicked over the backs or past them. Of course, it does not matter how big and heavy a back is provided his speed and skill are proportionate; his speed and skill must be above the average, for his size cannot but handicap him wherever, as is so frequently the case in football, the ground is muddy and heavy.

P. M. and A. M. Walters, of the Corinthians, the finest combined pair of backs I ever saw, were of the physique put first above. Nick Ross, of the old P.N.E. team, the cleverest individual player, to my mind, in this position, and Watty Arnott, of Queen's Park, another clinker, were much the same. W. J. Oakley, my mate, is exceptionally strong, and rather tall and heavy, but he is also exceptionally fast and active; as a man must be to win the Inter-'Varsity Hurdles in 16 2-5sec., and long-jump nearly 23ft. L. V. Lodge, also of the Corinthians, was a splendid back, medium-sized, but strong and dashing to a degree, and a grand header.

Of the really light men I have seen, A. T. B. Dunn, of the Corinthians, who played in different years for England, both forward and back, was the finest back I have met. H. Morley, once of Derby County, was so small that the festive cr crowd nicknamed him "the shrimp," but he was effective enough to be chosen first reserve for England. I cannot recall any actual giant who excelled in the position. Underwood, formerly of Stoke, was rather huge and an International.

Another very big man, an amateur, played for Stoke, and I think England; I remember him by reason of once seeing him kick further and more accurately against a strong wind than anyone before or since. F. R. Pelly, who played against Scotland, was inclined towards extra-weight. Once when he and I were playing together at back for the Corinthians v. Queen's Park at Glasgow, a spectator mistook which of us was which. "Lepped twenty-fuir fut, did he!" said the Scottie, "Guid lad! He'll soon ha' made a de'il o' a hole coming doon, I'm thinking."

All the great backs naturally excel in the two fundamental requisites of strong defence, viz., sure, determined tackling, and sure, effective kicking. A back has to tackle well in order to dispossess the opposing attack of the ball, and to kick well in order to clear the ball away from dangerous proximity to his goal, and in order to drive it well, yet accurately, through to his forwards.

Every man tackles in his own style, Oakley's method differs from P. M. Walters', Crabtree's from that of both, and so on. But there are, roughly, three distinguishable methods. First, you may pay most attention to the man; charge or hustle him off the ball, and then try to secure the ball. Secondly, you may pay most attention to the ball, relying on your cleverness of foot to secure the ball without using your weight against your opponent; either you plant your foot on your side of the ball and trust to being able to keep it there while the possessor staggers or over-runs the ball, or else you hook the ball out of his control by a dexterous dive with your foot.

The defect of the first method is that you may muddle the ball and fail to obtain control of it; another forward, or even the same man, may get it before you. Still, if you go hard and straighy and at the right time you ought at least to stop your man for the time being; and if another of his side gets the ball you are, at any rate, in a position to intercept a pass to your man and to keep him effectively out of action.

The second method requires exact timing and great cleverness of foot; nor is it easy to plant your foot so firmly on the ball as to overcome the forward's impetus. But if you do get the ball you have it in complete possession and control. Generally speaking, when your opponent is rushing through or dribbling fast, yet is controlling the ball well, the first method pays the better; his impetus prevents his dodging you, and a mere impeding leg may prove too slight an obstacle. But the second method is the better for stopping deliberate tricky play, whether single or combined; your opponent has not much pace on, and is unlikely to force past your foot; and by this method you avoid making a rush or dash, which he at his pace can readily elude; moreover, if you miss him you can turn and be at him again at once, which you cannot if you rush and miss him.

Many backs use either the one or the other of these methods almost exclusively, but the very best performers use either as occasion demands, and also compromise between them. This compromise is the third method, and is, in general, the best. Without actually charging your man you contrive to put enough weight against him to impede him decisively yet you preserve sufficient control over your own balance and movements to be able to use your feet for extricating the ball from his possession. The difficulty is to apply enough weight yet maintain your own balance and accuracy of foot; but the method is of great value. It does not involve rush which eluded carries you temporarily out of action; nor is it easily overcome by your opponent's mere impetus.

The secrets of good tackling by any method are good timing and determination; you must charge, or dive, or hook at the right instant, and do so as though you meant to succeed without fail. Another secret is to tackle that, if you are beaten, you can renew the attempt without the least delay. The brothers Walters were magnificent exponents of the charging method and of the other two, Oakley is excellent at the third, and so are the best professionals of the day. Crabtree is wonderfully clever in the second style; so was A. H. Harrison, the Old Westminster International.

First-rate backs are long, strong, sure, and accurate kickers; weak, foozled kicking is the worst fault back can have. The Association ball must be kicked with the instep, not with the point of the toe. A certain mayor is said once to have kicked-off is patent-leathers so pointed that he punctured the ball; his method must have been the toe-method, which does not usually succeed. When the ball stationary you cannot quite get your instep to it, but you can use the part of the foot between the instep and the toe. At other times you will and the best result comes from planting the middle of your boot-lacing plumb against the centre of the ball; of course you must point your toe downwards. A back like Crabtres can kick in whatever position he may be, and however the ball comes to him; no matter which way he is facing, no matter whether the ball is in the air, on the floor, or bouncing, he can kick with certainty, and moreover can control both the strength and direction of his kick.

When the ball is kicked before it reaches the ground, it is said to be volleyed. The volley requires an accurate eye and much practice. Some backs judge where the ball is coming, run to the spot, await it standing still, and meet it with a bent lifted leg about hip-high in front of themselves. Others keep running up to the instant of kicking and after wards, take the ball on the run in fact; but they kick with a straight swing, meeting the ball close to the ground.

The first method is the safer and more accurate, but you must be sure to judge the ball accurately or you find yourself standing out of reach of it, and unable to correct your mistake in time. The second has the defect that on the run you cannot be so sure of your kick, nor so well control its strength and direction. The secret of safe kicking is to watch the ball closely, and to make every kick easy by getting into the right position in good time. School backs usually volley very well, because the boys get no end of practice in kick-abouts at odd hours.

The ball is said to be taken on the half-volley when kicked just as it leaves or just as it meets the ground. It drives the ball beautifully far, low, and straight if well-timed; but it is the most difficult of all kicks, as it demands perfect accuracy of foot and of timing. A back who can head well has a tremendous advantage over one who cannot. The former can time after time clear easily by heading when kicking would be difficult and risky. The professionals are splendid headers; but Oakley and Lodge among amateurs have in this point been up to the best standard.

Enough has been said in the articles on forward and half back play to show that in the modern game combination concerns the whole team, and, therefore, the backs; and that the backs, though chiefly and assentially engaged in defensive work, have also a part to play in the attack. In pure defence combination consists in the backs playing not each on his own, but with one another, with the goalkeeper, and with the halves. Backs and halves should one and all be mutually in touch.

They should help one another in every possible way, and each one should follow himself to be helped. When one man is engaged in tackling another should be ready to intercept the pass; when one man is kicking another should shield him from interference. The usual disposal of forces was explained in the article on half-back play. Theoretically each back and each half should mark one of the opposing forwards, but in the ups and downs of the game, the details of defence are continually arranging and re-arranging themselves.

The backs have to arrive at a judicious compromise between being close enough to their halves to be in perfect touch with them, and being far enough in the rear to prevent the oppsite side over-kicking with impunity. The faster the backs are the closer to the halves can they play. The brothers Walters first invented the system of playing right up to the halves, and the system has ever since been followed in the Corinthians teams. A perusal of records will show that the goal-average against the Corinthian is a very favourable criticism on the method. But it must be remarked that the Corinthians have had as a rule exceptionally fast backs.

Fast backs can safely do lots of things that would be fatal in the case of slow men. When backs find they absolutely have the pace even of the enemy's wing forwards they can play quite up to the halves, and thus not only effectually smoother short passing, but genuinely help in feeding their own forwards. Besides, this method puts the opposing wing men off-side if they try to lie far forward.

I remember once a Northern crowd getting very angry with Oakley and myself because their favourite sprinter was continually given off-side. They exhorted us to "play the game." We thought we were — our game. Most professional backs play rather too far behind their halves. This throws an extra amount of work on the latter, and though the backs get a lot of free kicking, their freedom comes at the expense of the halves' work, and they are liable to be led into high gallery kicking, which is no use to their own forwards at all.

Backs should lay to heart the immense value in all defensive work by securing and keeping interior lines of action. The nearer they are to their own goal the more should they concentrate. The further they are from it the wider may they spread their combined sphere of action, but they should always contrive to have a nearer route than any opponent to any effective point. In combining with one another they should at mutual assistance. When one is rather forward, as he should be when the ball is on his wing either in attack or defence, the other should come across a little, and lie rather behind him. Sometimes one back may pass to the other when himself had pressed, but a back should never pass when there is the slightest chance of the ball being intercepted. Near goal they should play absolutely to the goalkeeper, and for him; keep him well shielded, yet give him plenty of room.

The attacking rule of backs has been mentioned. It consists in doing their very best so to kick the ball to the forwards that the latter can easily take it. Huge, lofty kicks are poor play. The crowd likes and cheers them, and the badly informted part of the Press-box has no end to say about the grand kicking of so-and-so. But the poor forwards do not get the ball. A back often has to clear as best he may, and he must at all costs avoid feeble kicking; but when ever there is no danger, and he has the ball clear, he should definitely try to pas to the best placed forward.

It generally happens that from a back's position the most effective pass is well out to the wing man. And, by the way, it may be remarked that even when it is a case of sheer clearing the ball is bets directed either towards your own wingman, or to the one o nthe opposite side of the ground; the opposing defence has less chance of returning the ball than if you plug it straight down the ground. In feeding forwards the best kick of all is plumb along the ground; but since it is fatal for a back's kick to be intercepted he must often lift the ball to make sure of avoiding opponents.

But backs should always kick low whenever they can; and always think where they are kicking. By continually trying to put the ball where desired, the power of placing is obtained. Nick Ross could drop the ball almost within a foot of where he wanted at forty yards. Low kicking is not easy, nor is accuracy; but those who would rival the great backs must attain both. The better back a man is the less showy is his kicking, but the more use to his side.