Hacking is a tactic in the early forms of football that involved tripping an opposing player by kicking their shins. A dispute among clubs over whether to ban the tactic eventually led to the split between the sports of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

. Despite this split, rugby clubs banned the tactic soon after.

History

The practice of hacking in English football games had been around for many years and was not exclusive to rugby. Hacking was used as a way to get the ball carrier to the ground, where it was also legal to hack the first player that entered into a ruck. Before the introduction of referees, hacking was also used as a method to punish players who were offside. Because each club and school had its own rules for football, a series of six meetings were held in 1863 at the

Freemasons' Tavern The Freemasons' Tavern was established in 1775 at 61–65 Great Queen Street in the West End of London, West End of London. It served as a meeting place for a variety of notable organisations from the 18th century until it was demolished in 1909 ...

to agree on a unified set of rules. A main disagreement arose when hacking was attempted to be prohibited from these unified rules following complaints about the violence of hacking in newspapers. Francis Maule Campbell of Blackheath F.C. argued that hacking was part of the game and character-building, remarking that it "...would do away with all the courage and pluck of the game" and declared that he would "bring over a lot of Frenchmen" to beat the other clubs with a week's training. Campbell proposed amendments aiming at retaining two draft rules, the first of which allowed for running with the ball in hand and the second permitted obstructing such a run by hacking, tripping, or holding. As a result of his amendments being rejected, he withdrew Blackheath from the meetings of

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

, thus creating the split between rugby and association football.

Abolition

Despite Campbell's strong support for hacking to remain part of rugby, numerous clubs abolished it in the following years, with Blackheath and Richmond banning it in 1865 and 1866, respectively. In 1871, rugby clubs formed the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

and all mentions of hacking permitted in the rules were eventually removed. Some rugby clubs insisted on maintaining the hacking tactic after the formation of the RFU. As a result,

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

where the game was invented could not join the RFU until 1890 because they refused to ban hacking in their games. Under the current laws of rugby union, section 10.4.d prohibits hacking in modern rugby matches.

References

{{reflist, 30em History of rugby union Rugby football culture Banned sports tactics History of association football

History

Abolition

See also

References