The influential Cambridge rules, set out in 1848, stated that, “hands may be used only to stop a ball and place it on the ground before the feet.” Any player could handle the ball, and therefore any player could keep goal, but there was no formal goalkeeping position.

In 1863 the original Football Association rules were drawn up, but still made no mention of the goalkeeper. The separate Sheffield rules did, however, stating: “The goalkeeper is that player in the defending side who is for the time being nearest his own goal.” It was still perfectly acceptable for any member of the team to handle the ball anywhere on the pitch, but teams began to assign specific players to act as goalkeeper…

Read the full story in issue 5 of Goalkeeper Magazine.

Northern Echo, 23 July 1883

Darlington FC was formed in 1883. The town already had cricket, rugby, swimming and quoits clubs, but there was strong appetite for the Association game. On Friday 20 July 1883, at a meeting at Darlington Grammar School, it was unanimously agreed that the town should have its football club.

Local engineer Charles Samuel Craven was appointed as club secretary. Arguably the most influential individual in Darlington’s early history, Craven was also Darlington’s first goalkeeper. He would later (in 1889) be the main instigator of the Northern League.

The fledgling club played its first few games at a ground at the town’s North Lodge Park. One of Darlington’s first recorded matches was against Hurworth on Saturday 20 October 1883. Darlington won 4-3, although one of the four goals was disputed by the visitors. This was fairly typical, and Darlington’s early history would be littered with disputes.

Northern Echo, 22 October 1883

By early 1884, Darlington had taken up residence at Feethams, the club’s home for the next 120 years. In April 1884, the club reached the final of the Durham Football Association Challenge Cup, and played Sunderland at the Monkwearmouth Cricket Ground. Darlington lost what the Northern Echo called ‘a most unpleasant match’ 3-4, but the club immediately lodged a complaint, alleging that its players and the match officials had been intimidated and threatened with violence by Sunderland players and spectators. The referee supplied evidence in Darlington’s favour, and stated that he had not, in fact, awarded Sunderland’s fourth and winning goal. The Durham Football Association ordered that the final be replayed.

The replay took place at Birtley on 3 May. Despite ‘the smart passing and unselfish play of the Darlington forwards’ and a notable display in goal from Charles Craven, Sunderland won 2-0, and this time the result stood.

Northern Echo, 7 April 1884

However, in the following season, a ‘skilful’, ‘lithe and active’ Darlington team fared better. Charles Craven had recruited a new player – A Ghanaian missionary named Arthur Wharton. An exceptionally quick sprinter, Wharton was briefly used as a forward, before taking over from Craven as goalkeeper. In his first season, the important Northern Echo football writer ‘Off-side’ called Wharton ‘a man to whom many a well-fought victory will be due’.

With Wharton between the sticks, Darlington beat Hurworth 6-0, Bishop Auckland Institute 1-0, and Castle Eden 6-1 to reach the final – once more against Sunderland. At Feethams on 28 March 1885, Darlington took the lead through an own goal, before Kelso scored twice to give his side a 3-0 win.

Sunderland lodged a complaint relating to the impartiality, or otherwise, of the referee, but it wasn’t upheld. ‘It was felt by everyone on the field that the greatest partiality the umpire might have shown the Sunderland club could not have saved them from defeat,’ wrote Off-side. Darlington had won the Durham Football Association Challenge Cup – the club’s first trophy.

Northern Echo, 30 March 1885

In the 1885/86 season Darlington entered the national FA Cup competition, but, after being given a bye in the first round, they went out in the second, being thrashed 8-0 by Grimsby Town. Then, at the beginning of the 1889/90 season, Darlington became one of the inaugural members of the Northern League, with Charles Craven installed as league secretary. The club lost its first league match, 1-2 to East End (the club that would become Newcastle United), but followed that up with a 7-0 win over Birtley. That first league season ended with Darlington in mid-table, and upstart local rivals St Augustine’s crowned as champions. But the improving Darlington soon found success – winning the Northern League in season 1895/96, and then again in 1899/1900.

That was the beginning for Darlington FC. But now we may be reaching the end. What would Charles Craven have thought of his club’s demise? If the club’s long history is to come to an end, then surely Craven would have demanded a new beginning. A new, fan-led, grass roots beginning. A new association football club for Darlington.

The prospect of a football competition presided over by a massive electronic overlord was a thrilling one for any imaginative young football fan, but the reality proved to be somewhat less exciting. The Super Scoop 2000 Sports Computer turned out to be a know-all control freak, and its story highlights the dangers of combining football and technology…

Read the full story in issue #3 of Late Tackle.
(A version of this article also appeared on Sabotage Times.)

You know that Shankly quote, “Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better”? Well it’s obviously true. This is game that can essentially be boiled down to kicking a bit of dead cow between two posts, and yet we discuss, analyse and argue football in its minutae. I’m culpable for writing this and you’re culpable for reading it. We are Shankly’s “people who should know better”.

If there’s one thing we can all agree to agree on about football it’s that we can’t agree on anything. Half the time we can’t even agree on what constitutes a goal and what doesn’t. Did the ball cross the line? The forward says it did but the defender says it didn’t. The referee was too far away to see, and the linesman’s looking baffled. Was it a goal? No one rightly knows. What are we to do? FOOTBALL HAS DESCENDED INTO ANARCHY!…

Read the full story in issue 2 of The Blue & White.

“The rebranding of St James’ Park is another slap for Newcastle fans; Supporters fear Newcastle United’s owner, Mike Ashley, is using the club as a billboard to advertise his Sports Direct chain”.

It was all going so well. Perhaps too well, with hindsight. The announcement that Newcastle United’s ground, St James’ Park, is to be renamed the Sports Direct Arena has shattered the fragile truce between the football club’s supporters and its owner, Mike Ashley…

Read the full story on the Guardian website.

You can read more Newcastle United posts here.

Ronnie Blake (Goalkeepers Are Different): Esteemed sportswriter Brian Glanville’s Goalkeepers Are Different was published in 1972 by Puffin and aimed at younger readers, but it’s a must-read for goalkeepers of all ages. The book tracks the progress of young keeper Ronnie Blake as he establishes himself between the sticks at fictional first division side Borough, competing against the best teams and players of the era. It feels like an authentic glimpse into the life of a goalkeeper in the early 70s, set in an evocative world of studs, mud and sideburns, and regarded by many as the best football book ever written…

Read the full story in issue four of Goalkeeper Magazine.

Jon Stark arrived on the football scene in the late 1970s, a prolific striker who played for numerous clubs in England and abroad on a nomadic career path motivated entirely by money. A self-styled ‘Matchwinner for Hire’, his terms of service were set out on his business card: ‘£1,000 per match plus £250 per goal, no payment for lost games.’ Playing for different clubs every week, wherever the promise of payment took him, Stark was the ultimate football mercenary. He was, of course, entirely fictional – a comic book character created against the backdrop of a real-life transfer revolution under the strapline: ‘Meet the Footballer of the Future…’

Read the full story in issue 2 of Late Tackle magazine.

In 1982, with Desert Island Discs more than 40 years old, Trevor Brooking became only the third footballer to appear on the show. At first glance it appeared the West Ham man had impeccable taste. Few music aficionados could grumble at the selection of The Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher, or How Sweet It Is by Junior Walker and the Allstars, and Brooking was the only football figure to choose the Beatles. But then he went and spoilt everything by picking What Kind of Fool by Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb – as his castaway’s favourite, no less…

Read the full story in the October 2011 issue of When Saturday Comes.

Here’s a truth that no football writer wants to hear: there is too much football writing. Even considering the huge appetite for football and anything connected with the game, there are more words written about football than can feasibly be read by anything resembling a worthwhile audience. Professionally there isn’t enough money to go around and, for those writers who are happy to write for love not money, there is too much competition for readers.

As a result, the arrival of a new football publication should probably be greeted with mixed emotions. It’s something else to fit in alongside the daily local and national newspaper coverage, fistful of magazines, hundreds of blogs, and thousands of 140-character tweets. But on this occasion you’re going to have to shift some things around, set some time aside, make room for something else to read. Because The Blue & White is really rather good.

Created by Richard and Neil Bellis, The Blue & White is a Chester FC fanzine that also looks at the wider world of football (“and other stuff”). As a fan-owned club formed following the winding up of Chester City last year, Chester FC should be fairly well-known to right-minded football followers. They were promoted in their first season to the Evo-Stik Premier League, where they last week beat another fan-owned club, FC United of Manchester.

The first thing to say about The Blue & White is that it’s a print publication, which is great for those of us who suffer from football blog-related eyestrain. As great as the internet is, nothing beats reading from a nicely produced physical object – something that the excellent The Blizzard has recently ably demonstrated. The Blue & White is a great-looking A5 mag, with high production values, excellently designed by Michael Kinlan.

Secondly, it’s a not for profit venture, with all proceeds going to Chester’s Junior Blues. Everyone’s in this for the love of the game, and that shines through. It only costs a couple of quid, and there’s a lot more worthwhile stuff in here than you’d get in your average matchday programme.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the content is really absorbing. The debut issue includes an authoritative piece on fanzine culture by William Abbs, and nice feature by James Davenport questioning whether a successful manager needs to have had experience as a player.

Naturally, the majority of the content is Chester-focussed, including a 2010/11 review, a flash back to previous promotion games, and look at what Chester fans can expect from this season’s away days. Particularly interesting is Rob Langham‘s piece on Chester’s footballing geography – how can the club grow given its relative proximity to Merseyside and Greater Manchester?

So, despite the huge amount of football writing out there, The Blue & White should be welcomed by football readers and writers. You can buy a copy online at the Blue & White website. Unfortunately the quality is set to dip slightly over forthcoming issues as I’ve agreed to write something for the mag. Try not to let that put you off.

Twitter: @paulbrownUK

Forget about Fantasy Football, in the late 1970s there was only one imaginary soccer competition worth bothering with – the Scoop Inter City Superleague. The prospect of a football league presided over by a massive electronic overlord was a thrilling one for any imaginative young football fan, but the reality proved to be somewhat less exciting. The Super Scoop 2000 Sports Computer turned out to be a know-all control freak, and its story highlights the dangers of combining football and technology…

Read the full story over at Sabotage Times.