The park had several games going on in the shadow of Wainhouse Tower, one of Britain's finest follies. Built by 1875, it was designed by architect Isaac Booth as a chimney to take away smoke from the local dye works to conform to the Smoke Abatement Act of 1870. Wainhouse also was able to irritate his neighbour, Sir Henry Edwards, who claimed that he had the most "private estate in Yorkshire", which became clearly visible from the tower which stood at 275 feet, the tallest folly in the world (apparently). Having been restored at around £400,000, it is open at Bank Holidays and is regarded as one of the top architectural follies in the country.
The game was refereed by an appointed referee because there had been a bit of banter on social media about our previous home victory over the Halifax club, who believed that "our ref" had been biased. Booo!
So things went well, both teams played with great spirit and everyone was genuinely decent for the 80 minutes of the well contested match. Hepworth gave the opposition two goals by miss judging the bounce on a well worn Somme like pitch but made up for those mistakes by scoring 4 good goals including a penalty, that was fair! Thanks ref.
BUT during the game, when we might have extended our lead the referee gave an indirect free kick for handball. He told our big lad Joe who has a kick like a mule that he had to take an indirect free kick and Joe was confused because I was telling him to put his laces through the ball and shoot directly. We all know that handball is a direct free kick offence. Joe chipped the ball over the wall but nothing came of it. We didn't have an indirect free kick plan!
Chasten somewhat by our victory, the missed "chance" to shoot directly from about 25 yards was not crucial. I had a chat with the ref after the game who said that the handball was not deliberate and so he only gave an indirect free kick. Somebody out there might explain this to me?
Until 1866, the FA in those early games of football allowed "a fair catch" when players were allowed to handle the ball by patting it down (as in hockey). Indeed in some regions, catching the ball and punting it as in Aussie Rules was allowed.
When the Sheffield and London Rules were eventually merged, in 1877, handling of any sort was not allowed, except by the designated goalkeeper. In 1881 the referee was empowered to award a penalty if the ball was handled by an outfield player to stop it going through the goal. This lasted one year because in those days refs were not necessarily close enough to the event to judge where the ball was going. From 1891, all handling offences were therefore considered indirect, with the exception of the penalty kick for handling in the penalty area.
From 1897 the Law stipulated that handling was only illegal when it was intentional (a direct kick awarded), a law that still stands today. So our ref should not have awarded the free kick at all if he thought the St Columbas' lad had not intentionally handled the ball. Making it indirect was a "get out".
From 1982 a deliberate handball denying a certain goal became a "sending off offence", presumably with a penalty kick to add to the punishment. What about a deliberate handball attempting to score a goal? Sending off? Maradona...had he been caught!
From 1912 goalkeepers were restricted to handling the ball inside the penalty area. Prior to that a goalkeeper could run out of his area and use his hands up to the half way line, bouncing the ball. Shooting at goal from the half way line was not uncommon.
This of course lead to some Aussie Rule like tackling, but not using hands if you get the drift. A goalie can, of course, throw the ball into his own net or with some power into the opponents too! Both of which will result in a goal, assuming the ball was "in play".
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