পেনাল্টি কিকের আদি ইতিহাস

২৯ শে মার্চ, ২০১৫ রাত ৯:১৮

Penalties have been a part of the game for a long time.
But do you know why it was introduced?

If you are a fan of the England national team, you would
know what a penalty kick is. You may not know how it is
taken appropriately, but you will definitely know what it
is.
The point is that, everyone who follows football knows
what a penalty is because it has been a part of the game
since the time we have started watching it, and many,
many years before that as well.
But no matter how workaday the humble penalty may
appear to us today, it wasn’t always the case. Like many
rules and regulations of the sport, the penalty too was
‘added on’ and not a part of the sport from the very
beginning.

Why was the rule enforced?
The penalty kick was invented in the year, 1890 by an
Irish footballer by the name of William McGann. McGann
was a goalkeeper himself, who played for Milford FC in
the very first season of the Irish league.
However, it was a member of the Irish Football
Association who was pivotal in making the idea of a
penalty kick one of the laws of the game. Defenders
were finding it easy to stop oncoming attackers from
scoring a goal by fouling them close to the goal – the
12-yard area which we now know as the penalty box.
The proposition to make the penalty kick a law was to
prevent this very dirty trick used by defenders. The
proposition was accepted, and it became a part of the
rules as Rule number 13. in 1891. The law read:
“If any player shall intentionally trip or hold an opposing
player, or deliberately handle the ball within twelve yards
from his own goal line, the referee shall, on appeal, award
the opposing side a penalty kick, to be taken from any point
12 yards from the goal line, under the following conditions:

All players, with the exception of the player taking the penalty
kick and the goalkeeper, shall stand behind the ball and at
least six yards from it; the ball shall be in play when the kick
is taken. A goal may be scored from a penalty kick.”
How the rule has evolved over the years
William Foulke – the man who forced major rule
changes of penalty-taking
When the penalty rule was just introduced, the kick
could be taken from anywhere along a line, parallel to
the goal and 12 yards away from it. It was only in 1902
when the penalty spot was introduced and it is still used
today. In 1937, the D-line was introduced which forced
the players other than the spot kick taker to stand
behind the D. Up until then, players could stand
anywhere they liked on the penalty line which often
made it confusing and harder for the goalkeeper to
concentrate.

Another important altercation which was made to the
rule was that of the goalkeeper not allowing moving off
his line. This was not always the case, and was changed
thanks to a certain Willie Foulkes.
Foulkes used to play for Sheffield United before his
transfer to Chelsea in 1905. He had already won a
reputation as a brilliant shot stopper when it came to the
spot kick. But what was interesting was the way he used
to save penalties.
Foulkes was an imposing figure at 6 feet 3 inches, and
weighing around 330 pounds. He absolutely hated it
when a penalty was rewarded against his team. To stop
the kick taker from scoring, he would often charge down
his line to intimidate him. Apparently, this ploy of his
was mightily successful which is why the authorities
introduced the rule for goalies wherein it was mandatory
for them to remain on their line.
Foulkes was also responsible for the development of a
widely used footballing jargon. After Chelsea, Foulkes
moved on to Bradford City. While playing Accrington
Stanley, Foulkes damaged his jersey and could not find a
suitable sized replacement. A sheet was obtained from a
nearby house which he wrapped around himself. Foulkes
then went on for the whole match without diving and
still winning the match 1-0, and hence the phrase, “to
keep a clean sheet” was born.

Origin of penalty shoot-outs
Whenever we see a tied game in football these days in a
match which needs a definite winner, we see the match
advance to extra time. However, we hope to see it
advance all the way to a penalty shoot-out (unless the
team you support is terrible at it) because it is so thrilling
to witness.
In the past, tied games used to be decided by either a
coin toss or a replay. But coin tosses are unfair as it is
attributed solely to luck, and replays take more time, are
physically more taxing on players and also costs more to
the organizers. A penalty shoot-out therefore is a great
way to combat these difficulties while obtaining a fair
result too.
The idea of the modern day shootout is credited to
Israeli, Yosef Dagan who gave the proposition after
seeing his national team crash out of the 1968 Olympic
quarter finals due to drawing of lots. The Israeli FA, with
backing by the Malaysian FA’s referee committee led the
move for its adoption by FIFA. After some discussions,
the International Football Association Board (IFAB)
although “not entirely satisfied”, adopted the proposal on
27 June, 1970.
Development of penalty shootouts
In England the first ever penalty shoot-out was won by
who other but Manchester United? It was against Hull
City during the semi-final clash of the Watney Cup in
1970. The first player to take a kick was George Best,
and the first to miss was Denis Law. Ian McKechnie ,
who saved Law's kick, was also the first goalkeeper to
take a spot kick.
The first ever European Cup shoot-out was between
Everton F.C. and Borussia Monchengladbach, with
Everton winning 4–3.
As for major international tournaments, the first shoot-
out was in the 1976 European Championship final
between West German and Czechoslovakia. UEFA had
made the provision of a replay two days later, but both
the teams decided to opt for a shoot-out instead, which
resulted in a 5-3 win for Czechoslovakia.
The first penalty shoot-out in the World Cup was on 9
January 1977, in the first round of African qualifying,
when Tunisia beat Morocco. The first shoot-out in the
finals tournament was in 1982, when West
Germany beat France in the semi-final. If the 1982
final had been drawn, penalties would not have applied
unless the replay was also drawn; from 1986, penalties
were scheduled after the final as for the earlier knockout
rounds.
Do penalty-shootouts favour the attacker?
The purists of the game however, were not happy with
the introduction of this revolutionizing idea of a shoot-
out. Football according to them was a free flowing game
which is quickly resumed if there is a foul or the ball
goes out of play. A penalty easily takes a minute or so
out of the game on an average – something the purists
could not tolerate.
As for shoot-outs, surely there should be a better way to
decide games? By 1994, the shoot-out decided the World
Cup finals itself, and by 1998, 3 more teams were
knocked out courtesy this new rule. But if there has ever
been an alternative to it, FIFA has been unable to find it,
and we still carry on with the shoot-outs.
Penalties are also looked upon as largely favouring the
player attempting to score rather than the goalie. A
scorer is likely to score 76% of the times on an average.
Even ice hockey which has the most similar penalty
taking style as football has an average scoring chance of
a meagre 40%. That’s why it’s more than fair to say that
this rule has skewed the game slightly in favour of the
attacker. The changing definitions of what is a foul and
what is not makes life even harder for defenders. While a
double studded challenge was regulation a few decades
ago, the same results in an immediate red card more
often than not in today’s times.
Having said all this though, the penalty has still been a
welcome addition to the sport and has taken many
malpractices on the field out of the picture. There are
criticisms and controversies, but then that is the case
with almost every rule in every sport.

Penalties and penalty shoot-outs have become such an
integral part of the game these days that it is close to
impossible to imagine it without them. It brings more
balance and fairness to the game by eliminating certain
ambiguities that were prevalent in the past. Not to
mention the drama and the adrenaline rush it adds too.
Imagine how different the Italy vs. France 2006 World
Cup finals would have been if not for the penalty shoot-
outs. Or the Manchester United vs. Chelsea thriller in the
European Cup finals of 2008 which is still talked about so
much. Or even the iconic Ivory Coast vs. Ghana
(probably also because of Gervinho’s expressions or lack
thereof) penalty shoot-out in the AFCON this year which
went down to the very end.
Think of the thousands of penalty decisions during the
90 minutes of a game too. So many matches and
tournaments could have had different results had this
rule not been in place. The game is much richer thanks
to this rule, and let’s not forget the chance it gives us to
scream in anticipation or revolt when a player goes down
in the box.



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