We need to learn to live with time-wasting – dark arts make football more fun

Part of English football’s problem, and maybe the country’s problem as a whole, is that it refers to and searches for a spirit that has never really existed, certainly not in the way people like to think.

Corinthian values espouse a sense of fairness, but these were born out of the empire, which was not particularly fair on anyone who happened to get in the way of those creating it.

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Such ideals permeated sports that were rising in popularity at that time. Football was one of them and we still think of this period as being purer, where fewer people involved were motivated by money and power.

Except, this isn’t quite true. Businessmen were capable of instigating change according to their own interests. Liverpool, England’s most successful club, was only formed because of a rent dispute between Everton, once the tenants of Anfield, and John Houlding, who then formed Liverpool. Can anyone imagine the uproar if either Merseyside club moved the other’s ground now?

On the pitch, the game could seem just as confusing and unfair as the world around it and cheating, or time-wasting, was a part of that. 

GO DEEPER

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In 1885, Nottingham Forest failed in an attempt to overturn the result of an FA Cup humbling to Staveley, who were nicknamed “Old Foot and Mouth” because of the physical nature of their play.  

In a 2-1 victory over Forest, Staveley were accused by the Nottingham Post of “repeatedly kicking out”, with the ball carrying into neighbouring streets because of a strong wind.

The Derby Evening Post reported that this tactic became so notorious in the region that supporters would chant “play up, Staveley” whenever the strategy was used by other