TR is correct.Not because it was unfair (both teams did it offensively and defensively) but because in one season alone (1905) this formation caused 18 deaths and over 125 serious injuries. It was banned after 33 deaths in the 1906 season. The sport of football itself was almost banned at Harvard and Yale because of this strategy, but instead, rules were just revised. Wikipedia has it banned in 1894, other sources say it was banned after the 1906 season. The International Rugby Union also banned the flying wedge around this same time.
I had used this for a starter in a history class; the thing that brought it to his attention was (I think) that a friend of his son was killed in one of those mishaps. Having ditched all the old files to clear space on the computer I can't tell you for sure…. 🙁
I don't really see why the “flying wedge” would be any more dangerous in football than any other formation. I'm guessing it was used on kickoff returns.
Oh…well that sounds like an idiotic play. They more or less had to leave their entire frontside open if they were locking their arms with another player. I'm sure it resulted in defenders simply throwing themselves in front of the mass of people. It would never make it in the modern game…but it would be interesting to see it attempted!
I wonder why in the US ppl keep calling soccer what is instead real football and are calling football what is in fact a kind of rugby ???Football is a game about a ball and foot whilst rugby it's about a ball and foot with hand-playing ...
I wonder why in the US ppl keep calling soccer what is instead real football and are calling football what is in fact a kind of rugby ???Football is a game about a ball and foot whilst rugby it's about a ball and foot with hand-playing ...
Mainly because we can and because despite being one of the biggest countries in the world we still can't field a decent World Cup team. I will root for the US next month until they are eliminated and then root for Germany. Of course, I never really paid that much attention to soccer until I married a German.I have to admit though, I still stay up until 2-3 in the morning to watch college Football in the fall and winter. American football is just a more exciting game to me although I cannot explain exactly why.
Mainly because we can and because despite being one of the biggest countries in the world we still can't field a decent World Cup team. I will root for the US next month until they are eliminated and then root for Germany. Of course, I never really paid that much attention to soccer until I married a German.I have to admit though, I still stay up until 2-3 in the morning to watch college Football in the fall and winter. American football is just a more exciting game to me although I cannot explain exactly why.
New World, New GamesI have to admit that the US national team did very well in the last Football World Cups, however let's see for the next Mundial in South Africa ... ::)