Did ‘beautiful game’ really first kick off in Edinburgh?

IT was not exactly the ‘beautiful game’ as we know it today.

The version played in Edinburgh’s Dalry almost 200 years ago allowed shin kicking, shoving and 20 players per team.

Now research has revealed the influence of the Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh on the modern game was greater than supposed. Sports historians Andy Mitchell and John Hutchison have uncovered details of the club, established in 1824 and thought to be the world’s oldest.

Archives kept by club founder John Hope, pictured, revealed a set of six rules that predate the Cambridge University rules of 1848 by 15 years. These included a ban on tripping opponents and defined a playing area with goal posts.

In the year he founded the club, Hope was a 17-yearold law student hoping to revive the ball game he had played as a child. Despite the rough and tumble nature of the early game, it was Edinburgh’s professional classes who became members.

The club has been seen as a historical aberration, with little influence on the game. But the historians say it had ‘a far-reaching web of influence’.

James Kirkpatrick, an FA Cup winner with London club Wanderers FC in 1877, was the first captain of Scotland in an unofficial international match against England in 1870. He was the son of Foot-Ball club member Charles Kirkpatrick.

Mr Mitchell said: ‘The club was more influential than at first appears.’