It’s official! Scotland DID invent modern football... well, according to the BBC!

ABBC documentary has been cleared of making false claims that Scotland — rather than England — invented the modern game of football.

The programme, fronted by Scottish actor Dougray Scott, put forward the argument that the version of football played today originated in Scotland.

Titled Dougray Scott: Bringing Football Home, it explained that in the 1870s, the Scotland international side was made up mainly of players from Queen’s Park, who were described as the first team to use what was dubbed ‘combination football’ — regularly passing the ball back and forth to each other.

Football historians said, prior to this, the majority of teams, including the England side that faced Scotland, simply dribbled the ball as individuals and rarely sought out team-mates.

They went on to say that a group of players from Scotland, known as the Scotch Professors, then exported their style of play to England and beyond.

After the documentary aired on the BBC Scotland channel in

February, a viewer complained that the claims made in it were inaccurate.

The complaint was escalated to the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU), who launched a probe.

They have now refused to uphold the complaint after ruling there is enough evidence to back up the claim that Scotland invented the modern game.

In its ruling, the ECU said: ‘A viewer complained about the accuracy of several aspects of this programme, which looked at the influence of Scotland on the development of football, including the claim that

Scotland “created the modern game”. The ECU considered whether it met the relevant standards set out in the Editorial Guidelines.

‘The ECU noted this was a programme which made the case for Scotland’s role in developing the modern version of football and did so in a way which reflected the long-standing rivalry between Scotland and England.

‘As with all branches of history, a degree of subjectivity is involved in any assessment of how and where the game developed.

‘However, a number of reputable football historians set out the evidence which they believed supported the view Scotland played a significant role in influencing the modern game (as distinct from historic versions).

‘This included the foundation of the first club, the development of tactics and a certain style of play, the construction of grounds, and the role of Scottish players in spreading the sport around the world.

‘Taken together, these were sufficient to support Dougray Scott’s assessment of “the foundational role Scotland played in creating the modern game”.’

The official history of the game on the website of FIFA, world football’s governing body, states it began in 1863 in England when the English Football Association was formed.

However, some historians have said clan members played the modern ‘passing and running’ version in churchyards in the north of Scotland and then brought the game to Glasgow in the 1860s.

In the documentary, Scott said: ‘A group of so-called Scotch Professors reinvented the game and exported it around the world.

‘But for some reason, there’s another lot who seems to think the game belongs to them.’