Football: The Association Game/Chapter 6

by Charles William Alcock

CHAPTER VI.

THE CAPTAINCY.

The capacity of the football machine is, as will be gathered from the foregoing remarks, dependent on the measure of the motor power, which is strong or weak accordingly as it is well directed and in capable hands. The efficiency of an eleven is generally in proportion to the power and skill of its captain, and it goes without saying that the appointment to fill the post should not be lightly made, and the choice fall on a player merely on account of his personal skill. The qualities required for the proper fulfilment of a post requiring peculiar skill are not inherent; they are, in fact, a gift The power and ability to command are not given to every one;

and as the greater applies to the less, the capacity for directing even a football eleven, whose success is mainly dependent on discipline, is in its way as much a talent as the ability of a general in matters of military strategy.

If an eleven has confidence, and places implicit reliance in its captain, it has already one of the necessary elements of prosperity. As a rule, on much the same principle that a wicket-keeper, by the mere fact of his position, which gives him the best chance of observing the greater part of the field, is best placed to direct the field, it is better that the captain should be a defensive than an offensive player. He is placed much more advantageously than a forward to grasp the weak points of the enemy, while at the same time carefully disposing his own forces to the best possible purpose. The extent of a captain's fitness will be the amount of the power he wields. A competent commander naturally ensures a better system of organization and more ready obedience even among the less tractable members. In any case, though, a captain, whatever his merits for the position, should be an autocrat on the field. He is, or should be, responsible for the behaviour and decorum of his men, and his power while he is in charge of the side should be absolute. A team whose members do not support its chief, but question his actions at the smallest provocation, is altogether wanting in discipline, and lacks one of the great elements of success. To sum up the question of captaincy, the fitness for the position should be clearly established before the selection is made. When once chosen, however, his position should be recognized without demur, and his orders during the game, if a side is to work well and harmoniously, implicitly carried out.

Having dealt with the most important member of a football team, it will be necessary to consider, in the first place, the best measures for filling to the best advantage the various positions the players under his command will have to occupy, and secondly, the duties each will have to carry out to make the combination effective. For the better comprehension of these two matters, it will be most convenient, as well as, I think, more useful, to the beginner at all events, to subdivide the attack and the defence, with a view to a fuller explanation of the different responsibilities.