Bring Back The Back Pass

Wednesday March 10, 2010
By Allan Black

Not so long ago, a player could pass the ball back to the goalkeeper and he could pick it up. A generation of players and fans have grown up never knowing this.

The ‘back pass’ as it was known, was employed by defenders to get out of trouble, to re-group the team, to waste time and to set off a cacophony of whistles and abuse by frustrated fans, sometimes from both sets of supporters in unison.

Boring, negative, and a host of other unprintable adjectives were associated with this type of play. The ears at FIFA heard the booing and the rule outlawing the back pass was enacted in 1992.

The age of rush soccer was born.

The fetish of mono-minded attacking football swept away the balancing pillar of defensive control.

A slower, methodical practice was replaced by urgency more pressing than a swollen bladder.
Watch games from the era of the back pass and you will see how much has been lost. Back then, the game was a battle of tactical wits and it allowed for a competition of ideas.

Great teams like Holland in the 1970’s, the inventors of attacking Total Football, and Italy from the 1960’s, the inventors of defensive catennacio, would never have existed in the modern era.

The back pass was essential to the execution of their soccer philosophies, the idea that soccer is measured, not a frantic plunge towards the net.

Today’s soccer is a uniform of aggressive strikes with the star focus on goal scorers. Yes, defenders are respected, and sometimes rewarded, but not revered. Since 1991, only one defender has won FIFA’s player of the year.

So, is it time for FIFA to re-introduce the back pass, and return the game to a more patient and intelligent form, to bring back the balance and sublimity of defensive play or shall we continue with frenetic attacks and goal scoring as the only important thing in football?

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