Chapter 8. The Players Who Make or Mar: Wing Half-Backs

To a very wise old-time footballer this request was made by a somewhat anxious manager: 'I wish you could come to see our team, and tell me what you think of it'.

To this the old-timer replied: 'It isn't necessary for me to see your whole team. Show me your half-backs and I'll tell you what sort of team you have'.

There is very little wrong, even in these times, with the idea behind that retort. By the power of their half-backs football teams are known. It might be suggested that in these times, because of the different approach of so many centre half-backs, it is no longer possible to judge the general merits of a side by merely watching the men in the middle line. I won't stop to argue that. What is true is that nothing has happened to the game to cut down, in any shape or form, the responsibilities of the wing halves. They are the fellows who make or mar the team. Take a close-up view of the successful sides of these modern times, and you can't fail to be impressed with the importance of the wing halves. The good teams, the most successful teams, are those best served by the men who play in these positions.

They are the fellows who should command what is roughly described as the middle of the field. They are the connecting links between the forwards and the men who mostly play close to their own goal. They must be important because they are always in the play. No idle moments for them. Wing half-back is the place which, from the utility angle, has least connection with the tape measure.

Some of the best of the wing half-backs have been little fellows, of less than average height. There was the great little Scotsman, Jimmy McMullan: a tiny fellow of West Bromwich Albion named Tommy Magee. Old-timers take off their hats when the name of 'Nudger' Needham is mentioned. The top of his head and the studs of his football boots weren't so very far apart. The same remark applies to Ben Warren. A list of tough little fellows as long as your arm could be made. Indeed, as we look around, even in these times, there seems to be some justification for the suggestion that the six-footers are given some other job on the field. They aren't placed in the wing half positions. If it is not necessary to supply the wing half-backs with lots of inches, there are other qualifications which are certainly indispensable. I have used the word tough. The wing-half must be that. He must be strong, too. Almost the first question which should be put to the young wing-half who has ideas of going to the top, or even to the player who wants to be of maximum value to a side lower down the scale is, 'Do you like work?' If the answer to that one is in the negative, some other place on the field must be found for that particular player. The fellow for whom there is no rest: no respite, throughout the ninety minutes of a match. … That is the wing-half.

Recently I asked a manager, who was searching for a wing-half, what he specially looked for. 'It isn't so much what I look for', was his reply. 'It's what I look at. And the reply to that is first and foremost the thigh muscle'. It must happen - it does happen in every game that the legs of two players, one on each side, are concerned in a close-up grapple for the ball. The one who gets it, in such struggles, is the player with the greater strength in the legs. The wing-half, the terrier, doing his job of putting a full stop to the attacks of his opponents, must be good in the tackle; must get that ball before those clever opponents who play in the inside wing positions are able to carry out their scheming.

There should be nothing of the trust-to-luck and hope-for-the-best about the tackling part of the wing-half's job. Save for the sliding tackle, with outstretched leg, which should never be made unless there is a certainty of connecting boot with ball, the tackle should be made with the body well forward and the balance retained so as to permit recovery in case the tackle does not result in its first objective, getting the ball. Remember, the ball, not the man, is the objective.

The inside forwards, who are first and foremost the wing half-back's headache, are bags of tricks. Their bodies go this way and that, their legs say they are all out to kick the ball in one direction when they haven't the slightest intention of kicking it in that direction. If they succeed in kidding the wing-half to watch their bodies, or their legs, they have gone most of the way to beating him. The ball is the thing that matters, and while I agree that the temptation to watch the other fellow is strong, to keep your eyes on the ball is the first principle behind a hold-up effort. Watch Billy Wright of the Wolves, or Jimmy Scoular of Portsmouth, typical of the terrier-like, ever worrying wing-halves, and note how they keep their eyes on the ball, going for it with one leg, with the other so placed that the body balance is retained so that they can turn if beaten. Only the player who gets the ball can do anything with it.

Wing-half, in possession, works the ball inwards a little. Defenders veer over to that side of the field, but instead of feeding his own winger, or even the centre-forward, the wing-half makes the long pass to the other winger. If the defenders, anticipating the long pass, go that way, the wing-half can then make the reverse short pass to his near winger.

Fig 6

Assuming that the wing-half knows how to get the ball - and there are many other ways of getting it in addition to the direct tackle - the question of what must be done with it follows naturally. Here it must be insisted that, as most teams play in these days, it is the wing half-backs to whom the forwards look most for service. Get the ball down and keep it down, giving the service along the ground. Provided there is a near-by forward in position to receive the ball, let him have it, along the ground, and quickly. In making that statement I am not overlooking the virtues of the long pass to the opposite side of the field, which can be made with advantage from time to time. Billy Wright is an expert in the art of switching the point of attack with the pass to the other wing. Even for the expert players, however, the short accurate pass, along the ground, can be made with a smaller margin of error than the long pass.

Having made the forward pass, or even the square pass with the object of initiating progress in attack, the wing-half hasn't finished. He must follow up. The inside man, or the outside man, to whom the ball has been pushed may need the assistance of the wing-half. Here I am fully aware that I am treading on what many students of the game will describe as delicate ground. There was a time when three Sunderland players made a watching-winning reputation with what was described as the triangular wing game. The men who made the triangle were the right-wing forward pair, Charlie Buchan and Jackie Mordue, with wing-half Frank Cuggy to complete it. When either of his right wing men had the ball, Cuggy would follow up, in a position to take a short backward pass if either of his pals was in difficulty. In these days we have no trio of men playing the triangular wing game as consistently as those three used to play it. I shall be told that the reason for this is that experience of the modern game proves it doesn't pay, that it is dangerous for the wing-half to advance to such an extent. All this may be true. It may be risky for the wing half-back, having set his wing in motion, to go up in continued support. There is trouble for his defensive colleagues if the wing-half goes up too far in support of an attack, but my opinion is that the dangers are exaggerated. I remain firm in my faith in the old tag that attack is the best defence.

I would even go so far as to say that the triangular wing play can be brought back into effective use, always provided that the position play of the other defenders is moulded accordingly. The suggestion that the half-back should change his title sometimes, and become a half-forward, won't meet with unanimous approval. But if going up in support of the men in front can be a fault - well, it is a good fault.

The extent to which the wing-half goes up in support of his own forwards must be a personal matter, depending on the power of recovery of the individual. There are wing half-backs in top class clubs of to-day who are better in attack than defence. They insist on being at hand to support their forwards. And the goals against some of the first-class teams with two wing-halves of the adventurous type sometimes tot up alarmingly. This happens because these particular players are not complete half-backs. They lack some of the essential power of recovery. In recent times the goals haven't piled up against Tottenham Hotspur when Billy Nicholson and Ronnie Burgess have been in their wing-half positions. Yet they both go up quite a long way from time to time. The secret is that they get back. Wasn't the point made earlier that the wing-half must be a worker?

There come occasions, too, when the wing-half, having got the ball somewhere around the middle of the field, finds himself with a fairly wide open space in front of him, and no colleague nearby to whom the slick quick pass can be made with advantage. The number of such occasions is apt to increase because of the defence-in-retreat tactics which are now considered 'the thing'. A telling pass being ruled out for the time being, the wing-half has no alternative to taking the ball towards his opponents' goal. Sooner or later one of those defenders must challenge. The opposition can't allow the wing-half to come up as far as he fancies. When the challenge comes, the wing-half will then have a better chance of making a useful pass. There is just one thing it is necessary for the wing-half to bear in mind when making these moves up the field: he can't afford to lose the ball to an opponent. That's the way to brew trouble for his own side.

Now we come on to the debatable question of whether it is part of the job of the wing-half to score goals. There have been times in our football, not beyond the memory of those now in middle age, when wing half-backs got into double figures among goal-scorers in the course of one season playing for first-class clubs. The wing-halves don't do it now, although I have seen Harry Johnston of Blackpool crash a couple home in one game, being far enough up to take advantage of a backward or square pass from Stanley Matthews. Wing-halves don't do it regularly, however, because, taking it by and large, their efforts to score goals don't pay a worth-while dividend. Certainly, the desired results are not forthcoming if the only effect of the half-back advancing to within shooting distance is to 'clutter up' the attack he is trying to help. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

The thought can be passed on, however, that these advances by the wing-half only serve to clutter up the attack because other players don't think quickly enough. Suppose the left-half, in possession of the ball, and unchallenged, moves up towards the penalty area. The forwards are covered: so is the way to goal. That is the moment when the inside left should move out of the way of the oncoming half-back. By moving away from the mass of players, he may draw an opponent. In any case, he has left an open space through which the advancing wing-half can get a view of the goal: an opportunity to bang the ball into the net.

If I have insisted that the wing-half, the fellow with the strength of leg, the wind and the speed which enable him to get back to his proper position, can go up to get goals, I must hasten to clear myself of the charge of neglecting to point out the pitfalls. They are very real.

In a First Division match I attended last season, a wing halfback worked the ball into his opponents' penalty area, dribbling this way and that, with the crowd cheering him on. Very cleverly he got far enough up to have a shot at goal, too. And the crowd still cheered, because the shot was a good one. The goalkeeper saved the shot: caught the ball, and without hesitation cleared to somewhere about the half-way line on that side of the field the half-back had come from. There was no half-back in position to stop the attack, and in a few seconds from the time the spectators had been cheering the effort of the half-back at one end of the field the ball was in the net at the other end.

In any case, the merit of this advance move by the wing-half lies in its surprise. When it becomes a habit, the surprise element is reduced or its effect completely lost. The surprise element also applies to another important part of the wing-half's job, the throw-in. Everybody knows the value of the long throw, how it can be made to catch the defenders napping. Sam Weaver was among the first to show how the long throw can be made. He could throw the ball from anywhere near the corner-flag to a place approximately opposite to the far goalpost.

The long-throw, like other long shots at various games, can only be made with all the muscle of the body in harmony. Take the ball back behind the shoulders, bend the whole body back, and as the hands containing the ball come over, bring the whole body with them, rising on the toes at the same time.

If the long throw is tried every time, the defenders are ready for it, and take up their positions to meet it. So the long throw, like other moves in football, should be kept up the sleeve, as it were, ready for production in much the same way that the expert conjuror suddenly produces the rabbit when it isn't even suspected that he has a rabbit anywhere around.

The orthodox short throw should be an advantage to the side which has been awarded the throw. Consequently, to the wing half-back especially, my advice is not to transfer the advantage to the other side by making a foul throw. The laws of the game set out very clearly what can and can not be done in the process of throwing the ball from the touch-line. There is no sound excuse for the throw-in being wasted, despite the obvious fact that the side having the throw has, for the time being, one player fewer on the pitch. The advantage is still with the side taking the throw, the half-back is the player in possession of the ball. He can throw it this way or that, straight ahead of him, to the left or to the right.

The short ball to the head, the chest or the foot of a colleague, who immediately returns it to the thrower is the method of making good use of the throw most generally adopted. The thrower, getting the ball back, is then in a position to make a long kick towards the middle, or alternatively to work his way along the wing. I always had an impression, during my playing career, that this method of using the throw to advantage could be stopped by some opponent taking up a position quite near to the thrower, but perhaps the answer to that is that this means taking a covering player away from some opponent he should be watching. Maybe such a counter-move wouldn't always work, but I would like to see it adopted.

Anyhow, my immediate concern is the effective use of the throw. If the opponents have taken up covering positions so far as the near-by players of the throwing side are concerned, there is a way out of this situation. Here is an idea which can be 'worked' occasionally. The left half is in position to make the throw. All his colleagues are covered. Suddenly, from out of the blue, the inside right comes running at top speed towards the thrower. Having had a flying start over all opponents he is then in an open space, and the ball can be thrown to him as he runs into position.

At the root of the business of making use of the throw, is understanding between the thrower and his team mates. The opposition can sometimes be kidded by dummy signs which seem to mean something, but which actually, mean anything save what they seem to indicate. When David Jack and I were right-wing forward partners, we had a working arrangement with Charlie Jones for some of these throw-in operations. I would be in position to receive the ball from the throw, and would either call to Jones for the ball, or signal that I wanted it, to my head or to my feet. Behind me, nearer to the opposing goal, David Jack would take up his position, somewhere near to the side-line. Instead of throwing the ball to me, Jones would send it over my head to David Jack. The fullback would come across to challenge David. Meantime, I had run inwards, round the wing-half, who had been keeping an eye on me, and if my inside-right partner could not make headway on his own, he would slip the ball across to me. A simple example, this, of what can be achieved by intelligent position-switching as applied to the throw-in.

I could dwell for some time on signals which mean something other than they are supposed to mean, but I would prefer members of a side to work out their own secret code. Working them out adds interest to the play, and kidding the opposition provides real pleasure to the fellows who manage to bring it off. Understanding between the players of a side can be very helpful when applied to Operation Throw-in.

Above: The short throw to the head of a near-by player, who nods it back to the thrower as he moves forward along the touch-line. Top right: As the right-half makes the throw, his inside left runs into position to receive longer throw and gets the ball free of opposition.
Below: Outside right has taken up position for the short throw. Inside right has gone nearer to goal and ball is thrown over head of opponent covering outside right. At the same time outside right runs past opponent to take pass from his partner.
Fig 7

In defence, as in attack, the utmost possible measure of understanding with other players must be developed; and especially between the rest of the side and the wing half. When two players go for the ball, an opponent is probably left unmarked. There is no law against players on such occasions talking to each other, or shouting instructions to each other. In their own way the defenders should be a combined force. The wing-half should be up with the play on his own wing when that wing is attacking. He should be back into position to help check an attack by the other fellows on his own flank. And if the attack threatens danger on the opposite flank, then across towards that side the wing-half must go. Up with the attack; back to play a prominent part in defence; jumping to it like a flash when an emergency arises! Always in it! The wing-half who can say he has done these things can hold out his hand for his money at the end of the ninety minutes with a clear conscience. If he hasn't done all these things he hasn't filled the role. A real footballer, the wing-half. A full time worker.

If you had played in the same side as non-stop Wilf Copping, ever in the thick of it, or played in a match when Willis Edwards was on the opposite side, you would have realized how invaluable a wing-half can be to a team.