From Blackheath to Bexley: The Welling Way, or Reviving The Art of Hacking.

EPISODE I

As a Football Historian, specialising in the game’s development in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, I wanted to create a Club DNA and Series that catered to my love of the game in its ‘purest’ form - or as declared by Francis Maule Campbell, secretary-treasurer of Blackheath FC, in 1863.

Historical Inspiration for this series:

You may know that the Football Association was founded in 1863, but you may not know that several of the six initial meetings that formed it were fraught with tense animosity over how the game should be played. Influenced by the rules favoured by the Old Boys of Eton and Harrow, one camp advocated against the frequent use of hands to carry or propel the ball, as well as prohibiting players from tripping - or hacking - the shins of their opponents. The opposing camp, influenced by those who favoured the rules as played by Rugby and Marlborough disagreed with the prohibitions against handling the ball and hacking that, when the former party won, they withdrew from the FA.

It is perhaps ironic that hacking would soon be disowned by its proponents, with Blackheath FC banning it in 1865, and Richmond FC in 1866. But that will all be about to change, as I am happy to introduce “The Welling Way, or Reviving The Art of Hacking!”

The Welling Way, A Basic Overview of the Club DNA & How We Play:

Club Values

“Together We Work” - We work together as a collective unit.

“Progress Through Constant Perseverance” - We work hard and lose no determination by our failure, so we know every step is closer to ultimate victory.

“Value the Art of the Hack” - Hacking builds character and without this art, it "[...]would do away with all the courage and pluck of the game"

Staff Recruitment

All staff shall be assessed on their character - we value that every member of the club should be determined, and that all coaching staff value the Art of the Hack, insomuch as hacking is promoted to the greatest extent possible.

Player Recruitment

All potential recruits should be assessed upon the following attributes and characteristics:

Essential - Good Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Work rate, Teamwork, Strength & Tackling.

Desirable - Tall, with a good personality, such as Determined, Professional, etc.

How We Play

Regardless of the personnel or formation used, we shall always endeavour to hinder our opponent’s advance by hacking their shins at every opportunity - whether successfully implemented or not. Successful hacks should promote prompt counter-advances, while unsuccessful hacks, which result in place-kicks, should be competently and aggressively repelled.

Success Criteria

The Success of the Welling Way does not solely lay in the winning of games and trophies - while a certain standard should be achieved to prevent termination, the key metrics that shall be assessed are Tackles Attempted/Completed, Completed %, Key Tackles, as well as all relevant normalised per 90 metrics.

Next Time in Episode II: Sir Humphrey Cecil Dandridge, Esq., Old Blackheathian (Football XV 1861, Cricket XI 1859, 1860), shall be transported through time and space from Blackheath 1866 to Bexley 2023, to revive the Art of Hacking in Welling!

How You Can Help:
If you like this idea, and would like to see it implemented and built upon, I would be more than happy to take advice ad-hoc, or to “hire” you as staff to help with the following: Transfers, Training (General and Individual), Set Piece Routines, Tactics (Formation, Roles, Player and Oppositional Instructions)

EPISODE II

From the Journal of Sir Humphrey Cecil Dandridge, Esq., Old Blackheathian (Football XV 1861, Cricket XI 1859, 1860).

[...] Yet, there I was. The deafening hum of the portal that had built into a crescendo passed like an invalid in the night. Gone was Blackheath Common - the distant clatter of carriage wheels had been replaced with an even louder roar and the sudden eruption of a horned instrument. The sky remained as choking and as grim as it had always been, but the places of industry that promoted the strength of Britannia's Lion at the Exhibition some years back were replaced by the queer site of structures, tall as if searching for the gate to Heaven.[

Even as the nausea passed, and I came to realise the people - men without suit and women (of the night out early, I assume) without clothing to protect their navel and calves not to mention their bosom. At first, I thought them travelling n egros from darkest Africa, on an exhibition to show the progress of that continent under British Influence... but many of these women were white... [...]

Mr. Dandridge did not know what awaited him in this brave new world. Evidently something had gone terribly wrong. He was an Old Blackheathian, mark you, so he would not sully his reputation as a gentleman by revealing his fears to said new world. While he had been transported but five miles east, to Park View Road, Bexley, he had in fact been transported 157 years in the future, and had as a consequence no sound grasps on how modern football was played. This did not stop him from his conviction on how the game should be placed - Master Grubbins had beaten this into him in his youth with a thumb-width cane, after all, and he had been used as a post in the annual game between the Old Blackheathians and the Prioprietary School until he knew nothing else except for Greek, Latin, Cricket and Football, as played at Rugby School.

Knowing nothing but the game, and seeing that there was a vacancy posted for a "manager" for the local Welling United Football Club (which he mistook for an Old Boys Club for some local public school), he marched into the Chairman's office. Through the pluck and courage that his schools games had instilled in him - alongside an amazing degree of jingoism, scientific racism and associated Victorian upper-class bigotry - he convinced the gentleman to hire him. I could not obtain any specific details regarding Humphrey's interview, for both he and the Chairman remained strangely stumm, except to laugh and nod knowingly.

Thus, this is how such a man came to such a position of power and influence. I think we all know, readers, how this will all end. Everyone, bar Sir Humphrey, that is.

Next Time in Episode III: Sir Humphrey is taught the game by his new roommate, before meeting the players who shall bring The Art of Hacking back to Britain. Huzzah!




The Appointment of Sir Humphrey Cecil Dandridge, Esq., lately of Blackheath, London, currently residing in Bexley, of the same.

How You Can Help:

If you like this idea, and would like to see it implemented and built upon, I would be more than happy to take advice ad-hoc, or to “hire” you as staff to help with the following: Transfers, Training (General and Individual), Set Piece Routines, Tactics (Formation, Roles, Player and Oppositional Instructions)