FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION 



Football Association. Govern- 

 ing body of English amateur and 

 professional association football. 

 It was founded in 1863 to establish 

 a definite set of rules to govern 

 both Rugby and Association foot- 

 ball, but at a preliminary meeting 

 the representatives of the Rugby 

 clubs objected to the proposal to 

 make hacking illegal, and with- 

 drew. The F.A. is responsible for 

 all legislation under the dribbling 

 code, and all clubs on its register 

 must abide by its rulings. In 1871 

 the F.A. promoted a cup competi- 

 tion open to all clubs, and in 1872 

 sanctioned the playing of inter- 

 national matches. The F.A. was 

 formed into a limited liability 

 company in 1903. Its council 

 consists of the president, six vice- 

 presidents, the hon. treasurer, ten 

 divisional representatives, and one 

 representative of each affiliated 

 association with membership of at 

 least 50 clubs. See Association Cup. 



Football League. Union of 

 Association football clubs for the 

 purpose of playing matches against 

 each other. The main principle is 

 that every club in a league shall 

 play every other club twice during 

 the football season, once at home 

 and once away. 



The idea was borrowed from 

 the U.S.A., where it was practised 

 by baseball clubs, and was sug- 

 gested to certain football clubs 

 by W. McGregor of Birmingham 

 in 1888. The first league, the Foot- 

 ball League, was then formed, and 

 consisted of twelve of the leading 

 English professional clubs. Each 

 was to play every other twice during 

 the season ; a win was to count two 

 points and a draw one. so a club 

 could make a maximum of 44 

 points. The club totalling the great- 

 est number of points was declared 

 champion of the League. The num- 

 ber of clubs in the League was raised 

 to 14, 16, 18, 20, and then to 22. 



To maintain the high standard 

 of the League clubs a system was 

 adopted by which the four lowest on 

 the list were liable to be dropped in 

 favour of other clubs from outside, 

 the matter being decided by the 

 governing body of the League. In 

 1892 a second division of 12 clubs, 

 later increased to 22, was added, 

 and, down to 1895, when the num- 

 ber was altered to two, the practice 

 prevailed of the three lowest clubs in 

 the first division playing the three 

 highest in the second for entrance 

 into the former during the follow- 

 ing season. These test matches 

 were, however, abandoned in 1898, 

 since when the two lowest clubs 

 in the first division and the two 

 highest in the second division have 

 automatically changed places. At 

 various times proposals were made 



Sir Edward Foote, 

 British sailor 



for the formation of a third division, 

 and in 1920 it was arranged that the 

 Southern League should become 

 the third division of the League. 



Footboard. Continuous step 

 running along the side of a rly. 

 carriage a few inches below the floor 

 level. It is also the longitudinal 

 step on either side of a motor-car. 



Foote, SIR EDWARD JAMES(1767- 

 1833). British sailor. Born at Bish- 

 opsbourne, Kent, April 20, 1767, 

 he entered the 

 navy at the age 

 of 12, was in 

 the action on 

 the Dogger 

 Bank, 1781. 

 and at Domin- 

 ica, 1782. Lieu- 

 tenant in 1785, 

 he went to the 

 East Indies, 

 was made com- 

 mander in 1791, and post-captain in 

 1794. In 1797 he was in the Mediter- 

 ranean under Sir John Jervis, and 

 the following year served under 

 Nelson, who, in 1799, appointed 

 him senior officer in Naples. 

 Rear-admiral in 1812, he became 

 second in command at Portsmouth 

 in 1814, and vice-admiral in 1821. 

 He was knighted in 1831, and died 

 at Southampton, May 23, 1833. 



Foote, SAMUEL (1720-77). Eng- 

 lish actor and dramatist. Born at 

 Truro, 1720, he was educated at 

 Worcester Col- 

 lege, Oxford. He 

 joined the bar, 

 but gave up a 

 legal career to 

 go on the stage. 

 He was a skilful 

 mimic and 

 brought out at 

 The Haymarket 

 in 1747 a suc- 

 cessful enter- 

 tainment called 

 The Diversions of the Morning, in 

 which he burlesqued well-known 

 living persons. The magistrates 

 having prohibited its performance, 

 he defied them by issuing a general 

 invitation to his friends to " take a 

 dish of tea with him," tickets for 

 which could be obtained at George's 

 Coffee House, Temple Bar. 



With The Haymarket, rebuilt by 

 him in 1767, he remained connected 

 till 1777, playing many parts and 

 producing there several of his cari- 

 cature comedies, the best of which 

 are Taste, The Minor, The Orators, 

 The Mayor of Garratt, The Devil 

 upon Two Sticks, and The Capu- 

 chin. He died suddenly at Dover, 

 Oct. 21, 1777, and was buried in 

 Westminster Abbey. 



Footpath. Narrow path, used 

 by pedestrians only. In the United 

 Kingdom the preservation of public 



Samuel Foote, 

 English dramatist 



AfterSirJ. Reynolds 



FOOT ROT 



right of way over footpaths is a 

 matter of general interest. Such a 

 right is in the nature of an easement. 

 It may be acquired by grant made 

 by some person, such as the free- 

 holder, who had power to grant ; 

 or by user. In the latter case, after 

 20 years' uninterrupted enjoyment, 

 the law presumes a grant made 

 before the user commenced ; after 

 40 years the right is deemed abso- 

 lute, unless enjoyed by some con- 

 sent expressed by deed or other 

 evidence in writing. 



Obstructions placed in & footpath 

 may be removed by anyone enjoy- 

 ing the right to use it. The safe- 

 guarding of the public right to use 

 footpaths is now entrusted to the 

 parish and district councils, without 

 whose consent no public right of 

 way may be diverted or stopped. 

 The right is also made the object 

 of solicitous attention by the Com- 

 mons and Footpaths Preservation 

 Society, 25, Victoria Street, London. 

 S.W. See Commons ; Right of Way! 



Footplate. Metal plate on a 

 locomotive which covers the floor 

 where the driver stands and ex- 

 tends along both sides of the engine 

 and in front of the boiler. It is also 

 a metal floor-plate secured to the 

 end of a railway corridor carriage, 

 which rests and is free to slide upon 

 the end of the next carriage, so as 

 to form a floor to the gangway 

 between the carriages. See Steam 

 Engine. 



Foot Pound. Work done in 

 raising one pound through a dis- 

 tance of one foot in lat. 45 and at 

 sea level. See Horse-power. 



Footprint. Fossil record of the 

 impressions of the feet of extinct 

 reptiles or amphibians. Alluvial 

 deposits must at all periods retain 

 footmarks for a short time ; some 

 of these have been accidentally 

 preserved by later solidification of 

 the silt. 



Foot Rot. Term usually applied 

 to a disease affecting the feet of 

 sheep. The animal suffers great 

 pain from an acute inflammation of 

 certain structures of the foot, 

 caused by a microscopic organism 

 which infects low and damp pas- 

 tures. The disease is readily 

 noticed, for infected animals adopt 

 a kneeling position when grazing. 



Affected animals must be re- 

 moved at once to a dry yard or 

 shed. Dryness is absolutely essen- 

 tial, and if the animals are allowed 

 to stand for a short time daily on a 

 floor covered with slaked lime ; the 

 healing process is considerably 

 hastened. Foot rot is highly con- 

 tagious, and since it takes three 

 weeks to develop, newly purchased 

 sheep should be kept apart from the 

 rest for twenty to thirty days. 



