Kick’n’Rush

Kick’n’Rush, what is often called the long ball strategy, dominated the British football for decades. Due to a physical style of play teams aimed to win the ball in their own half and afterwards knocked the ball towards a physically strong centre-forward. The so-called long ball theory was first discussed by Charles Reep in the 1950s. Reep analysed not only the number of passes that led to a goal, but also the field positions where those passes originated. Charles Hughes became the head of coaching at the English FA in the 1990s, and used this position to promote his own theory of long ball, which followed on from the work of Reep. Hughes claimed that teams playing direct plays have more success.