Is it true that the word "penalty" comes from the Irish surname?

Among the Russian-speaking football fans, the opinion is widespread that the 11-meter blow was invented by Irishman John McElti. We checked whether this is really so.

In different sources, the degree of participation of John McEbi, like his occupation and status, is evaluated in different ways. For example, the user of the “Big Question” portal reports: "The term" penalty "was introduced by Irishman John McElti, who at one time was a football expert." In the Spartak football club, the Facebook group is one of the fans Writesthat "John McEbi played football, was a member of the Irish football association and was engaged in football rules in it." Another thematic resource claimsthat this is just one of the versions.

The search on the Internet by the name of John McEbi did not give results-it is mentioned only in some Russian-language publications dedicated to the appearance of a 11-meter blow, but not in authoritative sources. For several years, even a mac-past called A possible inventor of the blow in the Russian-speaking Wikipedia, but the authors of the online encyclopedia have made an appointment that this person may never have existed. Now the McEa-Penalty does not appear in the article at all.

If you look for this combination of the name and surname, recruited by Latin, then one of the few authoritative sources in the search results - article 1970 in the German edition of Der Spiegel. Its author writes: “More than a hundred years ago, the Irish creator of the rule John McEbi came up with a 11-meter blow to compensation for the assumiral moments that the rival neutralized with the help of a foul or playing with his hand in his penalty area.” At least the journalist was mistaken with the dating of the invention of the penalty - this blow Added In the rules only in 1891, that is, less than 80 years before writing a note. Judging by the fact that John McElti in the context of football is not mentioned anywhere else, this person really did not exist.

In fact, the initiative to introduce a penalty was proposed by a member of the Irish Football Association, William McCham, who played at the Milford football club just at the goalkeeper’s position. He was worried that at that time the defenders specially folly on the attackers to prevent the gate to take, and in 1890 the initiative of McCham Supported Association colleagues. A year later, the provision on the penalty Book In the official rules of the game. By the way, at that time the judge appointed a penalty only after the relevant request of the “injured” team, and the blow could be delivered from anywhere at a distance of 12 yards from the gate line. The etymology of the word "penalty" is extremely simple: it is happening From English Penalty ("Punishment").

Photo on the cover: FIFA / Getty images

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Are the penalties in football named after John McElti?
2. Arzamas. Podcast "What is the meaning of football"
3. The Development of Football Rules