Why is fullback called fullback and centre-half called centre half ?

Gumpy

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Centre halves normally stay back more then fullbacks except in the case of corners etc so why are they called centre halves and fullbacks ?
 
you feck wit, centre half cos they play in the centre of defence :lol:
 
In the all days, there were only two defenders in the line-up; the fullbacks. In addition to that, there were a half-back, which I understand was more of a defensive midfielder. Someone then came up with the idea of dropping the half-back down to play in between the two fullbacks; i.e. as a centre back.

I'm sure some of the old cnuts on here remember if that's correct or nay.
 
Original formations looked like this:

RB LB

RH CH LH

ie the CH was a midfield (half back) position. Arsenal invented the stopper CH by dropping him between the FBs in the '30s.
 
Now now why spoil the ONLY sensible post I can ever remember you making
 
You don't need "memory" to enjoy shit posts from you they turn up every minute
 
An Extremely Boring Man said:
In the all days, there were only two defenders in the line-up; the fullbacks. In addition to that, there were a half-back, which I understand was more of a defensive midfielder. Someone then came up with the idea of dropping the half-back down to play in between the two fullbacks; i.e. as a centre back.

I'm sure some of the old cnuts on here remember if that's correct or nay.
Click to expand...

IMO basic formation was 1-2-2 - sweeper - 2 cb-2 sidebacks (left&right). Krauts still use this formation.
 
peterstorey said:
Original formations looked like this:

RB LB

RH CH LH

ie the CH was a midfield (half back) position. Arsenal invented the stopper CH by dropping him between the FBs in the '30s.
Click to expand...

Quite right the old 2-3-5 pyramid formation, that used 5 forwards. The "half" in centre half meaning "half forward and half back", not half of a pair.

Arsenal brought in the stopper CH (centre back) because of offside rule changes (3 players in front to 2). Didn't Arsenal get thrashed 7-0 by Newcastle and thus changed the system to accomodate this? They sort of played like a swinging pendulum when the ball was played on the flanks, tilting around the centre back, the attacking side going forward, the other going backwards.
 
Which gets me thinking, younger people today band around this word "playmaker" all of the time, the old word for it was "centre-half". ;)
 
MrMarcello said:
So, United 2-3-5 formation would be:

-------Tim--------
-----Rio--Micky----
--Gaz--Keane--Phil
Ron--Scholes--Giggs
----Saha--Ruud----
Click to expand...


No it would have been more like this.

------------------------TIM--------------------------------------

GAZ (RB)-----------------------------------------------O'SHEA(LB)

--------KEANE (RH)-----------RIO (CH)--------MICKY (LH)------

RON (RW)----SCHOLES (IR)---RUUD(CF)---SAHA(IL)------GIGGS(LW)


The old numbers:

1 - keeper
2 - Right Back
3 - Left Back
4 - Right Half
5 - Centre Half
6 - Left Half
7 - Right Wing
8 - Inside Right
9 - Centre Forward
10 - Inside Left
11 - Left wing

I might have right and left half mixed up. Anyone know for sure?
 
MrMarcello said:
So, United 2-3-5 formation would be:

-------Tim--------
-----Rio--Micky----
--Gaz--Keane--Phil
Ron--Scholes--Giggs
----Saha--Ruud----
Click to expand...

You could play it like that. But you don't have a perfect pyramid there.

------------------------------ Howard -------------------------------

---------------------- Brown ------------ Rio ------------------------

------------ GNev ------------- Keane ---------- Silvestre ------------

--- Ronaldo ----- Scholes ------ Ruud ------ Saha ---------- Giggs ---

Full back had nothing to do with the flanks at the time, they were the only two defenders in fact. And would have played in the middle. So, yes, IMO you are right.

Remember though, this was played under the old offside rule, that a player was offside if he had less than three (not two like today) in front of him when the ball was passed. One of the fullbacks could very easily move up and play the offside trap. When that rule changed to 2, the whole system began to collapse, and the centre half was moved back to become a centre back. The system changed into a W-M formation,and then other changes happened, until the arrival of the 4-4-2 in the late 50's early 60's.

The change to W-M would look like:

------------------------------ Howard -------------------------------

----------- Brown ------------- Keane -------------- Rio -------------

--------------------- GNev --------------- Silvestre ------------------

-------------------- Scholes --------------- Saha --------------------

----------- Ronaldo ------------ Ruud ------------- Giggs ------------

Quite barmy really.
 
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