Training was not part of the ‘gentlemanly ideal’. Intense training was considered throughout the Victorian ear to be “poor form”: ‘Practising too much undermined natural grace and talent … gentlemen were not supposed to toil and sweat for their laurels’. Due to the aggressive and physical nature of the game, players who could kick long and were robust were favoured over players with ball skills or speed for that matter. Robert Crompton, the Blackburn Rovers full back and England international was described in the following terms: Physically Bob Crompton is one of the finest examples of the native – born professional player. Standing 5ft 9 inches., and weighing 12st.7lbs., he is splendidly developed, and a fine figure in shirt and knickers… He can charge with effect, however, on occasions, but he is something more than a mere rusher…His kicking is naturally powerful-probably his punts are the biggest things in League football …Perhaps he balloons the ball rather too much for the perfect back, and when attacking his feeding passes often have too much powder behind them.
Meanwhile, Herbert Smith, the captain of Reading Football Club was once described as follows by a former teammate: In watching the figure of Herbert Smith on a football field one is tempted to exclaim, “There stands a man!” As a specimen of English manhood, one might search far and wide for his equal. It may be that in these days purely physical qualities are extolled too much, but a fine man, a perfect human animal will always command respect. To watch Smith at play, to see him run, to witness the play of his muscles, makes one feel proud of one’s kind. He is a type of perfectly developed manhood.
Given the emphasis of brute strength and idea of “muscular Christianity “ bestowed by the church, many early professional football clubs including both Leicester Fosse and Loughborough FC employed professional athletes or ex-boxers. Training sessions rarely developed ball skills and typically involved “the use of heavy clubs and dumb-bells to twenty minutes, followed by skipping, ball-punching, sprinting, and alternating with an eight or nine mile walk at a brisk pace.” An unnamed former English international writing in the early twentieth century bemoaned the lack of skills development in training: “There is no running about or dribbling, feinting, passing with the inside or outside of the foot, trapping or heading the ball and placing it with the head like you do with your feet, judging distances etc; indulged in at all“. In an article entitled ‘The Day’s Work’, Mr W I Bassett, a former England international who played for West Bromwich Albion for sixteen years, gave a detailed account of the manner in which a professional footballer was trained: “The bulk of the trainers vary in their methods…Monday is often a dies non. Many clubs allow the men to do as they like on that day, providing that there is no mid-week engagement. On the Tuesday morning they get to the ground at ten o’clock and the trainer takes them for a good walk into the country. They probably cover five or six miles, and do it at a fair pace….This is the form of training I cordially approve of…plenty of good fresh air…Should the morning not be conducive to pleasant walking, then the trainer orders alternative exercise…One of the greatest full-backs of the day is in the habit of skipping every morning; practically he does little else, and he is always in the pink of condition…It makes for increased agility, it improves the wind…Most of our leading clubs have a well-equipped gymnasium…another player will have a long turn with the Indian clubs, and others will punch the ball for an hour…Some of our leading pugilists are very fine ballpunchers…Then there is running exercise. Most of the players will run round the ground a few times or many, according to the amount of exercise each are deemed to require. This was the only real training I ever did. Then there is sprinting exercise…The men indulge in short bursts at top speed. But I fancy I hear the reader ask, what about learning to play football? …Once a week, and once a week only, the men have ball practice…the men simply kick in…My own opinion is that men get nothing like as much actual work with the ball as they need.”