Football innovations

With news football is to bring in goal-line technology we look at how the sport has developed over the years.

Goal-line technology is set to be the latest development to be introduced to football since the sport's birth in the 19th century. While the roots of the game stretch back centuries, modern football was established by the Football Association in 1863 with the first basic rules. Here, Sky Sports looks at how football has developed through the big innovations introduced to the game. 1863: At an historic meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern in London, not only is the FA founded but so too are the first set of common rules. The Cambridge Rules - produced by undergraduates at Cambridge University in the 1840s - are rewritten to provide the game's first uniform regulations. 1869: Goal-kicks are introduced for the first time, with corners following three years later. 1875: The crossbar is introduced to replace tape as the means of marking the top of the goal. 1878: A referee uses a whistle for the very first time and the first floodlit football match takes place at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, between two local representative teams. 1882: The football associations of Great Britain unify their rules and form the International Football Association Board - the body that determines the Laws of the Game. 1891: Penalties are awarded for the first time, the goal net is accepted into the laws and the referee is allowed on the field of play. 1902: The penalty box and penalty spot are introduced after it was decided penalties would be awarded for fouls committed in an area 18 yards from the goal line and 44 yards wide. The six-yard box was also introduced, although it took another 35 years for the 'D' shape at the edge of the area to be brought in. 1912: Goalkeepers are prevented from handling the ball outside the penalty area. 1938: The Laws of the Game are made over by IFAB member Stanley Rous, who did such a good job that it was not until 1997 that it was revised again. 1958: Substitutes are permitted for the first time, albeit only for an injured goalkeeper and one other injured player. 1970: Red and yellow cards are introduced for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. 1990: The offside law is changed in favour of the attacker, who is now onside if level with the penultimate defender. 1992: Goalkeepers are forbidden from handling back-passes from a team-mate's foot. 1994: The technical area is introduced into the Laws of the Game, with the fourth official following the next year.