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My name is Taylor Rockwell.

And this week as ever, we've got a fun topic, an exciting topic,

a topic that I think will lead to less hand-talking than the one of last time, Graham. This

time we're talking free kicks. It's a bit more direct. See what I did there. But plenty to

discuss, plenty to break down, plenty to go over with free kicks and the glory thereof. There certainly is. It's one of those episodes that I feel like every so often on one-on-one, we stumble across a subject that I'm like, surely we've done that before. Right. And we haven't. So I guess we're ticking one off the list here. We're free kicks ever your thing, Taylor? Are they, you still play? Are they your

thing? Can you bend it like Beckham? I can put a little bend on it. I can hit them occasionally. I would never say it's like a thing that I point to first as being a primary skill set. I have known players who can and I've played against players who can. Just like hit it on frame every single time, put it in the corner, bend it around the wall. I don't have that ability. Sometimes I have the confidence to try,

though. It's one of those things that, look, this is clearly ignorant shining through here.

But because it's soccer obviously is a very fluid mobile sport, but free kicks are one of the

rare occasions where it's like a routine, you can rehearse it. And when I was researching this, I was like, why don't play a score free kicks more often? But that's clearly just ignorant, shiny through. I don't know whether it's the pressure. Obviously, there's a goalkeeper in the goal, which is one of the factors. But yeah, it's one of the few, like, as I say, rehearsable things that you can practice in soccer. In my experience, it is something, though, that is more, like, fluid and muscle memory than it is, like, once you start to add, like, similar to golf, once you start adding in, like, hit it this way and strike the ball that way and make sure you hit it that way and don't do that, like you end up just either sk it or slamming it to the wall one way or the other but when you just kind of trust the feel of it occasionally maybe you'll put it on frame we can oh went that to the skills challenge maybe that's the variation like david david yes actually that's the that's the point i want to pick up on let's add the free kicks to to the skill challenge for the TSS Patreon contact next year. I'm glad we're on the same page. I put it in the notes. Joe, Graham. I'm having a hard time with names this week. Graham, it is on the list. I'm excited to do it. I'm excited to talk free kicks. Let's get into the history thereof. And it goes back quite away. Am I correct in saying that the original laws of the game include variations of free kicks?

Yes, so when they were first, the laws of the game were first codified by the FA in 1863,

free kicks were part of that codification.

They were actually abolished when the rules were revised. And from 1866 until 1872, there were no free kicks in soccer. And as I read it, the referee would have the power to stop the game if they deem something to be too physical. But apparently that really happens with it being 1870. And it wasn't until 1870 that handling the ball was completely

banned for outfield players. So that was interesting. Didn't know that. And when you dig deeper

into the first laws of soccer, you realize that it was all a process, right? Because even when

they brought in free kicks or when they brought them back into the laws of the game,

they didn't specify how you had to take it. And as we know now, you have to take it on the ground

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