Football pretty much has Peter Schmeichel to thank for the back-pass rule, with footage of Denmark using the tactic in their Euro 1992 success going viral.
The 1990 World Cup being a pretty boring affair, especially in the Group Stages, is often cited as the birthplace of the back-pass rule in football, as teams often saw the game out by rolling it back to the keeper for him to pick it up.
However the rule didn't actually change until 1992 and at that summer's Euros Denmark used it to expert levels. The Danes won the tournament and the video of Schmeichel using the back-pass to full effect has gone viral.
The former Manchester United goalkeeper's tactic of waiting for the forward to get close to him over and over again is wonderfully childish to laugh at, unless you're any of the forwards of course.
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Teams in World Cup 90 had also heavily used the tactic and England's group games in particular suffered five draws in the group and only one game seeing a winner.
Bobby Robson's team drew 1-1 and 0-0 with Republic of Ireland and Netherlands respectively, those two sides drew 1-1 in their game, Netherlands finished 1-1 with Egypt and neither side scored between Ireland and the Africans.
The only game there was a winner in was the Three Lions victory against Egypt in their final group game, with Mark Wright scoring the only goal of the game after 58 minutes.
The tournament saw an average of just 2.2 goals per game and it's no wonder that plans started to be put in place for a change in the rules so matches became more interesting.
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Whilst Schmeichel and Denmark's tactics may have seemed pretty negative it's nothing on the most famous pre back-pass rule era back-pass, one by Graeme Souness for Rangers in the European Cup:
Thank god no one is allowed to do back-passes any more ey!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Manchester United, Euro 2020, International Football, Denmark, Peter Schmeichel, Euros
