The proposal initially generated much derision and indignation amongst footballers and the press as the 'Irishman's motion' or the 'death penalty' as it was known, conceded that players might deliberately act unsportingly. This went against the Victorian idea of the amateur gentleman sportsman. Public opinion may have changed after an FA Cup quarter final between Stoke City and Notts County on 14 February 1891 where an indirect free kick after a deliberate handball on the goal line did not result in a goal.[8]
The penalty kick rule was approved as number 13 in the Laws of the Game, a year after it was proposed, on 2 June 1891, at the Alexandra Hotel, Bath St., in Glasgow 'after considerable discussion' and with changes affecting where the goalkeeper and other players could legally stand.[9]