page_title: Cambridge rules
section_title: 1863
hierarchical_section_title: Cambridge rules / 1863
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of the Reverend Robert Burn, by Alphonse Legros (1880)
context_page_description: The Cambridge Rules were several formulations of the rules of football made at the University of Cambridge during the nineteenth century. One of these codes, dating from 1863, had a significant influence on the creation of the original Laws of the Game of the Football Association.
context_section_description: In October 1863, a new set of rules was drawn up by a committee of nine players representing Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough, Harrow, and Westminster schools.  The following month, it was published in the newspapers, with an introduction stating: 
  It having been thought desirable to establish a general game for the University of Cambridge, the accompanying rules have been drawn up for that purpose.  The first game will be played on Friday, Nov 20, at 2:15 p.m. on Parker's Piece. All members of the University who take an interest in the game, and are desirous of attending, can do so on payment of a subscription of one shilling per term.
    
  Like the earlier 1856 laws, the 1863 rules disallowed rugby-style running with the ball and hacking.  Nevertheless, there were several differences between the two codes:
  The 1856 laws had a "string" below which the ball had to go to score a goal, while the 1863 laws permitted a goal to be scored at any height.
  The 1856 laws permitted players to catch the ball, with a free kick awarded for a fair catch, while the 1863 laws forbade this (both codes allowed the ball to be handled to "stop" it).
  The 1856 laws permitted a player to be onside when there were four opponents between him and the opponents' goal-line, while the 1863 laws had a strict offside law whereby any player ahead of the ball was out of play.
  The 1856 laws awarded a throw-in when the ball went out of play over the side lines, while the 1863 laws used a kick-in.
  The 1863 laws awarded a free kick from 25 yards after a touch-down behind the opponent's' goal-line (somewhat similar to a conversion in present-day rugby), while the 1856 laws did not.
  There is little textual similarity between the two sets of laws: in general the 1863 laws are longer and more detailed, but the 1856 rule that "[e]very match shall be decided by a majority of goals" has no equivalent in the later code.
  The Field published a detailed report of a game played under these rules on Tuesday 1 December 1863. The author concluded that while "[w]e do not consider [the Cambridge rules] the best game that might be had, [...] it is a good one", and suggested that it could be adopted by some of the schools.
caption: Robert Burn, chair of the committee that wrote the 1863 rules
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