page_title: History of association football
section_title: The Football Association
hierarchical_section_title: History of association football / The Football Association
caption_attribution_description: English: Association football team of Harrow School (London).
context_page_description: Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is rooted in medieval ball games and English public school games. The modern game of association football originated with mid-nineteenth century efforts among local football clubs to standardize the varying sets of rules, culminating in formation of The Football Association in London, England in 1863. The rules drafted by the association allowed clubs to play each other without dispute and which specifically banned handling of the ball and hacking during open field play. After the fifth meeting of the association a schism emerged between association football and the rules played by the Rugby school, later to be called rugby football. Football has been an Olympic sport ever since the second modern Summer Olympic Games in 1900.
context_section_description: During the early-mid nineteenth century, different sets of rules for football began to be drawn up in schools, universities, and clubs.  The first such set of rules to be published was that of Rugby School in 1845, followed by Eton College in 1847.
  During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield Football Association in 1867.
  According to the recollections of Henry Charles Malden, a set of rules was created for use at the University of Cambridge in 1848, drawing features from the different public school games. A later set of "Cambridge Rules" from 1856 survives in a copy at Shrewsbury School.
  During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various football games that were played in the public schools as well in the industrial north under the Sheffield Rules. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (aka the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863, a new set of "Cambridge Rules" was drawn up by a seven-member committee representing former pupils of Eton, HarrowShrewsbury, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.
  Ebenezer Cobb Morley, a solicitor from Hull, wrote to Bell's Life newspaper in 1863, proposing a governing body for football. Morley was to become the FA's first secretary (1863–66) and its second president (1867–74), but is particularly remembered for drafting the first Laws of the Game at his home in Barnes, London, that are today played the world over. For this, he is considered not just the father of the Football Association, but of Association Football itself.
  Public schools such as Charterhouse and Westminster School were influential in forming the new rules, at both schools the pupils' surroundings meant they were confined to playing their football in the cloisters, making the rough and tumble of the handling game that was developing at other schools such as Rugby impossible, and necessitating a different code of rules. Forest School was also influential in formulating the new rules, being present at the fifth meeting of the F.A. on 1 December 1863, and having several members at the influential Forest Club. During the formulation of the rules of Association Football in the 1860s representatives of Charterhouse and Westminster pushed for a passing game, in particular rules that allowed forward passing ("passing on"). Other schools (in particular Eton College, Shrewsbury School and Harrow) favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule. It is claimed that Stoke Ramblers were formed in 1863 when former pupils of Charterhouse School formed a football club while apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway works in Stoke-on-Trent. By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Charterhouse and Westminster game and adopted a "loose" off-side rule that permitted forward passing.
  On the evening of 26 October 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the Greater London area met at the Freemasons' Tavern on Long Acre in Covent Garden. This was the first meeting of The Football Association (FA). It was the world's first official football body and for this reason is not preceded with the word English. The first meeting resulted in the issuing of a request for representatives of the public schools to join the association. With the exception of Thring at Uppingham, most schools declined. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and December 1863. Committee member J. F. Alcock, said: "The Cambridge Rules appear to be the most desirable for the Association to adopt."
  After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published by the FA. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published Camb
caption: Harrow School team of 1867.
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