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 the standardize 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 (except by goalkeepers)
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.

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.[1][2] A later set of "Cambridge Rules"
from 1856 survives in a copy at Shrewsbury School.[3][4]
Harrow School team of 1867.

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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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."

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 related to this
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Laws of the
Game
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 Cambridge Rules of 1863.[8] The Cambridge rules differed
from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with
(carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins). The
two contentious FA rules were as follows:

IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal
if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a
fair catch, if he makes his mark he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any
player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack
him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at
the same time.

Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, c. 1871

At the fifth meeting a motion was proposed that these two rules be removed
from the FA rules. Most of the delegates supported this suggestion but F. W.
Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer,
objected strongly. He said, "hacking is the true football". The motion was
carried nonetheless and — at the final meeting — Campbell withdrew his
club from the FA. After the final meeting on 8 December the FA published
the "Laws of Football", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later
known as association football. The game also came to be called "soccer" as a
shortening of "Association" around the same time as Rugby football,
colloquially referred to as "rugger", was developing as the main ball carrying
version of English football, and "soccer" remains a common descriptor in
countries with other prominent football codes today.[citation needed]

These first FA laws contained elements that are no longer part of association
football, but which are still recognisable in other games (e.g. Rugby
Union and Australian rules football): for instance, if a player first touched the
ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a "free kick" at
goal, from that point and fifteen yards [approximately 14 metres] in front of
the goal line; and a player could make a catch and claim a "mark", which
entitled him to a free kick from or behind that point (see Laws 7 and 8
respectively). The laws of the game agreed on by the FA members stipulated
a maximum length and breadth for the pitch, the procedure for kicking off,
and definition of terms, including goal, throw in, offside. Passing the ball by
hand was still permitted provided the ball was caught "fairly or on the first
bounce". Despite the specifications of footwear having no "tough nails, iron
plates and gutta percha" there were no specific rule on number of players,
penalties, foul play or the shape of the ball; captains of the participating
teams were expected to agree on these things prior to the match.