...too fierce a character to be popular

Sporting Life 05.12.63

A letter supporting the initiative of the Football Association to unify the laws of the game goes on to make a prediction that football played by grown men would never catch on.

... a less rough and dangerous game ...

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 19.10.71

John Charles Thring was instrumental in developing two sets of rules during the pre-history of football.

 The Cambridge Rules of 1848 were an attempt at a compromise / unified code based on the games played at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, and Thring's old school, Shrewsbury.

In 1862 Thring was a master at Uppingham School when he developed 'The Simplest Game' (also known as  'The Uppingham Rules').

These rules had some influence on the Football Association when they began formulating the Laws of the Game in 1863.

Of course, whilst giving us the greatest and most popular game in the world, the Football Association ultimately failed in their goal of unifying football.

Debates as to the relative merits, safety and propriety of football and Rugby feature widely in newspaper correspondence in the 19th century.

Thring's appeal here went unheeded, and the west of England became something of a Rugby stronghold. 

The International Football Association Board

FIFA states that The Laws of the Game are the preserve of the International Football Association Board.
The first meeting of the International Football Association Board, attended by representatives of the Football Associations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, took place on 2nd June 1886 in London.
When FIFA was founded they embraced the International Football Association Board Laws of the Game. The International Football Association Board in turn recognized the validity of FIFA, but FIFA did not have representation at the IFAB until the 1914 annual meeting, which was held in Paris. Minutes of the annual meetings of this body can be viewed  here.

National Football Conference 1882

Mr Pierce- Dix

In December 1882 a National Football Conference was held in Manchester in which representatives of the 4 Associations (The FA, The Scottish FA, The Football Association of Wales and the Irish FA) discussed unification of their rules. Interestingly there was also some representation of the Sheffield FA in the person of their Treasurer, Mr Pierce Dix, who represented the Football Association (along with Major Marindin).
The unification of the rules was resolved before the inception of the The British Home Championships in 1884. 
The press were excluded from the meeting.
The following points were resolved:
1- No more tapes- crossbars only were to be used.
2- Touchlines were to be used (previously only boundary flags were compulsory).
3- Kick off had to be in the direction of the opponents goal line (only amended in 2016).
4-It was agreed to dispense of an experimental rule by which  the committing of  a deliberate handball when a goal would otherwise have been scored was punished by the award of a goal.
5- Throw in- a two handed throw in from above the head, in any direction was agreed upon. This was a hybrid, as previously the Football Association had allowed a one handed throw in any direction whereas the Scottish rule was a two handed above the head throw that had to be at a right angle to the boundary (as in Rugby).
6- A player with their back to the opponents goal could be charged from behind if, in the opinion of the officials, they were willfully impeding his opponent. 
7-There was an addition to the rules regarding nails in boots etc which specified that players breaking the rule could take no further part in the game. 

The Association Game- How It Is Played

Lloyd's Weekly London  Newspaper, (16.10.92)

Corner Kicks

A corner kick, Falkirk vs Queen's Park 1914

Most of the changes in the Laws of The Game in the 1860s and 70s concerned what happened when the ball went out of play.
Here we will look at Law 7:

1863
In case the ball goes behind the goal line, if a player on the side to whom the goal belongs first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick from the goal line at the point opposite the place where the ball shall be touched. If a player of the opposite side first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick (but at the goal only) from a point 15 yards from the goal line opposite the place where the ball is touched. The opposing side shall stand behind their goal line until he has had his kick.

Notice that the ball 'going behind the goal line' wasn't out of play as such: there was still the matter of getting the touch on it.  For the attacking team getting the touch down meant a shot at goal from 15 yards (Some similarities to Rugby here - in early Rugby rules the 'touchdown' or 'try' counted for nothing, but depended on the 'conversion' to a 'goal') . I can only assume that the 11 defenders would line up between the goalposts and just behind the goal line. As the attacking players all had to be behind the ball when it was kicked and that the ball had to be shot directly at goal I imagine that very few goals would have resulted from this process,

1866
Following the February 1866 AGM  the FA adopted the Sheffield principle of using secondary scoring to decide matches finishing equal on actual goals:
...if a player of the opposite side first touches the ball after it has gone behind the goal line of his adversary, one 'touch down' shall be scored by his side, and in the event of no goal being got by either side, or an equal number of goals being got on each side, the side obtaining the greater number of 'touches down' shall be the winners of the match.

 It was a relatively short lived experiment, the touch down disappearing from the rules altogether following the 1867 AGM, being replaced by a free kick for the defending team to be taken within 6 yards of their goal. 


Sheffield, 1868
The corner kick first made an appearance in the revised Sheffield rules of 1868. Having dispensed with rouges (touch downs) Sheffield introduced the following:
When the ball is kicked over the bar of the goal it must be kicked off by the side behind whose goal it went, within 6 yards from the limit of their goal...
when the ball is kicked behind the goal line a player of the opposite side to that which kicked it out shall kick it in from the nearest corner flag...

The 1870  FA rules had when the ball is kicked behind the goal line, it must be kicked off by the side behind whose goal it went, within 6 yards from the limit of their goal. 
and in 1872 the FA adopted the 1868 Sheffield rule verbatim.





It was in 1873 that the FA rules gave us the clear distinction between a goal kick and a corner kick (though neither term was used):
When the ball is kicked behind the goal line by one of the opposite side it shall be kicked off by any one of the players behind whose goal line it went, within 6 yards of the nearest goal post; but if kicked behind by any one of the side whose goal line it is , a player of the opposite side shall kick it from the nearest corner flag post. 

As the corner kick fell under the category 'free kicks' it was not permissible to score a goal directly from a corner kick.

Forest v Barnes 1863

Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle- 19.12.63

The Forest Club was founded by CW and JF Alcock.  JF Alcock was a delegate at the 6  Football Association meetings held in October-December 1863 and was elected onto the first FA Committee in 1864. 
The cutting contains an early reference to the Football Association's ideal of seeing their new rules adopted universally.

The matches that shaped Association football- The 1870s

International Football in the 1870s

A number of matches during this decade left an indelible mark on the development of the game, as competitive cup football and international fixtures came into being. There were also developments and consolidations regarding the Laws of The Game that gave football a look that would be more familiar to a present day eye.

Scotland v England - 1872
After CW Alcock's attempt to organize international fixtures in 1870-71 the first truly representative international fixture took place on 30.11.72. If we follow FIFA's definitions this match shouldn't really count as a full international, as there was no Scottish FA, but that's pedantic nit picking. Queen's Park club served as a national association for Scotland until the inception of the Scottish FA in 1873,
It is a misconception that the Scottish team was Queen's Park in disguise- true, all 11 players were members of Queen's Park but there were 2 London based players included and dual or multiple club membership was commonplace. The England selection was geographically more diverse than one might expect (although JC Clegg's recollections suggest that there was a degree of north south divide in evidence). It was a case English muscle and hard work vs Scots guile and combination. 0-0.

The FA Cup 1871-72
Alcock's masterstroke- a knock out tournament based on the house matches of Harrow school. This signalled the arrival of competitive Association football and was a catalyst in the broader development of the game.
The first round of matches was played on November 11th 1871:

Upton Park	0	3	Clapham Rovers
Jarvis Kenrick is credited with the first ever FA Cup goal
Barnes	2	0	Civil Service
Maidenhead	2	0	Marlow
Hitchin	0	0	Crystal Palace
There was no replay-both teams progressed to the next round
The following matches were not played :
Queen’s Park	v		Donnington School
Failing to arrange to play this match did not prevent both sides from being placed in the draw for the next round.
Royal Engineers (walk over)	v		Reigate Priory
Wanderers (walk over)	v		Harrow Chequers
Hampsted Heathens (bye)

Sheffield v Glasgow - 1876

This was the in the third in the Sheffield vs Glasgow series of matches. The significance is that I believe it is the match that led to Clydesdale's JJ Lang becoming the first Scottish footballer to move to England in order to make his living from the game. 

The following is taken from everybody's favourite soccer history blog:

Sheffield 0 Glasgow 2 

 Bramall Lane 19.02.76

Again Sheffield Rules were played .
The press quoted odds of 5-4 on for Glasgow before the game.

6000 were  at Bramall Lane in wet conditions. The Telegraph comments on the lithe and wiry physique of the Scots and on their showing fine concerted play in contrast to the individualistic approach of Sheffield. There is reference to the bar (instead of the tape), and ends were changed at 45 minutes rather than after a goal. Andrews opened the scoring in the 20th minute.  

Glasgow's second goal came when goalkeeper Carr tried to make a quick throw out but hit Andrews on the legs, the ball rebounding into the goal. 

The usually partisan Sheffield press admitted that their team was outplayed both 'in speed and tactics'. 

London v Sheffield 1877
Up until this point Sheffield rules had existed alongside Association- similar but not the same- and were the favoured rules in South Yorkshire and the Midlands. In 1877 the last of the differences between the codes were resolved.
On 17.11.77 the 18th fixture between London and Sheffield (if we include the 1866 match) was the first played under the unified rules. The London side, led by Arthur Kinnaird, outclassed Sheffield and won 6-0.

Remnants v Darwen 1879

The Daily News 31.01.79

Not quite a team of mill workers - (Darwen had 2 Scottish professionals and a doctor in the side!), but this match represents the first real challenge to the old order in English football. Football in Lancashire was taking off- professionalism was on the rise and cup football had begun to grip the enthusiasm of the proletariat.
For the full story see Keith Dewhurst's Underdogs - essential reading for anyone interested in 19th century Association football.

Football publications of the 1860s

The Laws of the Game

Shortly after the Football Association formulated The Laws of the Game in 1863 they were published by John Lillywhite of Seymour Street in a booklet that cost a shilling and sixpence.

Kicking the ball- simply explained with the aid of annotated diagrams(!)

Beeton's Football

In 1866 cricket writer Frederick Wood produced Beeton's Football. The Beeton's series covered a wide range of subjects, and was an offshoot of the legendary Beeton's Book of Household Management.
The book contained hints on diet and preparation (avoid foods and habits which are injurious to the wind and general powers of endurance), and illustrated guidance on how to best kick the ball. 
the 98 page octavo book cost a shilling .

Sporting Life 07.02.66

Routledge's Handbook of Football

The next publisher to respond to the growing popularity of football was G. Routledge and Sons. Their 60 page Handbook of Football appeared in 1867.

The quality of the advice, which might, to modern ears, sound quite naive, is indicative of the rudimentary state of the game at this point in time: 

For excellent fellows at football the prettiest costume is a coloured velvet cap with tassel, a tight striped jersey and white flannel trousers. It is a good plan, if it can be previously so arranged, to have one side with striped jerseys of one colour, say red, and the other with another, say blue. This prevents confusion and wild attempts to run after and wrest the ball from your neighbour. 
If you have the good fortune to own a copy you could expect to get £500 for it at auction. 


The Football Annual

The Lillywhite family had been publishing cricket books since 1848. 
The first John Lilywhite's Football Annual appeared in 1868. It was edited by  Charles Alcock, and was called The Football Annual from 1869 to 1908 .  The annuals are exceedingly rare and are commonly known as Charles Alcock's Football Annual. 
'Published with the sanction of the Football Association', the annual was a combination of rule book, instruction manual, and club directory. It contained advertisements for sports goods. 
The 85 page 1868 edition covered both Association and Rugby codes. 

Sheffield FC and the Football Association, 1863

Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle 05.12.63

The above is a letter from W. Chesterman, the Hon, Sec. of Sheffield Football Club which was read to the meeting of the Football Association held on December 1st 1863.  Mr Chesterman makes observations and suggestions. The Sheffield Rules had been in operation since 1857, and, as was to be the case with the Association Laws of the Game, were evolving on a year by year basis.
By 1877 the Sheffield and Association rules had converged completely.

Referees and Umpires- England v Scotland

Deerstalkers were popular with referees.

When the Football Association’s Laws of the Game were drawn up in 1863 there was no mention to referees, umpires or any arbiters. However, by the 1870s it was common for association matches to be overseen by two umpires and a referee. This practice is traditionally ascribed to the advent of competitive football with the introduction of the FA Cup in 1871. Of course most football was still played by the class of men who would never knowingly seek to gain unfair advantage or deliberately transgress.
In the Alcock Internationals we see the casual approach to officialdom in keeping with the 'scratch' nature of the matches, the personnel being:
Match 1-No mention  made of Umpires and Referees, the assumption being that disputes were settled by the captains.
Match 2-Umpires - Morton Peto Betts (England) and Alexander Morten (Scotland)
Match 3-Umpires - Robert Barker (Hertfordshire Rangers, England) and William Wallace. (Wanderers, for Scotland) Referee - Charles Mansfield Tebbut (Wanderers).
Match  4- Umpires - Alfred Stair (Upton Park, England) and Gilbert Kennedy (Wanderers, for Scotland).
Match 5-Only one Umpire known - Alexander Morten  (taken from Andy Mitchell's First Elevens).

  In practice each side would nominate an Umpire to whom the captains could appeal regarding any situation that arose during play. This situation was usually adequate, although the Umpires were later described in the press as 12th men on each side who could harass the Referee with pleas and arguments.
One Umpire operated in each half of the field (or more accurately each side of the field- for this purpose the field was divided lengthwise). The Referee could operate from the sidelines, but was often to be found on the field of play.

If we look at the officials involved in the England  vs Scotland internationals during the Umpire / Referee era we see a veritable Who's Who of Victorian football.  Prominent football administrators and international players past, present and future fulfilled the roles.

	Referee	Umpires
		England	Scotland
1872	William Keay (S) (Hon. Treasurer- Queen's Park)	C.W. Alcock* (Wanderers & Hon. Secretary FA)	H.N. Smith (President - Queen's Park)
1873	Theodore Lloyd (E) (Crystal Palace)	C.W. Alcock* (Wanderers & Hon. Secretary FA)	Archibald Rae (Queen's Park)
1874	Archibald Rae (S) (Queen's Park)	Alexander Morton* (Crystal Palace)	William Keay (Queen's Park)
1875	Alfred Stair (E) (Upton Park)	Major Francis Marindin (President - FA)	J.C. Mackay (Hon. Sec.- SFA)
1876	William C Mitchell (S) (Queen's Park)	J. Turner (Swifts)	Robert Gardner* (Clydesdale)
1877	Robert A.M.M Ogilvie (E)* (Clapham Rovers)	Hubert Heron* (Wanderers)	William Dick (Hon. Sec.- SFA)
1878	William A Dick (S) (Hon. Sec.- SFA)	G. Turner (Edinburgh University)	R.B. Colquhon (Vice-President- SFA)
1879	Charles Wollaston (E)* (Wanderers)	A. F. Kinnaird* (Treasurer- FA)	R.B. Colquhon (Vice-President- SFA)
1880	Capt. Donald Hamilton (S) (Vice-President- SFA)	W. Pierce-Dix (Hon. Sec.- Sheffield FA)	J. Nicholson (Vale of Leven)
1881	Major Francis Marindin (E) (President-FA)	E.H. Bambridge* (Swifts)	Capt. Donald Hamilton (Vice-President- SFA)
1882	John Wallace (S) (Vice-President- SFA)	Segar  Bastard* (Upton Park)	Thomas Anderson (Renfrew)
1883	John Sinclair (I)* (Hon. Treasurer- Irish FA )	J.C. Clegg*  (President -Sheffield FA)	Thomas  Lawrie  (President- SFA)
1884	John Sinclair (I)* (Hon. Treasurer- Irish FA )	Major Francis Marindin (President-FA)	Thomas Lawrie (Vice-President -SFA)
1885	John Sinclair (I)* (Irish FA)	M.P. Betts* (Old Harrovians)	J. E. McKillop (Scottish FA)
1886	Alexander Hunter (W)* (Secretary-Welsh FA)	N.L. Jackson (Corinthians & Hon. Sec.- FA)	Alexander Stuart (Vice-President- SFA)
1887	John Sinclair (I)* (Irish FA)	R.P. Gregson (Sec- Lancashire FA)	R. Browne (Queen's Park FC)
1888	John Sinclair (I)* (Irish FA)	M.P. Betts* (Old Harrovians)	A Mc Kennedy (President- SFA)
1889	John Sinclair (I)* (Irish FA)	J.C. Clegg*  (President -Sheffield FA)	J.A. Crerar (Third Lanark FC & President -SFA)
1890	John Reid (I)* (Irish FA)	R.P. Gregson (Sec- Lancashire FA)	Charles Campbell* (President- SFA)
1891	William J Morrow  (I) (President- Irish FA)	S.W. Widdowson* (Nottingham Forest)	T.R. Park (SFA)

*denotes an international player.

The inauguration of the British Home Championship in 1883 saw the introduction of neutral referees.
The 1891-92 season saw the Umpires rendered obsolete- replaced by linesmen whose powers were relatively limited, the Referee, by now, having become at least in theory, omnipotent.

Cads of the most unscrupulous kidney

1891 pitch markings

It is a standing insult to sportsmen to have to play under a rule which assumes that players intend to trip, hack and push their opponents, and to behave like cads of the most unscrupulous kidney. The lines marking a penalty area are a disgrace to the playing fields of a public school.
C B Fry (1907)

 By the beginning of the 20th century the Public Schools' influence on Association Football had declined markedly. Old Etonians had been the last 'Old Boys'' club to reach the FA Cup Final in 1883, Queen's Park (1885) the last amateur club to achieve the feat.
England's international XIs were becoming increasingly professional in make up.
The FA Amateur Cup, a knockout tournament for amateur teams affiliated to the FA, was introduced in 1894, but again teams from industrial, northern areas tended to prevail. In the first 10 seasons of the Amateur Cup Old Carthusians (twice) and Old Malvernians were the only Old Boys' clubs to lift the trophy. The Old Boys' clubs then resorted to instituting a competition exclusively for the Public Schools. This was the Arthur Dunn Cup, named in honour of the Cambridge University, Old Etonians, Corinthian and England player who had first proposed such a competition but had died before any action was taken.

ATB Dunn

The Committee formed at the inaugural meeting features many eminent names from this particular sphere:
President: Lord Kinnaird (Eton).
 Vice-Presidents: R C Guy (Forest), R C Gosling (Eton)
 Committee: R T Squire (Westminster), G O Smith (Charterhouse), W J Oakley (Shrewsbury), C Wreford-Brown (Charterhouse), R E Foster (Malvern), W M Cowan (Brighton), J R Mason (Winchester). 
Hon Secretary: N Malcolmson
The trophy was donated by Cunliffe Gosling, traditionally held to be the richest man to ever play football for England. 

The reactionary nature of these privileged amateurs is illustrated by the fact that a decade after the introduction of the penalty kick the concept caused such an affront to their notion of fair play that, given their own competition to govern, they effectively ignored the penalty kick rule. They also used unregistered referees. These two issues brought the Public Schools into conflict with the FA and led to the Public Schools being granted representation on the Council of the Football Association (in the person of Mr Malcolmson).

Charterhouse v Westminster

London City Press 26.11.1864

It would appear that the writer of the above report hadn't grasped the terminology of the game.

The Morning Post 24.11.1865

Charterhouse and Westminster were 2 of the 'public' schools in which Association Football was the winter game of choice. In fact the Association rules and modes of play owed much to the brands of football played at these schools before the 1863 rules were drafted. The first ever inter-school match under Association rules was between Charterhouse and Westminster.

Some 20 years after the above matches were played the 'old boys' of each school had formed prominent clubs which supplied England with a number of internationals, and in the case of Charterhouse,won the FA Cup in 1880-81.

Both schools followed rules that allowed passing forward. The Football Association adopted this in 1867 , a key move in the creation of the game that we have today, opening up the possibilities for strategic interpassing rather than the headlong rushes that resulted from a rule whereby, as in Rugby, anyone in front of the ball was 'off his side'.

As you would imagine, with the scholars of both institutions being drawn from the upper echelons of Victorian society, there are a number of noteworthy names in the team lists. In footballing terms there are Charles Nepean (aged  14) and Montague Muir Mackenzie (18), both of whom featured in the Alcock Internationals of 1870-72 (representing Scotland). Nepean was an FA Cup winner with Oxford University in 1874. Photographs of these young men are scarce, however, here is H.H Cameron (Charterhouse, 1864).

Born in 1852, he was the son of of the pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.