A key moment in the development of the game as we know
it came in October 1863, when representatives from a dozen schools and
clubs met at the Freemasons’ Tavern in London to form the Football
Association and agree a set of official rules under which they could all
play.
The game had come a long way from the ‘mob football’ of
the Middle Ages when, typically, large groups of men would battle to
move a ball from one end of a village to the other. By the early 19th
century, organised matches with clearly defined rules were being played
at public schools. However each school had its own particular code,
which made the organisation of competitive matches problematical.
Differences included the amount of handling that was permitted and the
question of ‘hacking’ – a medieval survival permitting the kicking of an
opponent’s shins.
Fourteen laws were agreed including pitch length, goal
size and an early form of the offside rule. The number of players in a
team was not stipulated and it was still possible to claim a ‘fair
catch’ (as in modern Australian Rules Football). Hacking was banned, a
decision that led the Blackheath Club to walk out in protest.
The 1863 laws were not the only ones in force. Attempts
had been made at Cambridge to codify the laws and some clubs still
played under rules formulated in Sheffield six years earlier, in 1857.
In 1877 the two sets of rules were combined. The first FA Challenge Cup
was staged in 1871/72, and the growing popularity of the sport in the
North and Midlands was reflected in the formation of the Football League
in 1888.
Matches between English and London-based Scottish
players had been played in London between 1870 and 1872. But the first
official international match between the countries was staged at the
West of Scotland Cricket Ground on St Andrew’s Day, 1872. Watched by
four thousand spectators, the match ended in a 0-0 draw although
Scotland came nearest to scoring when the ball landed on the tape that
then served as a crossbar.