Who invented football?

The History of Association Football

Part 2 - The FA is formed

By the 1850s, many towns and cities were beginning to get the best players in the area together to represent them. In 1855, Sheffield FC had the distinction of becoming the first football club of its kind. Then on October 26th 1863 the FA was formed at a meeting at the Freemason's Tavern in London. All the clubs in existence in England met over two months to discuss and draw up rules for the game. The first secretary of the FA was Mr.E.C.Morley who was involved when the first rules were published in December of 1863. As part of the rules it was decided that carrying the ball and hacking an opponent whilst trying to win possession were now to be made illegal. This decision in fact was instrumental in the introduction of the game of rugby. Blackheath disagreed with the rule introduced so withdrew their membership and then formed a rugby club who still play today. The meeting also introduced the term 'soccer' as a possible abbreviation for 'Association football' so as to distinguish the game from rugby football.

1871 saw the introduction of the FA Cup. 15 clubs entered the first competition and of the 15 original entrants, Queen's Park who were from Glasgow are now members of the Scottish League. Scottish teams entered the FA Cup until 1887. Marlow and Maidenhead are still around in non-league football, each only having missed one season in the history of the Competition. A team from the Civil Service was involved. The Crystal Palace team from 1871is not the same as it is today, though Hitchin reformed to become the modern day Hitchin Town in 1928. In the first FA Cup final, held at Kennington Oval on 16th March 1872, Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0, with a goal scored by Morton Betts under the pseudonym A H Chequer, as he was formerly a member of the Harrow Chequers Club. The other clubs competing in the first FA Cup competition were Barnes, Hampstead Heathens, Donington School, Reigate Priory and Clapham Rovers.

In 1888 the formation of a competitive league was suggested by William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa who wrote to a number of clubs culminating in a meeting on 23rd March of that year in Manchester. As no southern clubs were present, it was decided that a football league be formed the next season. The 12 original members of the Football League were: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Probably the reason there were no southern clubs involved is due to professionalism. Despite the rules and regulations now implemented, there seemed to be an issue regarding the paying of players. In the south of England, they believed in the idea, football should be an amateur game, whereas in the north players were paid. Scotland were also against paying players but in 1893 had to revise their decision as many of the better players were moving down over the border to play for the English clubs.

So who invented football?

So back to the question, who invented football? - well to summarize from the findings so far, football as we know it seems to have been invented in England but the original concept doesn't. The Chinese lay claim to the first shot on target, while the Romans were supposed to have introduced the English to the game of football before the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Greeks and the Italians have also laid claim to the question - who invented football. We also know by the early to mid 1500s the game had been introduced to Ireland and there was evidence of a ball dating back to 1540 in Scotland. Who invented football? - YOU DECIDE!