The Rules of Association Football - 1863
In December 1863 the founding members of The Football Association met to finalize the rules of
football at a tavern in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London. The handwritten text is still in existence and
is in the hands of The Football Association. The original rules of soccer follow.
1.
The maximum length of the ground shall be 200 yards, the minimum breadth shall be 100 yards,
the length and breadth shall be marked off with flags; and the goals hall be defined by two upright
posts, 8 yards apart, without a tape or bar across them.
2.
The winner of the toss shall have the choice of goals. The game shall be commenced by a place
kick from the centre of the ground by the side losing the toss, the other side shall not approach
within 10 yards of the ball until it is kicked off.
3.
After a goal is won the losing side shall kick off and goals shall be changed.
4.
A goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal posts or over the space between the
goal posts (at whatever height), not being thrown, knocked on, or carried.
5.
When the ball is in touch the first player who touches it shall throw it from the point on the
boundary line where it left the ground, in a direction at right angles with the boundary line.
6.
When a player has kicked the ball any one of the same side who is nearer to the opponent’s goal
line is out of play and may not touch the ball himself nor in any way whatever prevent any other
player from doing so until the ball has been played; but no player is out of play when the ball is
kicked from behind the goal line.
7.
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.
8.
If a player makes a fair catch he shall be entitled to a free kick, provided he claims it by making a
mark with his heel at once; and in order to take such kick he may go as far back as he pleases,
and no player on the opposite side shall advance beyond his mark until he has kicked.
9.
No player shall carry the ball.
10.
Neither tripping nor hacking shall be allowed and no player shall use his hands to hold or push
his adversary.
11.
A player shall not throw the ball or pass it to another.
12.
No player shall take the ball from the ground with his hands while it is in play under any pretence
whatever.
13.
No player shall wear projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta percha on the soles or heels of his
boots.
Definition of Terms
A Place Kick
Is a kick at the ball while it is on the ground, in any position in which the kicker may choose to
place it.
A Free Kick
Is the privilege of kicking at the ball, without obstruction in such a manner s the kicker may think
fit.
A Fair Catch
Is when the ball is caught after it has touched the person of an adversary, and before it has
touched the ground or one of the side catching it; but if the ball is kicked from behind the goal line,
a fair catch cannot be made.
Hacking
Is kicking an adversary intentionally.
Tripping
Is throwing an adversary by the use of the leg.
Knocking on
Is when a player strikes or propels the ball with his hands or arms.
Holding
Includes the obstruction of a player by the hand or any part of the arm below the elbow.
Touch
Is that part of the field on either side of the ground, which is beyond the line of flags.
Rule 13 is a throwback to earlier, rougher times.
In 1865, it was agreed that tape should be stretched across the goal posts at a height of eight feet.
In 1866, the offside rule was introduced.
Goal kicks were introduced in 1869.
The game was limited to ninety minutes in 1877.
In 1878, referees were allowed to use whistles.
The word “soccer” was derived from “Association” and the first game to be played under the
Association rules was between Barnes and Richmond – the final score was 0-0.
Games of foot ball (two words) were “ubiquitous, spontaneous and traditional.” The killing of
animals provided people with bladders, which were unsuitable for most other purposes but ideal
to inflate and play with.
At English public schools, the game took on several shapes. For example, in Charterhouse
School, which was then housed in an old Carthusian monastery in London – a very confined
space – the art or craft of “dribbling” the ball was developed. On the vast playing fields of Eton,
the ball could be kicked high and long. At Rugby School between the 1920s and 1940s, the boys
caught and ran with the ball and began to develop what would become a separate game. But in
that day and age, all the various games were called “foot ball.”
A problem arose when the boys from different schools went to Oxford (college) and Cambridge
(college) and wanted to continue to play foot ball. They found that because different schools
followed different rules, confusion arose. It became common practice to play half a match by one
side’s rules, the second half by the other’s. That is how the half-time evolved.
On Monday, 26 October 1863, in The Freemasons’ Tavern, in Lincoln’s Fields, London,
representatives from a dozen London and suburban clubs met in order to sort out the various
rules. The committee included men from the Wanderers (a mix of Oxford and Cambridge men);
N. N. Kilburn (“N.N.” standing for No Names); Barnes; War Office; Crusaders; Furnival House
Blackheath; Kingston School; Surbiton; Blackheath School and Charterhouse School. The clubs
represented at that meeting formed The Football Association.
However, it took another half dozen meetings to classify and codify what became the Rule Book.
The central problem was whether a player could pick up the ball and run with it. Blackheath
insisted on two clauses: (1) that a player be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries’
goal if he makes a fair catch, and (2) that “if any player still run with the ball towards his
adversaries’ goal, any player of the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack
him, or wrest the ball from him.”
At what proved to be the final meeting (8 December 1863), the Blackheath motion was defeated,
13 votes to 4 votes. Blackheath withdrew from the Association.
In the mid-eighteenth century, textile workers in the north were given Saturday afternoon off. By
the 1860s, several other trades followed. It helped the big industries because they could
overhaul their machines with a skeleton workforce on that half-day. Factory teams sprang up in
Britain, as did pub teams, police teams, church teams, town teams, village teams and schoolboy
teams.
Reference: “The Rules of Association Football, 1863,” Foreword by Sir bobby Charlton,
Introduction by Melvyn Bragg, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1
3BG (2006), pages 33-61.