Founding of the Football Association
Next: October 26, 2027
The day football agreed its rules.
The story
Where it comes from
On the evening of Monday 26 October 1863, the captains and secretaries of a dozen London clubs and schools met at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street and formed the Football Association. Until then each club played its own version of football, and arguments over the rules were common. Ebenezer Morley, a solicitor who had written to the newspaper Bell's Life asking for one code, drafted the first Laws of the Game. The Story marks the anniversary of that meeting, where the shared rulebook now used around the world began.
How it's celebrated
There is no organised observance, but the date is remembered across the game. The FA celebrated its 150th anniversary with a gala dinner on 26 October 2013, on the site of the old tavern. For everyone else, it is a good day for a kickabout with friends, or a card for the person who first explained the offside rule to you.
Did you know
- The first Laws still let players catch the ball for a free kick; the fiercest argument was over 'hacking', kicking an opponent's shins, which the final version of 8 December 1863 banned.
- Singapore's football association, founded in 1892, 29 years after the FA, claims to be the oldest football association in Asia.
- Since 1886 the Laws of the Game have been looked after by the International Football Association Board, which FIFA joined in 1913.
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