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The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century
efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played a
t the public schools of England.
The Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly
influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association
football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting
attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or
universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football.
Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed
by former public school pupils in 1857,] which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules.

These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse. The Freemason’s Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which eventually produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand; the second for obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby football clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, or subsequently left the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to ratify the original thirteen laws of the game. These rules included handling of the ball by “marks” and the lack of a crossbar, rules which made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games.