Football Association

During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games.
In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School
and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules).
In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing
former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.

At the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of October 26, 1863, representatives of several football clubs
in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA).
The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its
members. Following the first meeting, the public schools were invited to join the association.
All of them declined, except Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between
October and December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the beginning
of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published Cambridge Rules of 1863.
The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with (carrying) the
ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins).