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Playing football has a long tradition in England and football had probably been played at Rugby School for two hundred years before three boys published the first set of written rules in 1845. The rules had always been determined by the pupils and not the masters and they were frequently modified with each new intake. Rules changes, such as the legality of carrying or running with the ball, were often often agreed shortly before the commencement of a game. There were thus no formal rules for football during the time William Webb Ellis was at the school (1816-1825) and the legendary story of the boy "who with a fine disregard for the rules as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it" in 1823 is apocryphal. The story first appeared in 1876, some four years after the death of Webb Ellis, and is attributed to a local antiquarian and former Rugbeian Matthew Bloxam. Bloxam was not a comtemporary of Webb Ellis and vaguely quoted an unnamed person as informing him of the incident that had supposedly happened 53 years earlier. The story has been dismissed as unlikely since an official investigation by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895. However, the trophy for the Rugby Union World Cup is named Webb Ellis in his honour and a plaque at the school 'commemorates' the 'achievement'.
Rugby football has strong claims to the world's first and oldest "football club": the Guy's Hospital Football Club , formed in London in 1843, by old boys from Rugby School. Around the anglosphere, a number of other clubs formed to play games based on the Rugby School rules. One of these, Dublin University Football Club , founded in 1854, has arguably become the world's oldest surviving football club in any code. The Blackheath Rugby ClubHistory Early history Blackheath Rugby Club (BRC) was founded in 1858 by old boys of Blackheath Propietary School who played a "carrying" game of football made popular by Rugby School. BRC was the first rugby club in the world without restricted membershi, in London, founded in 1858Events January 14 Felice Orsini and his accomplices fail to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris but their bombs kill 156 bystanders. Because of the involvement of French emigres living in Britain, there is a brief anti-British feeling in France but the empe, is the oldest surviving non-university rugby club.
The Football Association was formed at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Lincoln Inn Fields, London October 26October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. Events 740 An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death. 1640 The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Sc 1863Events January-March January 1 Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War. January 1 The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska January 8 Ground is broken in Sacramen with the intention to frame a code of laws that would embrace the best and most acceptable points of all the various methods of play under the one heading of "football". At the beginning of the fourth meeting attention was drawn to the fact that a number of newspapers had recently published the Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely 'running with the ball' and 'hacking' (kicking an opponent in the shins). The two contentious draft rules were as follows:
At the fifth meeting a motion was proposed that these two rules be expunged from the FA rules, F. W. Campbell a member of the Blackheath ClubHistory Early history Blackheath Rugby Club (BRC) was founded in 1858 by old boys of Blackheath Propietary School who played a "carrying" game of football made popular by Rugby School. BRC was the first rugby club in the world without restricted membershi argued that hacking is an essential element of the ‘football’ and that to eliminate hacking would “do away with all the courage and pluck from the game, and I will be bound over to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practice”. At the 6th meeting on December 8December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining. Events 1854 Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin. F.W.C. withdrew the Blackheath Club explaining that the rules that the FA intended to adopt would destroy the game and all interest in it. Other rugby clubs follow this lead and did not join the Football Association.