English Public School Football Games

English Public School Football Games

During the early modern era students, former students and teachers at English public schools developed and wrote down the first codes of football, most notably the Eton College (1815) and Aldenham school (1825) football rules. The most well-known of these is Rugby football (1845). British public school football also directly influenced the rules of Association football.

Private schools ("public schools" in England and Wales), mainly attended by boys from the more affluent upper, upper-middle and professional classes, are widely credited with three key achievements in the creation of modern codes of football. First, the evidence suggests that, during the 16th century, they transformed the violent and chaotic but popular, "Mob football" into organised team sports that were beneficial to schoolboys. Second, many early references to football in literature were recorded by people who had studied at these schools, showing they were familiar with the game. Finally, in the 19th century, former English public school boys were the first to write down formal codes of rules in order to enable matches to be played between different schools. These versions of football rules were the basis of both the Cambridge Rules and subsequent rules of association football.