English Public School Football Games - Association Football

Association Football

Football had come to be adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging esprit de corps, competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted their own rules to suit the dimensions of their playing field. The rules varied widely between different schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Soon, a number of schools of thought about how football should be played emerged. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham).

Others preferred a game where dribbling the ball was promoted (in particular Eton College and Harrow). This kind of dribbling foot ball with a tight off-side rule is still played today as the Eton field game. A third group including Westminster and Charterhouse pursued a game that excluded handling the ball. There is some evidence that this also became a passing game which importantly allowed the forward pass known as "passing on".

The division into these camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. At Charterhouse and Westminster, both schools at the time played on restricted sites in London, the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the cloisters making the rough and tumble of the handling game difficult. Most of the founding members of The Football Association in 1863 were former schoolboys at these public schools. Punch referred to them as "Public School professors of the art "

This led to a conflict in the way that Association Football should be played. Some committee members favoured the rules of Charterhouse and Westminster School and pushed for a passing game, in particular rules that allowed forward passing ("passing on"). Other schools (in particular Eton College and Harrow) favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule (such that all players must remain behind the ball). By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Charterhouse and Westminster game and adopted an off-side rule that permitted forward passing. The modern forward-passing soccer game was thus born, as a direct consequence of Charterhouse and Westminster Football.

The first ever inter-school soccer match was between Charterhouse and Westminster in 1863.

Between the Wars a substantial number of independent schools switched codes from soccer to rugby, but this trend did not continue, and at least one, City of London School, switched from rugby to soccer a few years ago. In addition, many independent schools now offer both codes, and in some schools, including Eton, Winchester, Charterhouse and Westminster, association football is a major sport.