The Ref Stop

Major League Soccer

The Ref Stop
cwyeary said:
Every modern form of football played in the world is a direct descendant from soccer and rugby played in the UK in the 19th century.
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I think I would word that very slightly differently.

I think it's more accurate to say that every modern form of football - including rugby and association football - is a direct descendant of the game known as football but played under slightly varying sets of rules in the UK in the mid-to-late 1800's. It's worth remembering that the first FA Laws published in 1863 were an attempt to unify the various different sets of rules under a common code and were originally intended to cover both the 'handling' and 'kicking' varieties of the game in one document. The split between association football and rugby into two distinct forms wasn't really formalised until the first separate set of Laws of Rugby were published in 1871.
 
The Cambridge Rules did come earlier but were not an attempt at unifying the different codes - they were just firmly in the 'kicking' camp. Their rules did not allow players to run while holding the ball or use 'hacking' on the opponents. One of the earlier drafts of the 1863 Laws allowed both, before those members favouring something much more akin to the Cambridge Rules won out. As one of the main architects of the original FA Laws said during the debate:
"The Cambridge Rules appear to be the most desirable for the Association to adopt."J.F Alcock, FA Committee Member 1863
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Not allowing hacking or running while holding the ball was what caused those favouring the style of play more similar to today's rugby to leave the nascent FA and eventually go on to form the Rugby Football Union and publish their own set of Laws 8 years later.
 
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