“It has been quite some 150 years. The minutes from that original meeting pinpointed the three values at the heart of football. Vision, commitment and team work. They remain our inspiration.”
David Bernstein
FA Chairman
These were the words of FA Chairman David Bernstein on Wednesday as the FA kicked off its 150th birthday celebration, which will continue throughout the year. The original governor of the beautiful game, known worldwide simply as ‘The FA’ rather than the ‘English FA’, we are not simply celebrating the birth of our own governing body but of the game that it governs. Happy Birthday football.
Of course we now know football as the world’s most popular sport. A game that unites the planet in a way that no other seems to. But the beginnings of the sport were certainly a lot more humble than the lavish FIFA headquarters that now sit proudly in Zurich.
The FA met for the first time on October 26th 1863 in the Freemasons Tavern in London. It was there, over the next 44 days that meetings took place to shape the future of the game. The man behind these meetings was Ebenezer Morley who felt strongly that the game needed a clear set of playing guidelines that could be shared throughout the community.
The original minutes of these meetings, in essence the first ever football rulebook, still sits proudly at the FA’s headquarters in London. A dozen football clubs signed the original charter, of which only Civil Service FC of the Southern Amateur Leagues Senior Division One survive today.
With these new rules in place the first ever association game was played between two of the founder clubs on the 19th of December 1863 (it ended goalless) with the introduction of what would become the FA Cup in 1871. As it happens the majority of the FA’s clubs were not interested in entering the FA cup as they felt that competition could lead to ‘unhealthy rivalries and even bitterness’. In truth they were probably spot on.
The next step was for a team to play for the whole of England in the first ever international game of football against neighbors Scotland. England emerged victorious with a 1-0 score line in a game that was documented at the time by the FA as “one of the jolliest, one of the most spirited and most pleasant matches that have ever been played according to Association rules”. Lovely.
The first league would follow in 1888 and the first ever World Cup 42 years later in Uruguay, although there was no England team there it was further proof that the game was growing into the global powerhouse it is now.
So there you have it, the humble beginnings. The tiny acorn that grew from a meeting in a pub into the Premier League, The FA Cup and everything else that comes with our great game.
But with the past being as impressive and storied as it is, what does the future hold for the FA?
Success on the pitch is an area that is already being addressed. The opening of the state of the art St Georges Park Football Centre last year was certainly a statement by the FA. It screams that the FA wish to be more competitive at the game that they created in the next 150 than they were in the last.
A solitary World Cup, won on home soil, rests proudly in the FA trophy cabinet. Nothing else of note is there. St Georges Park is seen by many to be a catalyst for change in this respect. Our current stars will be given every chance to be World Cup or European Championship winners. But, more importantly, our future stars will have all the tools they need to develop into champions.
Although the FA has a vast and impressive history it’s not one that is blessed with numerous pieces of silverware, but the idea is that the FA’s new found emphasis on grassroots football and the coaching philosophies that are dished out to our youngest players could pave the way for future success.
However, the first point the FA should be addressing is the survival of the game. As recession bites and football fans stay at home to save money the clubs themselves begin to feel the pinch. The FA has a number of achievements to be proud of from the last 150 years. The proudest from the next 150 could simply be survival. Keeping our game alive in the face of the adversity it comes up against.
Happy Birthday, Dear FA, Happy Birthday To You