The following are events in the 1860s decade which are relevant to the development of association football. Included are events in closely related codes, such as the Sheffield Rules. All events happened in English football unless specified otherwise.
There was constant discussion about the rules throughout this decade and several codes were in use. The Football Association (the FA) was founded in 1863 and its rules eventually prevailed. Points at issue among the various associations included offside, the throw-in, the corner kick, the crossbar and the now-obsolete touch down. Among the clubs founded in the 1860s were Notts County, Nottingham Forest, Queen's Park FC, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City and Kilmarnock.
Events 1860 Foundation of Hallam FC, local rivals of Sheffield FC. 31 January – Sheffield FC revised its rules to ban all methods of handling the ball except by a fair catch. The 1858 rules had allowed players to control the ball by hand as long as they did not hold and carry it.Murphy, p. 46.
26 December – The first match between Hallam FC and Sheffield FC took place at Hallam's Sandygate Road ground under the Sheffield Rules. The fixture remains the oldest in world football.
1861
October – Sheffield FC modified its rules governing the goal kick and the throw-in. 14 December – An article in The Field called for a common code of football. It inspired Charles Thring, an Uppingham School teacher, in his efforts to create such a code. He was strongly opposed to the Rugby School version of football and championed a strict offside law. 28 December – The Field published a letter from Thring in which he outlined his ideas for the "very first principles of football" including offside, use of a round ball and goals to be scored by kicking the ball under (not over) the crossbar.
1862 31 January – A new version of the Sheffield Rules introduced the rouge (borrowed from the Eton field game) as a tiebreaker. Goal dimensions were specified for the first time with two goal "sticks" twelve feet apart and a crossbar (or tape) nine feet above the ground. The change of ends at half-time was introduced but it only happened if a goal had been scored. There was still no offside law. 1 October – Following correspondence throughout the year, Charles Thring published a pamphlet called The Rules of Foot-ball: The Winter Game. Revised for the use of schools. It proposed a set of laws for what Thring called "The Simplest Game". Unknown date – Foundation of Notts County, recognised as the world's oldest professional football club. County began as a "gentlemen-only" club and played a form of football that has been loosely termed the Nottingham Rules.
1863 Summer – Ahead of the 1863–64 season, Sheffield FC adopted a "single player" offside rule which required that there must be at least one defending player between the goal and the first attacking player (or level with him). Monday, 26 October – In an effort to resolve the common rules issue, representatives of twelve clubs and schools in the London area met at the Freemasons' Tavern, in Great Queen Street. The meeting was organised by Ebenezer Cobb Morley, founder of Barnes FC, for the purpose of "forming an Association with the object of establishing a definite code of rules for the regulation of the game". The Football Association was founded with eleven clubs joining at the outset.
26 October to 8 December – The new FA held a total of six meetings to try and determine the rules of play. They envisaged a game played primarily with the feet and banned running with the ball in hand. Hacking was also forbidden. They did allow the fair catch, however, and as in Sheffield this earned a free kick. The bans on handling and hacking led to the withdrawals of both Blackheath and Richmond who, along with other clubs which favoured Rugby rules, formed the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The game created by the FA became known as association football to distinguish it from rugby football.
1864 7 December – Having been founded as an ad hoc team in 1862, Notts County was formally established as Notts FC.
1865 2 January – Sheffield FC went to Nottingham to play their first match outside the Sheffield area, against Notts FC. The game was eighteen-a-side under the local Nottingham Rules. Unknown date – Foundation of Nottingham Forest by shinty players at the Clinton Arms pub on Shakespeare Street in Nottingham.
1866
22 February – At its Annual General Meeting (AGM), the FA formulated their second version of the Laws of the Game. These included the introductions of both the three-man offside rule and the crossbar (then a tape) with the stipulation that the ball must pass beneath it for a goal. Although the touchdown was temporarily retained, the resultant conversion was abolished as was the clean catch to earn a free kick.Sanders, pp. 55–56. 22 March – First Nottingham derby between Forest and County. 31 March – The London v Sheffield match was played under FA rules in Battersea Park, London. The London team, captained by Arthur Pember, was representative and won by two goals and four touchdowns to nil.Sanders, p. 52. October to December – Analysis of the sporting press has revealed that a total of 122 known matches were played in and around London during this period (the total rose to 170 in the same three months of 1867).
1867 12 February – Opening of the Youdan Cup in Sheffield as the world's first-ever organised tournament in any code of football. Twelve local clubs took part, playing under the Sheffield Rules: Broomhall, Fir Vale, Garrick, Hallam (winners), Heeley, Mackenzie, Mechanics, Milton, Norfolk, Norton, Pitsmoor and Wellington. Sheffield FC declined to take part. 26 February – At its AGM, the FA abolished the touchdown and placed additional limitations on handling.Sanders, p. 56. The new FA Secretary, R. G. Graham undertook to correspond with all known clubs throughout England in an effort to increase membership which totalled only ten clubs. 5 March – The Youdan Cup Final was played at Bramall Lane between Hallam and Norfolk. The score was nil-all in goals but Hallam won by two rouges (touchdowns) to one. March – The Sheffield & Hallamshire County Football Association was formed by Sheffield FC and the twelve clubs that had competed in the Youdan Cup. This is the world's second-oldest football association after the FA itself. The new association took immediate ownership of the Sheffield Rules and issued its own first version. Sheffield & Hallamshire teams played under the Sheffield Rules until 1877 when they adopted the FA rules. 20 June – The first recorded football match in Argentina was played at Parque Tres de Febrero, Palermo, Buenos Aires, by two teams of British railway workers. 9 July – Foundation of Queen's Park FC in Glasgow. It is the oldest Scottish association football club.Sanders, pp. 63–64. 4 September – Foundation of Sheffield Wednesday at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield by members of the Wednesday Cricket Club who wanted to play a winter sport to maintain fitness. The team played its first match on 19 October. The club was known as Wednesday Football Club until 1929 when they added Sheffield to their name. 19 October – Chesterfield F.C. was formed as an offshoot of Chesterfield Cricket Club in October 1867. West Kent Football Club were founded in 1867Philip Norman, Scores and annals of the West Kent cricket club. With some account of the neighbourhoods of Chislehurst and Bromley and of the families residing there, p221, 1897, (Oxford University Press) by a core of Old Rugbeians including Arthur Guillemard. Playing at Chislehurst Common, they first played football using both Association rules and Rugby School rules.
1868
February – The second oldest football tournament in the world, the Cromwell Cup, was played under the Sheffield Rules. The four clubs taking part were Sheffield Wednesday (the winners), Exchange, Garrick and Wellington. 1 August – Queen's Park played their first competitive match against the now-defunct Thistle FC and won 2–0.Sanders, p. 64. October – An early version of the corner kick was included in the Sheffield Rules at the request of Norfolk F.C. It differed significantly from the modern version in that it could be awarded to either side depending on who played the ball over the goal-line. There was an exception in that if the ball went directly over the crossbar, and regardless of who played it last, the decision was a goal-kick by the defending team. The FA adopted the Sheffield version of the corner kick in 1872. October – Stoke Ramblers FC, which may have been founded up to five years previously by former pupils of Charterhouse School who were employed at the North Staffordshire Railway works, played their first documented match against E. W. May's XV. The club became Stoke FC in 1878 and then Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. Stoke City claim to have been founded in 1863 but lack documented proof of any activity before the match in 1868 and, in 2019, the English Football League (EFL) declared that Nottingham Forest (founded 1865) was the EFL's oldest club ahead of the 2019–20 season, Notts County having been relegated to the National League.
1869 5 January – Foundation of Kilmarnock FC, the second-oldest club in Scotland. As would happen on numerous future occasions, the club was formed by a group of local cricketers looking for a sporting pursuit to keep themselves fit and active outside of the cricket season. It was about this time that tactics first became evident in football with the designation of positions to appropriate players. This probably began in Scotland when, ahead of an 1869 game against Hamilton Gymnasium F.C., the Queen's Park captain Robert Gardner distributed cards to his colleagues which showed each of them where and how he must play. The Scots soon developed the 2-2-6 formation with fullbacks recognised as distinct from forwards, while halfbacks began to emerge in a sort of midfield role. Forwards, however, still played in a pack to support the man in possession. Dribbling remained the key skill but there was no sign yet of a passing game to use the full width of the field. Queen's Park was the first team to play a passing game a few years later.Sanders, pp. 68–69.
Births Unknown c.1860 – Michael Paton (d. unknown), Scotland international full back in five matches (1883–1886). c.1862 – John Marshall (d. unknown), Scotland international in four matches (1885–1887). c.1869 – James Hamilton (d. unknown), Scotland international in three matches, scoring three goals (1892–1893). c.1869 – William Thomson (d. unknown), Scotland international in four matches (1892–1898).
1860 4 March – Eadie Fraser (d. 1886), Scotland international in five matches, scoring four goals (1880–1883). 28 August – James McAulay (d. 1943), Scotland international goalkeeper in nine matches (1882–1887). unknown date – Arthur Dunn (d. 1902), England international in four matches (1883–1892). unknown date – William Anderson (d. unknown), Scotland international in six matches, scoring three goals (1882–1885). unknown date – Robert Calderwood (d. unknown), Scotland international in three matches, scoring three goals (1885).
1861 3 January – Jack Yates (d. 1917), England international forward in one match (1889), scoring three goals and so one of the five England players to score a hat-trick on his only international appearance. 9 January – Howard Vaughton (d. 1937), England international in five matches (1882–1894), scoring six goals. February – Alf Jones (d. 1935), England international in three matches (1882–1883). 4 March – William Rose (d. 1937), England international goalkeeper in five matches (1884–1891). 12 May – Walter Arnott (d. 1931), Scotland international right back in 14 matches (1883–1893). 16 June – Arthur Bambridge (d. 1923), England international in three matches (1881–1884).