Ebenezer Cobb Morley
English sportsman and key founder of the Football Association.
Ebenezer Cobb Morley (16 August 1831 – 20 November 1924) was an English sportsman and solicitor. He is considered a founding figure of the Football Association (FA) and modern football.
Morley was born at 10 Garden Square, Princess Street in Hull. His father, the Reverend Ebenezer Morley, was a nonconformist minister, and his mother was Hannah (née Cobb). He lived in Hull until age 22. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1854, he moved to the London suburb of Barnes in 1858 to work as a solicitor.
In 1862, Morley founded Barnes Football Club and captained it until 1867. The club’s first recorded match, a 2–0 win against Richmond F.C., took place on 29 November 1862. A game the next month against Blackheath FC was less successful: Blackheath played a rugby-style game, forcing compromise rules. Barnes played “very weak” football, lost 2–0, and Morley narrowly avoided being “garrotted.”
In 1863, Morley wrote to *Bell’s Life* newspaper, proposing a governing body for football with the power to set common rules. This led to the first FA meeting at Freemasons’ Tavern on 26 October 1863, where Morley was elected the association’s first secretary.
At the time, some clubs allowed carrying the ball and “hacking” (kicking opponents in the shins), following Rugby School’s example; others banned both. During FA meetings to draft laws, a bitter split emerged between “hacking” and “non-hacking” clubs. At a meeting on 17 November 1863, the hacking clubs held the majority, and a further meeting was scheduled to finalise the laws based on Morley’s draft. At the crucial 24 November meeting, hackers again had a narrow majority. However, Morley drew attention to recently published Cambridge University football rules that banned carrying and hacking. Discussion of these rules and possible communication with Cambridge delayed the final settlement until 1 December. Several rugby-style supporters did not attend that meeting, so hacking and carrying were banned in the laws published later that month.
Morley played in the first match under FA rules, Barnes against Richmond in December 1863. On 2 January 1864, he led his “Secretary’s Side” to defeat against the “President’s Side” in a friendly at Battersea Park to test the new laws. He served as FA secretary until 1866, resigning at the annual meeting due to business demands. He also objected to FA clubs playing under other rules and
- born
- 16 August 1831, Hull, England
- died
- 20 November 1924, Barnes, England
- field
- Sportsman, solicitor
- nationality
- English
- known_for
- Founding the Football Association and drafting its first laws
Lore & Background
Morley was born at 10 Garden Square, Princess Street in Hull to the Reverend Ebenezer Morley, a nonconformist minister, and his wife Hannah. He lived in Hull until age 22, qualified as a lawyer in 1854, and moved to Barnes in 1858 to practise as a solicitor. In 1862 he founded Barnes Football Club and served as its captain until 1867. The club's first recorded game was a 2–0 victory against Richmond F.C. on 29 November 1862; a match the following month against Blackheath FC required compromise rules because Blackheath played a rugby-style game, and Barnes lost two goals to nothing, with Morley narrowly escaping being 'garrotted'.
In 1863, Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football with power to set common rules. This led to the first meeting of the FA at Freemasons' Tavern on 26 October 1863, where Morley was elected first secretary. During the meetings to draw up the FA laws, there was an acrimonious division between clubs that allowed 'hacking' (kicking in the shins) and carrying the ball, and those that forbade both. At a crucial meeting on 24 November 1863, Morley brought delegates' attention to recently published Cambridge University rules banning carrying and hacking, which delayed final settlement and led to the banning of those practices in the laws published that December.
Morley played in the first ever match under FA rules, for Barnes against Richmond in December 1863. He served as FA secretary until 1866, then as FA president from 1867 to 1874, presiding over the birth of the FA Cup and presenting it for the first time in 1872. He also rowed for the London Rowing Club, competed in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley in 1864, and was still sculling daily in his well-known boat at age 82. He served on Surrey County Council for Barnes from 1903 to 1919 and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1906.
Reader's Guide
Ebenezer Cobb Morley's significance lies in his foundational role in creating the Football Association and establishing the first unified rules of modern football. His 1863 letter to Bell's Life newspaper directly prompted the meeting that formed the FA, and as its first secretary he drafted the initial laws. His intervention at the 24 November 1863 meeting, highlighting the Cambridge University rules, proved decisive in banning the rugby-style practices of carrying and hacking, thereby shaping football as a distinct sport. As FA president from 1867 to 1874, he oversaw the introduction of the FA Cup and the association's growth in popularity and influence. Morley's legacy is encapsulated in the 1863 FA Minute Book, which is considered essential to the development of the world's most popular sport. A blue plaque at the house where he drafted the laws was later lost when the building collapsed in 2015, and he was commemorated with a Google Doodle on 16 August 2018.
Did You Know?
- Morley founded Barnes Football Club in 1862 and served as its captain until 1867.
- He wrote to Bell's Life newspaper in 1863 proposing a governing body for football, which led to the first FA meeting.
- Morley was the first man to present the FA Cup, in 1872.
- He was still sculling daily in his well-known boat at age 82, according to a 1913 report.
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