--- title: Google Doodle Honors FA Founder Ebenezer Cobb Morley description: Here's what to know about Ebenezer Cobb Morley, who in 1863 codified rules that govern the world's most popular sport canonical: https://time.com/5368738/ebenezer-cobb-morley-soccer-google-doodle/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-16T05:18:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:20.705Z og:title: Google Honors Soccer's Founding Father Ebenezer Cobb Morley og:description: Morley's 13 rules helped establish the modern game of soccer og:url: https://time.com/5368738/ebenezer-cobb-morley-soccer-google-doodle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38ef77935ccb1d84/698937e822fb857b1ee26707/ebenezer-cobb-morleys-187th-birthday-5017132201934848-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ebenezer-cobb-morleys-187th-birthday-5017132201934848-2xa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Honors Soccer's Founding Father Ebenezer Cobb Morley twitter:description: Morley's 13 rules helped establish the modern game of soccer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38ef77935ccb1d84/698937e822fb857b1ee26707/ebenezer-cobb-morleys-187th-birthday-5017132201934848-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ebenezer Cobb Morley's Rules Revolutionized Soccer. Here's What to Know About the 'Father of Modern Football' ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Aug 16, 2018 5:18 AM UTC  Google Doodle celebrates the 187th birthday of Ebenezer Cobb Morley on Aug. 16, 2018. Google Doodle celebrates the 187th birthday of Ebenezer Cobb Morley on Aug. 16, 2018.Google by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Aug 16, 2018 5:18 AM UTC Before Ebenezer Cobb Morley, [soccer looked quite different](http://time.com/5335799/soccer-word-origin-england/) — and much more brutal — than “The Beautiful Game” played around the world today. Association football, as the sport was then known, bore a closer resemblance to rugby, permitting a greater amount of tackling and ball-handling. It also suffered from chaotic disorganization, with multiple competing leagues, schools, and competitions lacking a formal managing structure, and many playing by different sets of rules. Morley set the foundation for the Football Association (FA), the sport’s oldest official governing body, and laid down 13 rules to regulate the game, creating the first consistent definition of the sport. On what would have been Morley’s 187th birthday, Google [celebrated](https://www.google.com/doodles/ebenezer-cobb-morleys-187th-birthday) the father of modern football with a Doodle. Here’s what to know about the man who codified the world’s most popular sport: ## An early sports enthusiast Morley was born on Aug. 16, 1831 in Yorkshire, northern England. A trained lawyer, Morley was also an avid fan of rowing, and founded the Barnes and Mortlake Regatta after moving to London at the age of 27. But it was his mark on football for which Morley would be known. While in London, Morley also joined the Barnes Club. In 1863, as the captain of the club, Morley wrote to a newspaper called _Bell’s Life_ with a now-famous proposal: an officiating body for the fast-growing sport. ## Football Association founder The scheme led to a meeting between other club representatives in London’s Freemasons’ Tavern in 1863, and [resulted in the formation](http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/history) of the FA. A [blue heritage plaque](http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/the-football-association-and-ebenezer-cobb-morley-black-plaque-in-london-31583#.W3TovNj-hsY) now adorns the site, proclaiming “the modern game of football was born on this day. 26 October 1863.” Morley served as the FA’s first secretary until 1866 and its second president until 1874\. But he wasn’t just an administrator: Morley also took the field as a player in the first FA-supervised match in 1863, and [scored](https://www.carnegiehull.co.uk/hull-firsts/ebenezer-cobb-morley.php) a goal in the first representative match in 1866. > [](https://twitter.com/OldSportPics/status/327105536522862592) ## Laws of the new game With the other clubs’ input, Morley drafted a list of 13 rules to reduce violence and regulate gameplay, creating the more orderly, free flowing pace of soccer that we know today. The [Laws of the Game](http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/lawsandrules) covered a range of the sport’s elements, from dimensions of the field and length of the game, to the number of players permitted per team, the type of fouls subject to penalties, and even the Offside Rule, which prohibits players from waiting near the opponent’s goal for an easy score. Key rules prevented players from picking up and throwing the ball to one another, distinguishing the sport from its rugby-like relatives. Other rules, since changed, seem unfamiliar today: teams switched sides after every goal, while goalposts lacked a crossbar across the top, allowing goals to be scored “at whatever height.” Morley was also a supporter of limited amounts of contact, notably arguing that players should be permitted to “hack the front leg,” or kick opponents in the shin. That rule was lost, but others have stood the test of time, and Morley’s Laws were upheld in 1904 when the sport’s international governing body, FIFA, was founded. Thursday’s Doodle depicts Morley scribbling a letter to the newspaper while in the background are two scenes: to the left, a chaotic soccer match before his rules were instated, and to the right, a more orderly game. Morley died on Nov. 20, 1924 in Richmond, London. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5368738/ebenezer-cobb-morley-soccer-google-doodle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5368738/ebenezer-cobb-morley-soccer-google-doodle/"},"headline":"Ebenezer Cobb Morley's Rules Revolutionized Soccer. 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