The beautiful game as we know it today was founded at the end of the nineteenth century. The history of football as a sport in England can be traced back to at least the eighth century, but the laws of the modern game were first standardised between 1848 and 1886.

Charles William Alcock has been described as one of the fathers of the modern game. In 1871, as Secretary of the Football Association, he founded the world’s oldest footballing competition, the FA Cup. He set down much of the history and knowledge he had accumulated over his long career in this, one of the very first ‘manuals’ of the sport, in 1906.

• The latest title in Amberley Publishing’s new Classic Guide series.
• World Cup in Brazil June–July 2014 so heightened interest in the sport.
• Reproduced from Alcock’s 1906 Football: The Association Game(All England Series: George Bell & Sons, out of copyright).