The modern game of football was born on 26 October 1863, 149 years ago today.

Ebenezer Morley, a solicitor and sportsman living in Barnes in south-west London, thought that football should have a set of rules in the same way that the MCC had them for cricket.

And his initiative led to the meeting at which, on his proposal, The Football Association was formed.

The captains, secretaries and other representatives of a dozen London and suburban clubs met at the Freemasons Tavern in Great Queen Street, near to where Holborn tube station is today.

Their purpose was to form an Association with the object of establishing a code of rules for the regulation of the game.

The FA’s intention was to standardise the rules, to iron out differences, not to create a new game. Morley became The FA’s first secretary, later its president, and he drafted modern football’s first rules at his Thames-side home at 26 The Terrace in Barnes.

The first match under those rules was played at Limes Field, a couple of minutes’ walk away, on 19 December 1863. Barnes and Richmond drew 0-0.

The Freemasons Tavern was extended and remodelled from 1905 and was renamed the ‘Connaught Rooms’ in honour of the Grand Master, the Duke of Connaught. At around the same time Limes Field was built on with housing that is now in ‘Limes Field Road’.

Before The FA was formed football was in a hybrid, nebulous state. Today it spans a world that is caught up in its magic.

To those men of a clear vision and high resolve who first gathered together at the Tavern we owe a great debt. From them has flowed an ocean of enjoyment, of fun, and humour, and many life-long friendships struck within the game.

The FA is still the organisation that controls all football played in England. It will mark its 150th anniversary with a Gala Dinner at the Grand Connaught Rooms, the site of the old Freemasons Tavern, on 26 October, the actual day of The FA’s formation.

A special calendar of events in 2013 will also include;

- Major England matches including Brazil, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland
- UEFA Champions League Final and UEFA Congress in May
- FA England Awards at St. George’s Park in February
- 20 years of Women’s Football *National Football Day in August

Civil Service FC, who now play in the Southern Amateur League’s Senior Division One, are the only surviving club of the eleven who signed up to be FA members at that first meeting in 1863.

Civil Service FC are also celebrating their 150th anniversary in 2013, organising their own events with FA support.