Forgotten man: The contribution of John Dyer Cartwright to the football rules debate

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the debate over the need for nationally accepted football rules which took place in England in the early 1860s. It is partially designed to draw the attention of the reader to those arguments that appeared in print in various newspapers and periodicals around that time. However, it is also intended to highlight the part played in these discussions by John Dyer Cartwright, a journalist writing for The Field: The Country Gentleman's Newspaper, who, it is argued, has hitherto received insufficient credit for his role in seeking to unify the football community. In looking more closely at the rules debate it is also perhaps possible to attain a deeper insight into the divisions that existed between footballers in mid-Victorian England and even develop a greater understanding of the eventual bifurcation in 1863 of the Association and Rugby forms of the game.