The Foot-Ball Club was a football club, in Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1824.[1] The club met in the summer months to play a form of football that did not resemble association football.[1] Nevertheless, the organisation can claim to be the earliest recorded club playing football of any kind.[2] A modern association football club with the same name was formed in 2007, in an attempt to revive the legacy of the old club.
| Full name | Foot-Ball Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1824; 200 years ago |
| Dissolved | c. 1841; 183 years ago (1841) |
| Ground | Dalry Park (1824–31) Greenhill Park (1831–41) |
The Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh is thought to be one of the oldest recorded football clubs in the world with records going back to 1824.[3][4] Membership lists and accounts of the club between 1824 and 1841 are held in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS).[1]
Founded by John Hope in 1824, the club played its games in the city's Dalry Park until 1831, when they moved to Greenhill Park.[3] The club appears to have met and played every summer, but there is no record of it after 1841.[3]
In 2017, a brief set of handwritten rules was found on the back of the club's 1833 budget statement. This has been described as the earliest known written rules of football.[5][6][7]
In 2007, an association football club with the same name was formed by Kenny Cameron, a community coach at Spartans, after a tour of the Scottish Football Museum.[8] The club's men play in the Edinburgh Sunday Premier League and the Ladies play in the Scottish Women's Football League Second Division South East Division.