Э. Кобб Морли: Футбол қағидаларының негізін қалаушысы

English sportsman (1831–1924)

Ebenezer Cobb Morley (16 August 1831 – 20 November 1924) was an English sportsman. He is regarded as one of the fathers of the Football Association (FA) and modern football. The 1863 laws written by Morley, the first secretary of the FA, includes the rule: "No player shall carry the ball." In 2013, marking the 150th anniversary of the FA, the rule book was displayed at the British Library alongside Magna Carta and works of Shakespeare.

Morley was born at 10 Garden Square, Princess Street in Hull to the Reverend Ebenezer Morley, a nonconformist minister, and his wife Hannah (née Cobb). He lived in the city until he was 22. In 1858 he moved to the London suburb of Barnes to practise as a solicitor in the capital. The Barnes club played its first recorded game, a 2–0 victory, against Richmond F. C., on 29 November 1862. A match the following month against Blackheath FC went less happily: the Blackheath club played a rugby style game, necessitating the adoption of compromise rules. "Very weak" play by Barnes resulted in a loss by two goals to nothing, with Morley narrowly escaping being "garrotted". In 1863, Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport, with the power to set common rules.

At this time, some football clubs followed the example of Rugby School by allowing the ball to be carried in the hands, with players allowed to "hack" (kick in the shins) opponents who were carrying the ball. Other clubs forbade both practices. During the meetings to draw up the FA laws, there was an acrimonious division between the "hacking" and "non hacking" clubs. An FA meeting of 17 November 1863 discussed this question, with the "hacking" clubs predominating. A further meeting was scheduled in order to finalise ("settle") the laws, based on the draft created by Morley in his role as secretary. At this crucial 24 November meeting, the "hackers" were again in a narrow majority. During the meeting, however, Morley brought the delegates' attention to a recently published set of football laws from Cambridge University which banned carrying and hacking. A number of representatives who supported rugby style football did not attend this additional meeting, resulting in hacking and carrying being banned in the laws that were published later that month. He continued to serve as FA secretary until 1866. At that year's annual meeting, Morley resigned as FA secretary, citing the demands of business. He also objected to FA member clubs playing under any other rules, and made an unsuccessful proposal to abolish the offside law. and founding president Arthur Pember needed to be replaced. Morley volunteered for the role, and was duly elected by the few club representatives in attendance. During the next year, the secretary Robert Graham attempted to increase membership by writing to every known club in the country. This increased membership to thirty by 1868, but did not prevent the association from running out of money, with the officers having to cover expenses out of their own pockets. Morley continued to serve as president until 1874, presiding over the birth of the FA Cup and a general increase in the popularity and influence of the Association. He was the first man to present the FA Cup, in 1872.

Morley was also active in the sport of rowing. Immediately upon moving to Barnes in 1858, he participated in the Barnes and Mortlake Regatta of that year, served as the treasurer of the Regatta in 1860, and as secretary from 1862 to 1870. In 1864, he competed as a member of that club's eight in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley.

Morley was also a keen fox hunter, keeping his own pack of beagles.

Morley worked as a solicitor, handling such matters as mortgages and wills.

Morley was the agent of the Radical Member of Parliament Donald Nicoll, who represented the constituency of Frome from 1857 to 1859. Following Nicoll's defeat in the 1859 United Kingdom general election, Morley was caught up in a controversy over a petition, later withdrawn, to have the election result overturned because of "bribery, treating, and undue influence".

Morley served on Surrey County Council for Barnes (1903–1919). In 1906, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace.

Morley's wife, Frances, died of pneumonia in 1911. Morley himself succumbed to the same condition in 1924. He was buried in Barnes Cemetery, a now abandoned graveyard on Barnes Common, Barnes. He had no children. Morley was the subject of a Google Doodle on 16 August 2018, the 187th anniversary of his birth.