Redhill FC may have been formed 125 years ago but football as we know it had actually existed for more than 30 years before that. I wonder how many people know when and where the first match under FA rules was played, which teams were involved and what the score was!

At some of England's public schools they were playing different versions of "football" but what was needed back in 1863 was a uniform set of rules, so that all the teams could be playing the same game. Step forward Ebenezer Morley, a solicitor and sportsman living in Barnes in south-west London, who proposed a meeting of interested parties at the Freemason's Tavern in the Holborn area of London for the Monday evening of 26th October.

The Football Association, the first in the world, was formed at that meeting with 12 clubs signing up as members. Five meetings later, and after a lot of arguments, the new rules for "Association Football" were agreed and the first match was played at Limes Field - roughly on the border between Barnes and Mortlake near the banks of the Thames - on 19th December. Morley's club Barnes met Richmond amidst great excitement but the contest finished in a 0-0 draw!

Unfortunately, Limes Field doesn't exist anymore. It had houses built on it in the early 1900s. But there is a "Limes Field Road", so we know the spot where the first football match took place. To reach it you could take the train to Barnes Bridge and then at ground level turn left into The Terrace. You will see the "White Hart" pub on your right, where in normal times there would be a sign outside saying something like "Sky Sports Football on the Big Screen on Sundays". The patrons there may be completely unaware that Ebenezer Morley, the "Father of Football" who started the whole thing, lived virtually opposite!

Walk round to the left for a couple of minutes and you will see Limes Field Road, surely a special place for football fans everywhere.