Five years after the Sheffield Rules were first written down a solicitor from West London became "the first person to write down the rules of soccer". 

Popular opinion seems to favor Barnes founder Ebeneezer Cobb Morley as the father of modern football. Though he never lived in or very near to Sheffield, it is unlikely he was not aware of the rules set forth by William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick.

We examine his rules up against the Sheffield Rules and it's really hard to deny that they are simil