Dribbling, passing, "scientific football" and the "combination game"

Dribbling and passing of the ball (including forward passing) are all parts of public school games. In addition, the introduction of the FA rules that allowed both dribbling and forward passing of the ball were instigated by former public school boys. These key elements of modern Association football were taken from the various versions of public school football. Dribbling was a key part of the Eton game and passing, in particular forward passing ("passing on") was argued for by representatives of Charterhouse during the establishment of the Football Association rules in the 1860s. These features of modern soccer had been integrated into the Football Association rules by 1867 and were the consequence of English public school games.


The Royal Engineers AFC (1872): the first passing side (of whom many former public school members)
In 1856 Lancing College created its own code of football which was regarded as a means of fostering teamwork

"Scientific" football is first described in 1862 at Rugby School: here one could see "scientific play", magnificent "drops" and "gallant run ins"  It is uncertain if the drops and run-ins constituted what the author meant by "scientific", however it is made clear that this playing style was distinctly less "vicious" than in the past. Clearly there was something systematic about scientific rugby. Further references to scientific play come in match accounts in the 1860s, including to games under the Association rules.

Certain football historians correctly point out that the forward pass is not permitted in rugby football and therefore see the emergence of the forward pass as a critical development in the evolution of association football (and for this reason do not acknowledge the role of the public school games). They forget, however, that passing the ball forward by kicking is not only completely legal in Rugby but also is a regular tactic employed in most matches—particularly in open, running play. For this reason the public school games can claim to be origin of the forward-passing game. Passing the ball continues to this day in surviving traditional public school football games. Even in Harrow Football, which is essentially a dribbling game, the ball may be chipped into the hands of a teammate

Passing the ball continues to this day in at least one of the traditional public school football games. Harrow football is a dribbling game in which the ball may be chipped into the hands of a teammate.

Most notably the "Combination game" (the predecessor of the modern style of football involving a lot of player to player passing) is believed to have been invented by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s. Nearly all of these players were from English public schools.