Despite the efforts of the PFA to organise and standardise football rules across the colony, Eastplatine football remains largely unregulated, lacking a concise and unified set of rules, with each team mostly having its own rules to determine what constitutes fair play or not. Some versions heavily restrict the use of hands, while others allow it completely, and some allow for greater physical contact and aggressiveness. Nevertheless, most playing styles in the colony favour dribbling (playing with the feet) over handling (playing with the hands), decisively putting East Plate in the sphere of influence of the Cambridge Rules and the FA. The multiple playing styles of different football and sporting clubs usually create problems when they play against each other, as rules can be very different between them.

There is a large number of different football clubs in the colony, most of which find their origins in Cricket. Most Cricket teams have created Football teams associated with them to participate in football matches against one another, with the rivalries associated with Cricket almost always expanding to football. Other teams and football clubs have also originated around cities, suburbs, churches, schools, universities and even workplaces, with the workers of large companies usually bonding together and forming football clubs to compete against other rival companies, a practice widely supported by bosses who use football as a way to inspire solidarity and productivity among their workers. Generally, these clubs are much more than simple sporting clubs, usually acting more like social clubs, providing their members with a strong sense of belonging and community, gaining an important and central role in the lives of their members and their families.

Football is played by both the upper and lower classes. It is one of the few activities in the colony that is not segregated by class and can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of wealth, mainly because it can be played without the need for much equipment, as just a simple ball will be enough for a simple informal game. Regardless of this, much like what happens with Cricket, the sport is considered to be unsuitable for females. The women's game is frowned upon by the PFA, as well as by most British football associations on which the PFA bases its rules. It has been suggested that this is motivated by a perceived threat to the "masculinity" that characterises the game. However, organisations like the Philanthropic Society of Oriental Dames are known to utilise football to promote their feminist agenda, as it raised important issues within Eastplatine society, including dress reform, the feminine ideal and women's sexuality in a way that no other sport could.

The Eastplatine National Team, controlled by the PFA, had its first international association football match against Argentina (composed entirely of players from the Buenos Aires Football Club) in 1876, ending in a tie 0-0. However, as Argentina lacks its own football association, the match is considered largely unofficial. The PFA plans to send its team on a great tour of Great Britain during 1877-78, where the Eastplatines are expected to face several English football clubs as well as international matches with Scotland, England and Wales.

Eventually, the English community in Montevideo grew to a number big enough to establish a set of English schools in the city to provide "a worthy education" to English families. The English School for Boys, and later the British Schools were founded. These institutions, much like the public schools in Britain, sought to toughen their pupils so that they were fit to rule the British Empire. Football proved to be ideal for this purpose, as it was seen as well suited to the ideals of the "Muscular Christianity" and perceived to be a "character-building" sport. Therefore, different versions of football began to be extensively played by pupils in these schools, who in turn passed the tradition to their families and other friends.

After the annexation of East Plate to the British Empire, more British settlers started to arrive in the colony thanks to the many advantages and benefits promised by the colonial government to any person from the British Empire who decided to start a new life in the colony. Both the colonial government in Montevideo and the imperial government in London saw football (and other sports like cricket and croquet) as a tool to anglicise East Plate and as a means of teaching English values, such as order, discipline, and sophistication, and therefore, the tradition started by the British Schools was continued and even encouraged.

The need for alumni of different schools to be able to play against each other resulted in several sets of "compromise laws" being created, with the University of Cambridge drafting the Cambridge Rules between the 1830s and 1860s in England. This set of rules differed from the rules created by the Rugby School, banning the handling of the ball, favouring the use of the feet to control the ball as well as not allowing players to be "hacked" (kicked in the shins) by their opponents to "steal" the ball. The Cambridge Rules quickly made their way to East Plate as many of the professors of the British Schools were educated at Cambridge before coming to East Plate. By the mid-1860s, most Eastplatine schools followed their rules, although the sport remained largely unregulated, meaning that sometimes rules were made on the spot to better suit the interest of each community or group of players.

"A difficult match between MVCC and CURCC"
The Southern Star Illustrated News 1874

The Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC), formerly known as the Victoria Cricket Club, which had been founded in 1841 (being considered the oldest sports club in South America), was the first cricket club to establish a professional football division in 1869 and to organise local football matches. Soon after, the Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (CURCC), the most popular cricket club in East Plate, followed suit and created its own football division. Other sporting clubs not linked to cricket were also quick to realise the potential and growing popularity of football and created their own football divisions. Such is the case of the Montevideo Rowing Club, whose football division has become the main rival of the MVCC.

1871 was a special year for Eastplatine football, as the first professional football-only club was created by Wilbert Duffey, a Cambridge graduate who migrated to East Plate in 1865 to work as an English teacher at the English High School of Montevideo. Duffey named his new team "Albion Football Club" as a homage to the country where football had been played for the first time, with "Albion" being the name used by Ancient Greeks to refer to Great Britain. However, Albion's first year was turbulent, as the team only allowed Eastplatines born in Britain or descendants of British-born Eastplatines, refusing Hispanics from participating in the affairs of Albion. Furthermore, Albion suffered embarrassing defeats, falling 12-0 to MVCC and 7-0 to CURCC, two teams that included Hispanics in their line-ups. As result, Duffey dropped the rule preventing Hispanics from being part of Albion in 1873. Since then, no other Eastplatine team has ever attempted to restrict their membership to a certain race, religion or ideology.

Uruguay Athletic Club, another football-only club was founded in 1872 in the city of Clarence, becoming the first-ever sports club to be founded outside of Montevideo. That same year, another football-only club was created: the Deutscher Fussball Klub. The club was established by German immigrants living in East Plate, who decided to band together and create a German-speaking club to compete against the other English-speaking clubs. Deutscher is not particularly successful with its footballistic results, but it is one of the most popular, as Eastplatines find the team particularly interesting due to its German characteristics and their tendency to shout and insult opposing players in German.

Eastplatine football clubs regularly play against each other in "friendly" professional matches attended by large numbers of people. However, the most popular events related to football clubs are a series of amateur matches against the crews of the different ships that dock at the port of Montevideo. It is a well-established tradition to "welcome" ships arriving from the British Empire with a friendly football match, typically played at Queen's Park near the port of Montevideo. Typically, Deutscher or Uruguay Athletic (the two "weakest" teams) play an opening match against the crew of the ship being welcomed, and if it manages to win its first match, the crew is invited to play against one of the "big" teams (MVCC, CURCC or Albion). Generally, when a ship manages to win both matches, a banquet is held in their honour at the Oriental Hotel.

A commemorative card from a match played at Queen's Park

The Victoria Hotel

The call was answered by six clubs: the Montevideo Cricket Club, the Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club, Uruguay Athletic Club, the Deutscher Fussball Klub and the Montevideo Rowing Club, in addition to Duffey's own club, the Albion Football Club. The six clubs held a meeting at the Victoria Hotel in Montevideo on 11 August 1876, and resolved to create the Platine Football Association (PFA), signing a document that stated:

"The clubs here represented form themselves into an association for the promotion of football in East Plate according to the rules established by the Football Association of England, to which rules the clubs will abide from now on without exception, refusing to engage in any sporting activity with clubs who reject said rules."

The PFA was the first institution of its kind to ever be formed outside of the British Isles, and only the fourth in the world to be formed. It is tasked with regulating the control and development of football in East Plate, as well as being responsible for the operation of the East Plate national football team, the annual Eastplatine Cup (also known as the Dalworth Cup, which was disputed for the first time shortly after the creation of the PFA in 1876, organised with the help of the 6th Governor of East Plate, the Marquess of Dalworth) and several other duties important to the functioning of the game in East Plate.

The association is also tasked with representing East Plate abroad in all matters related to football, having a major role in facilitating and organising tours of Eastplatine teams around the world, mainly to Argentina and Brazil, and to a lesser extent, to the British Isles (mainly due to the difficulties that travelling across the Atlantic implies).

Member clubs

Some members of the Eastplatine national team

As the only national team in South America, the Eastplatine team has no opponents, but it does not mean that the team plays no matches. The PFA typically organises matches between the Eastplatine team and various clubs from Argentina and Brazil, which "represent" their respective nation. The PFA regards these matches as proper "international matches" and therefore has reiterately claimed that East Plate has already debuted internationally, as well as claiming that the march between East Plate and Argentina (represented by the Buenos Aires Football Club) of 1876 was not only the first ever international match to be played in South America, but actually the first ever to be played outside of the British Isles. However, the Football Association, as well as the Scottish Football Association, have stated that they do not recognise these matches to be official due to Argentina's lack of a national football association.

Aside from playing against Argentine and Brazilian teams, the Eastplatine football team also plays against local clubs as part of the efforts of the PFA to popularise and standardise the game across all of East Plate. On very few occasions it has participated in the traditional football matches held against teams assembled with the crews of British ships docking in Montevideo, typically only if the said team has managed to beat both the first and second match against the local clubs.

Sometimes, the Eastplatine team is nicknamed "The Stripey" due to the team's uniforms, which feature a large quantity of horizontal dark-blue stripes, a reference to the flag of East Plate. Aside from its traditional striped socks and shirt, the Eastplatine team also wears a red cap and plain white trousers.

The team does not have any official stadiums to play its matches or hold training sessions, but it typically uses Montevideo Cricket Club's field in Montevideo: the Thorebourne Oval Cricket Field.
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The Thorebourne Oval Cricket Field

Squad

The members of the Eastplatine national team tend to vary with incredible frequency as the PFA selects its members from the footballers from its different member clubs, being subject to availability and the goodwill of each club to lend its players to the PFA. Furthermore, as professionalism is still in its infancy, it is not uncommon for players to decline to take part in a match as they have other obligations. The most recently assembled squad, which faced the Buenos Aires Football Club at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground in Buenos Aires, was composed of the following players:

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Engraving of the Dalwoth Cup
Southern Star Illustrated News, 1876

With the possibility of having to postpone the first cup to 1877 to rise the missing funds, the PFA was approached by the Marquess of Dalworth, the Governor of East Plate, who offered to donate a trophy to serve as the competition's prize. The Marquess, in addition to being a patron of education and the arts, is a vivid supporter of sports due to his feelings on health and fitness, viewing them as part of his broader desire for a reform movement to "enlighten" East Plate, citing this as his main reason to support the PFA's efforts. In addition to the trophy, the Marquess also donated a total of £1.000 out of his own wealth to publicise the event and help with its organisation. In response, the PFA opted to rename the championship as the Dalworth Cup.

Format

The Dalworth Cup is a straightforward knockout tournament. For the first round, the names of all participating teams are placed into a single lot and drawn into pairs. If the number of participating teams requires it, the first team(s) to be drawn gets a bye and automatically advances to the second round. The home team for each match is determined by the toss of a coin unless it is mutually agreed or only one of the two clubs drawn against one another has a private ground to play the match. If the match needs to be repeated, the team that lost the toss is given the choice of ground for the replay. This process is repeated for each round of the tournament, except the final. The choice of venue for the final matches is reserved for the PFA, and neither of the private grounds of the finalist teams (if they have such grounds) can be chosen.

Rules

Matches are played following the rules of The Football Association of England. Pitches can't be bigger than 200 yards (≈182,9 metres) by 100 yards (≈91,4 metres), or smaller than 100 yards by 50 yards, and goals are marked by two upright posts at either end, 8 yards apart, with a tape tied between them at 8 feet (≈2,4 metres) high. A goal is scored when the ball passes between the posts and below the tape. The ends towards which each team shoots and the team that kicks off the match is decided by a coin toss. The ends are switched between the teams after each goal is scored, regardless of the team who scored. Players are considered "out of play" if they are nearer to the goal than their teammate when they kicked the ball unless there are at least three of their opponents between them and their own goal. Players who are out of play can't touch the ball or prevent any other players from doing so until they are back in play.

Matches must last 90 minutes, with the teams exchanging the end towards which they shoot at the 45th minute if no goal has been scored until that moment. There are no provisions for extra time. When a match is drawn after 90 minutes, either a rematch is played at a later date (but before the next round), or both teams are allowed to advance to the next round, with the choice between these two alternatives made at the PFA's discretion in each case. If the rematch is drawn after 90 minutes, the winner is decided by the toss of a coin. Game rules are enforced by three umpires, one provided by each team, and one provided by the PFA. The umpire provided by the PFA does not intervene unless the two team's umpires disagree on a ruling.

Calendar

A total of 12 teams participated in the 1876-77 Dalworth Cup: the 9 members of the PFA, plus 3 amateur "associated" teams from inner East Plate, invited by the PFA to promote itself and the sport across the colony, which started the adhesion process to the PFA shortly after the end of the cup. Two teams received byes and qualified directly to the quarter-finals.

First Round

At a committee meeting of the Platine Football Association on 1 November 1876, the first-round ties were drawn. The Deutscher Fussball Klub was the first team to be drawn, and therefore received a bye to the quarter-finals, followed by the Eastern Celtics Football Club, also receiving a bye.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was scheduled to take place on 7 December 1876. Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club was drawn first, and received a bye to the semi-finals. Montevideo Rowing Club was drawn to match the Montevideo Cricket Club, while Civil Order Association Football Club was drawn with Albion Football Club. The two teams that received byes during the first round were drawn to face each other.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was scheduled to take place on 13 January 1877. Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club was initially drawn to match Albion Football Club, while Eastern Celtics Football Club was meant to face Montevideo Cricket Club. The draw was protested by Albion, as its representative arrived late because his carriage broke down while travelling to the Victoria Hotel and couldn't see the drawing procedure, which according to the rules of the PFA, could not start until all representatives from all member teams were present. As result, the draw was repeated, and this time, Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club was drawn to a match with Eastern Celtics Football Club, while Albion Football Club faced Montevideo Cricket Club.

Final

After 13 matches and 44 goals (3.38 goals per match on average), the tournament culminated in the 1877 Dalworth Cup Final on 12 February 1877. The match was played at Albion's Arrowhead Park in Montevideo and was watched by 3,000 spectators. It was refereed by the umpires James McIntyre (of C.U.R.C.C), Robert Leckie (of M.V.C.C.) and Angus Wallace (of the PFA). The day was considerably windy, but the three umpires, as well as the PFA, decided to continue the match despite this. M.V.C.C. started with the disadvantage of having the wind blowing directly on their faces. In the first half, M.V.C.C. controversially had a goal ruled out by Angus Wallace and James McIntyre, after C.U.R.C.C. protested the goal claiming that the ball "bounced on the knee of a spectator" before going past C.U.R.C.C.'s goalkeeper. Had the goal been allowed to stand, the teams would have changed ends according to the rules of the tournament, and M.V.C.C. would have gained the advantage of having the wind behind them.