WI/PC: the association football/rugby union divergence does not happen, or is mended.

Association football and rugby union both emerged out of the desire of UK public schools to come up with a common set of rules according to which inter-school matches could be played, since every public school had its own football code; in the end, the divergence between those favouring a "carrying" game and those favouring a "kicking" game resulted in the creation of two distinct codes, with association football being the most successful one despite rugby being quite popular in several countries and influencing the development of other games throughout the Anglosphere, up to and including American and Canadian football.

Is there a way the split could've been avoided or mended, creating a truly dominant and unified football code? Or would a split have appeared along different lines, maybe between those favouring a highly physical game and those favouring a limited contact game? I can see the working class favouring the latter, oddly enough, if only because going to work while recovering from a game injury while dealing with 19th century working conditions is not something that'd end well.
 
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