List compiled by Chris Eyre S&HCFA Historian COMPETITIONS UP TO 1899 1867 Youdan Cup –Owned by Hallam FC (England’s Oldest Association Football Cup) 1868 Cromwell Cup – Owned by Sheffield Wednesday (England’s second Oldest Association Football Cup) 1878 S&HCFA Senior Cup – Still played for- Cup at S&HCFA (England’s = fourth Oldest Association Football Cup) […]
‘The English Game’ is a ratings success, trending in second place all week on Netflix and gaining an overall 7.7 score on ImDB review site. It raises awareness of early Victorian football which creates a rising tide of interest in all the geographic areas involved in the period, such as Cambridge, Sheffield, Lancashire and Glasgow. […]
Oldest extant football club medals (closed membership and open) 1851 Edinburgh University students to the soldiers of the 93rd Regiment* 1872 Wanderers Football Club, first ever FA Cup 1874 Queen’s Park Football Club, Scottish Cup final. James J. Thomson 1875 Sheffield Football Club, William Frederick Pilch ** (* Edinburgh University would eventually form Edinburgh Academical […]
The received wisdom regarding the foundation of Sheffield FC on October 24th 1857 (162 years ago today) is that cricketers and athletes needed a way to keep fit during the winter months, so started a foot ball club. The co founders were Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest but the research I conducted for my book […]
Five years ago, I saw for the first time a book called the ‘Football Annual’ that ran from 1868 to 1908. It was started in 1868 as ‘John Lilywhite’s Football Annual’, edited by the FA Secretary, Charles W. Alcock and ‘Published with the sanction of the Football Association’. In each edition Football Secretaries were invited […]
Sheffield FC’s finest moment came when they beat Ealing FC in the final 3-1 to win the F.A. Amateur Cup on the 4th April 1904. Much more depth can be found in my newly revised book ‘A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889: Speed, Science and Bottom’ http://bit.ly/2qYw0r0
Sheffield United FC, together with Corinthians FC, were the first team to compete in the 1898 Sheriff of London Charity Shield in March 1898, a trophy which must be the biggest in the history of football. A football competition played annually between the best amateur and best professional club in England (either the Football League […]
The meeting to form Sheffield United took place the offices of J.B. Wostinholme on the 22nd March 1889 and a small classified press advert announced the event: “Sheffield United Cricket Club. The committee have decided to form a FOOTBALL CLUB for next season, for Bramall Lane ground. Professionals may send testimonials and on or before, […]
Based on my research the earliest mention for a ‘derby’ football match comes from the Bradford Daily Telegraph – Tuesday 26 December 1893, in connection with a rugby game between Bradford FC and Manningham FC in an article entitled ‘The Local Derby’. At some point in the 19th century it seems that the phrase ‘derby’ […]
Of the two acknowledged founders of the world’s oldest football club in 1857 , William Prest remains in the shadows of Nathaniel Creswick, due to much less information being available for Prest. His early death at just 54 years of age with no wife and no children, with his gravestone removed from Sheffield General Cemetery, […]
