Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Senior Challenge Cup: Sheffield FC v Worksop Town FC -1st oldest versus 4th oldest?
I am going tonight to watch Sheffield FC play Worksop Town FC in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup. Tickets are still available so support the world’s oldest club playing for a trophy that has been in existence for 151 years; Sheffield FC last won the tournament in 2010 and Worksop last lifted the cup in 2003.
The Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Senior Challenge Cup is the joint oldest cup competition being run by a County Football Association, sharing this accolade with Birmingham County FA. This year represents the 151st anniversary of the Sheffield Football Association. It was formed in 1867 when Sheffield had 14 football clubs and in excess of 1,000 members and bolstered the struggling London Football Association at a crucial time, who in the same year, were discussing their dissolution because of the lack of interest from London clubs to play by their 1863 laws. The Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Senior Challenge Cup is the joint oldest cup competition being run by a County Football Association, sharing this accolade with Birmingham County FA.
Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United contracted out of the competition many years ago, their reserve teams then took up the mantle but neither team now enter any level of team. Perhaps to celebrate this important tournament the Wednesday and United under 18 teams, could be invited to join once more, as it would raise crucial awareness in this important and historic tournament.
The Worksop Town FC’s website would bill this match as a game between the world’s oldest football club and the world’s fourth oldest, as they claim that Worksop FC’s foundation date is 1861. I have researched all the Alcock Football Annuals from 1868 till it ceased and the national press and I cannot substantiate Worksop’s claim. Worksop Cricket Club was understandably playing very early in 1850, but the earliest sign of a Worksop football game is a Rugby match against a school on 15th March 1873:
“Perhaps the first football match ever played in Worksop, took place last Saturday between gentlemen of Worksop and neighbourhood and the team of the Pestalozzian school…As the rules of Rugby Union were followed, the superior weight of the Worksop team told greatly against the school team in the scrimmages.”
There are no earlier press reports for a Worksop FC than 1873 and no mentions at all in the Football Annuals for any Worksop club between 1857 and 1889. Furthermore, the club has unfortunately folded twice since its inception so unless someone out there has evidence I am not aware of then Worksop Town FC cannot claim its position as 4th oldest football club. Their 1861 foundation seems to be a creation myth that has been repeated over the years until it has the appearance of a fact.
My research would list the four oldest extant clubs as:
Sheffield FC 1857
Hallam FC 1860
Civil Service FC 1862
Notts. County FC 1864
And places Worksop FC as 90th (but folded in 1893).
You can find out much more in my book:
A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889: Speed, Science and Bottom
Link to book page – http://bit.ly/2qYw0r0