Many people around the world regard Wembley as the home of football (or soccer, as our colonial cousins the Americans call it). But, a fact not known to most is that the home of organised football, as we know it today, is actually
Sheffield.
Sheffield FC, founded in 1857, is officially the ‘World’s Oldest Football Club’, as their motto proudly boasts. Formally recognised as such by FIFA, football’s international governing body,
Sheffield FC brought organisation to the early game of football, when William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick established the headquarters of the club in a potting shed and green house at the bottom of East Bank Road.
The club came about as a result of these two keen cricket lovers trying to find something to keep their fitness levels up during the winter months and football was the chosen sport. The first thing
Sheffield Club did was to study the existing sets of rules and lay down its own code of laws, which were the foundation stones for the first commonly accepted set of rules.
The Club attracted many members and early games normally took the form of Married Men versus Unmarried Men, or Professional Occupations versus The Rest.
Other Clubs soon sprang up around
Sheffield to provide alternative opposition and in 1863, the first association of clubs was formed.
Sheffield Club were one of those involved in the formation of the Football Association, of which they are still members.
Over the years
Sheffield FC have helped to develop the game including pioneering a solid crossbar between the two upright goalposts.
Along the footballing historical path,
Sheffield FC have helped to found
Sheffield United by providing some of the original players.
In 1904 they proudly won the FA Amateur Cup, beating Ealing 3-1 in Bradford, a feat they were not able to repeat until 2001.
1957 saw
Sheffield become the first football club to celebrate their centenary, which they celebrated by playing an England XI at
Hillsborough.
With 150 years of football history fast approaching next year,
Sheffield FC finally has it’s own ground – the ‘Bright Finance Stadium’ in Dronfield, on the outskirts of
Sheffield. 2007 promises to be an exciting year for the club and events will be publicised on this site.
