The Club

Sheffield: Where football kicked off

The world’s first football club was founded in Sheffield on October 24th 1857.

It is generally accepted that the initial development of the modern game of football took place in England in the early and middle years of the 19th century. This modern form was developed from existing folk games – loosely organised local contests often held irregularly, usually between teams of unequal size – primarily by the boys of the major English public schools of Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Charterhouse, Westminster, Shrewsbury and Rugby. The boys left their schools, taking the game to university and eventually into the wider society.

The Club is Born
Whilst out for a walk in May 1857, two keen cricket lovers, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, chatted about the need for an organised sport to maintain their fitness levels during the winter months. They decided to play the game of football.

Five months later Sheffield FC - the world’s first football club - was formed. Officers of the club were elected, with Creswick named as Secretary and Captain. Headquarters were established in a potting shed and greenhouse at the bottom of East Bank Road in Sheffield.

It has been suggested that Creswick and Prest decided to write to each major public school requesting a set of rules, using preferred points of each to decide on a set of regulations for Sheffield Club. However, though public school influence was present, it was by no means direct. Neither of the founders had attended public school, though Creswick would probably have been influenced by the form of the game he had experienced at Sheffield Collegiate School.

Sheffield Football Club attracted a lot of interest and, as there were no opponents to play at that time, members organised themselves internally into matches such as Married Men versus Unmarried Men and Professional Occupations versus The Rest.

he World Catches On
Soon other teams were formed, with Hallam FC, founded by Thomas Vickers and John Shaw, both former members of Sheffield FC, being the first. Hallam played its initial game against Sheffield FC at its Sandygate ground on Boxing Day 1860. The fixture is thought to be the first ever recorded football match between two different clubs and by 1862 there were as many as 15 clubs in and around the Sheffield area.

In the following year, 1863, the Football Association was formed in London. Sheffield FC representatives appear to have attended as observers though they did not agree to join immediately.

Sheffield FC has pioneered many innovations in football over the years. Heading was unheard of in the south of England until 1875. When Sheffield travelled to the Oval to play London, the sight of the Sheffield players butting the ball reduced London’s players and fans to fits of hysterics.

In those days the crossbar was just a length of rope strung between the uprights. The Sheffield Laws introduced for the first time the notion of a solid crossbar. Other innovations included the first use of corner kicks, free kicks for fouls, proper throw-ins and the first floodlit match.

Proud Amateur Dramatics
Sheffield FC was closely involved in the formation of Sheffield United in 1889. The club provided some of the players for their early games and joined in practice sessions with the United professionals.

Over the next few years, professionalism strengthened its grip on the game and Sheffield Club’s imprint on the national game diminished. The first FA Amateur Cup was staged in the 1893-4 season with Sheffield FC being instrumental in its initiation. It was fitting that Sheffield’s finest hour on the pitch came on 4 April 1904, when they beat Ealing 3-1 in front of 6,000 fans at Valley Parade to lift the trophy.

In 1957 Sheffield FC became the first club to celebrate their centenary. To mark the occasion, a Sheffield XI played an England XI at Hillsborough, while an amateur XI played Queen's Park, the oldest club in Scotland, at Bramall Lane.

A banquet was also held at the Cutlers' Hall attended by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Stanley Rous, the President of the FA.

Club Join The Elite

Sheffield FC became one of only two clubs in the world to be presented with a FIFA Order of Merit - the other being Spanish giants Real Madrid.

In 2007 Sheffield FC commemorated their 150th anniversary. Another banquet was held, this time with Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, in attendance. Other famous names at the event included former Spain manager and Inter Milan legend Luis Suárez Miramontes, Sir Tom Finney, Gordon Banks, Sir Dave Richards, PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor, The Lord Mayor of Sheffield Cllr Arthur Dunworth, David Blunkett MP, Clinton Woods, Junior Witter, Mark Bright, Derek Dooley, Bryan Robson and Brian Laws.

The club played several prestigious friendlies culminating in a match against Internazionale of Milan at Bramall Lane, which attracted over 18,000 spectators including the legendary Pele.

On the pitch, the club gained promotion to the Unibond League Division One South - their highest ever league position.

Proud History, Bright Future

Off the field huge progress has been made in securing the future of the world’s first club. When Richard Tims became Chairman, he set the target of making the club financially self-sufficient. Not only are the club now on a sounder financial footing, but they also have their own ground for the first time in their history.

There are now three senior sides, 13 junior teams, a woman’s team and three disability teams plying their trade at the club’s Bright Finance Stadium in Dronfield on the outskirts of Sheffield.

The club embodies everything that is good about grassroots football and the positive role it can play in the community. An Inclusion and Diversity Scheme, in-conjunction with the Football Foundation, has been created to help increase participation in sport and physical activity for people with disability.

While their Boots for Africa campaign has raised more than 4,000 pairs of football boots, making football more accessible to thousands of young people in South Africa.

To mark Sheffield FC’s work in the community and the success on the field, the club were officially named the best Adult Charter Standard Club in the country having won The FA’s National Award for 2007.

And now with a global membership scheme in place, it seems that at last the club with the most illustrious past has a future to match.