The world’s oldest football club Sheffield FC turns 160 today… and here’s what it looked like back then compared to now
SHEFFIELD FC, the world’s oldest football club, are celebrating turning 160 today.
The first team compete in the Northern Premier League Division One South, having being formed on October 24, 1857.
These are the founding members of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FCNathaniel Creswick, was one of the founders of Sheffield F.C. in 1857The club’s proud tradition is very much still relevant today at their ground in DronfieldRex Features
Their honours are restricted to an FA Amateur Cup success in 1904, while they also finished as runners-up in the 1977 FA Vase.
Sheffield Cricket Club organised an informal football match in 1855 without any rules and two of its members, Nathaniel Creswick and William Priest, subsequently formed the club.
The setting for the meeting was a greenhouse on the East Bank Road, and the first matches were ‘Married vs Singles’ among the members themselves.
Creswick and Priest designed the ‘Sheffield Rules’, which were the first official set of regulations for the game of football, dating all the way back to the oldest-ever recorded ‘mob football’ contest in 1794.
This hardy bunch comprised the 1876 line-up for Sheffield FCTwitter / @SheffieldfcThe game was soon developing but Sheffield FC, pictured here in 1893, had got things startedTwitter / @SheffieldfcThis was the Sheffield FC line-up in 1900, the pioneers of football as we know itTwitter / @SheffieldfcBy 1904, football clubs began sprouting up all over the country, and the worldTwitter / @SheffieldfcThis was the Sheffield FC side in 1911 – today the club celebrates its 160th birthdayTwitter / @SheffieldfcBy 1957 Sheffield FC had been playing for longer than many clubs even now have been in existenceTwitter / @Sheffieldfc
At the time of Sheffield F.C.’s, there were different variations of the game in place and no official set of laws.
Here, we take a look at some memorable photos through the ages that make the club so unique.
People couldn’t understand why grown men were leaping and trying to head a ball made of leather through two sticksSheffield FCBut the club continued to push for a full introduction of the game of ‘football’ – and they soon got their wishSheffield FCThe South Yorkshire club was founded in 1857 and played a key role in providing the rules of modern footballSheffield FCManchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan paid his own tribute to Sheffield FC today on social mediaInstagram @ilkayguendoganThe club are proud to call themselves the ‘home of football’ but haven’t hit the heights they would expectRex FeaturesIt is quite possible the Sheffield FC club shop hasn’t changed too much over the years…Rex FeaturesAnd in keeping with their ancient history, touches around the club are from an early era for sureRex Features
Rex Features The first team compete in the Northern Premier League, were formed on October 24, 1857[/caption]
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