Trophy Article Series: Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup
Fri 4th October 2019 | General | By Stewart Taylor
Football followers at all levels are probably aware of the answer to that well known quiz question - what is the oldest football club in the world? The answer is Sheffield FC and that provides the link to the County FA competition we are looking at in our article this week.
Sheffield FC was founded in 1857 and, being the first football club, the question of whom they played and under what rules is well documented and well worth studying. The question of which rules is an interesting one in itself given that the first recognised FA codified laws of the game did not appear until 1863.
The Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association is recognised as being the oldest of the County FAs being formed in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association. The first annual competition was the Sheffield Association Challenge Cup which was established for the 1876/77 season and, thus, represents the first of what we might call the County Cup competitions in England. The first winners of the cup were simply known as The Wednesday – a club which, not surprisingly, went on to become known as Sheffield Wednesday.
Now known as the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup, the competition is open to all members of the County FA from Level 5 to Level 11 in the football pyramid and regularly features many teams who have provided the opposition to NWCFL clubs in the national competitions the FA Cup and the FA Vase.
The current holder are North Gawber Colliery who were presented with the trophy at a charity match after their opponents in the final, Frickley Athletic, did not take their place in that final. The decision not to compete was described by Frickley Athletic as a timing issue with the final being scheduled to be played on May 23rd 2019 – almost a month after the final League match for Frickley Athletic.
As might be expected, the two fully professional Sheffield cubs – United and Wednesday – feature prominently in the list of previous winners but in the more than 100 years of the competition we see many clubs of much smaller reputation on the roll of honour. Included amongst these are the original Emley who won this trophy no fewer than 8 times. The story of football in Emley makes for interesting reading.
As befits the senior County Cup, the final is normally played on the ground of one of the professional clubs within the region. Hillsborough has provided the venue many times but we also see Bramhall Lane and Oakwell amongst the list of venues. The use of a ground with the best facilities in the area is quite typical of County FA Senior competitions across the country and often affords the clubs a rare opportunity to play at such a ground. It is then only a pity that North Gawber Colliery did not get that opportunity last season – see above – in what would have been their only appearance in the final.
The best attended final in this competition is recorded as 10,000 when The Wednesday Reserves defeated Roundel 5-0 in a match played at Bramhall Lane at the end of the 1902/03 season. Roundel were a relatively short lived club based in Darnell in South Yorkshire.
The recent arrival of both Emley AFC and Shelley Community into the North West Counties Football League have provided our League with the first representatives eligible to play in this prestigious competition. The draw for the 2019/20 competition has been made and both of our member clubs have received byes in the First Round.
As regards the trophy itself, little information is readily available. Our photo shows the trophy on display at Bramhall Lane and, stylistically at least, it would appear to have been used for quite some time. As always, if you have any information relating to the trophy then please feel free to get in touch as we seek to expand the record in this area.
Trophy Article Series: Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup
Fri 4th October 2019 | General
By Stewart Taylor
Football followers at all levels are probably aware of the answer to that well known quiz question - what is the oldest football club in the world? The answer is Sheffield FC and that provides the link to the County FA competition we are looking at in our article this week.
Sheffield FC was founded in 1857 and, being the first football club, the question of whom they played and under what rules is well documented and well worth studying. The question of which rules is an interesting one in itself given that the first recognised FA codified laws of the game did not appear until 1863.
The Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association is recognised as being the oldest of the County FAs being formed in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association. The first annual competition was the Sheffield Association Challenge Cup which was established for the 1876/77 season and, thus, represents the first of what we might call the County Cup competitions in England. The first winners of the cup were simply known as The Wednesday – a club which, not surprisingly, went on to become known as Sheffield Wednesday.
Now known as the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup, the competition is open to all members of the County FA from Level 5 to Level 11 in the football pyramid and regularly features many teams who have provided the opposition to NWCFL clubs in the national competitions the FA Cup and the FA Vase.
The current holder are North Gawber Colliery who were presented with the trophy at a charity match after their opponents in the final, Frickley Athletic, did not take their place in that final. The decision not to compete was described by Frickley Athletic as a timing issue with the final being scheduled to be played on May 23rd 2019 – almost a month after the final League match for Frickley Athletic.
As might be expected, the two fully professional Sheffield cubs – United and Wednesday – feature prominently in the list of previous winners but in the more than 100 years of the competition we see many clubs of much smaller reputation on the roll of honour. Included amongst these are the original Emley who won this trophy no fewer than 8 times. The story of football in Emley makes for interesting reading.
As befits the senior County Cup, the final is normally played on the ground of one of the professional clubs within the region. Hillsborough has provided the venue many times but we also see Bramhall Lane and Oakwell amongst the list of venues. The use of a ground with the best facilities in the area is quite typical of County FA Senior competitions across the country and often affords the clubs a rare opportunity to play at such a ground. It is then only a pity that North Gawber Colliery did not get that opportunity last season – see above – in what would have been their only appearance in the final.
The best attended final in this competition is recorded as 10,000 when The Wednesday Reserves defeated Roundel 5-0 in a match played at Bramhall Lane at the end of the 1902/03 season. Roundel were a relatively short lived club based in Darnell in South Yorkshire.
The recent arrival of both Emley AFC and Shelley Community into the North West Counties Football League have provided our League with the first representatives eligible to play in this prestigious competition. The draw for the 2019/20 competition has been made and both of our member clubs have received byes in the First Round.
As regards the trophy itself, little information is readily available. Our photo shows the trophy on display at Bramhall Lane and, stylistically at least, it would appear to have been used for quite some time. As always, if you have any information relating to the trophy then please feel free to get in touch as we seek to expand the record in this area.
