It’s coming home… to Sheffield
On the 31st July, Chole Kelly prodded home a winner late into extra time for England against Germany in the Euros final. This prompted jubilant celebrations at Wembley and across the nation with the England team gate-crashing coach Sarina Wiegman’s post-match press conference with the chant “it’s coming home”; but where exactly is “home” for football?
A recent study carried out by the University of Sheffield concludes that the Steel City is the cultural home of football. However, it was neither Sheffield Wednesday nor Sheffield United, that played significant roles in the early development of the sport, but two amateur sides Sheffield FC and Hallam FC.
Sheffield FC can be credited with laying the foundations for the rules of the modern game. In 1859 Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, two club officials, wrote the first official rulebook for football and defined corner kicks, throw-ins, free-kicks, crossbars and fouls.
The game caught on and Hallam Cricket Club founded a football team in 1860 and opened the world’s first football ground, Sandygate Lane. The two Sheffield sides played each other in 1860, making it the world’s oldest local derby.
Different rules were made by clubs in different cities, often leading to entertaining games when two sides from different cities faced each other. In 1866 the first inter-city game between London and Sheffield FC took place. Accounts from the daily talk of the London players and fans being reduced to “fits of laughter” at the sight of the Sheffield FC players heading the ball.
In 1878 a unification of the rules from different cities created a standard rulebook for teams to play the game by, resulting in normal competition between clubs from different cities.
Sheffield’s contribution to the modern game doesn’t stop there. Bramall Lane, the oldest professional ground in the world, hosted the first game under floodlights in 1878. Sheffield also hosted the world’s first football tournament, The Youdan Cup, in 1867.
Such is the role Sheffield played in the development of football, FIFA awarded Sheffield FC the accolade “Centennial order of merit” for services to football. Three-time World Cup winner Pele also remarked “without Sheffield FC there wouldn’t be a me”.
Sheffield FC is attempting to gain greater recognition for its role in the development of football and plans are in the works to build a new facility in the city called “The Home of Football”.
A Sheffield FC spokesperson commented “‘The proposed new facility will allow the club to bring together all our teams in one central hub. The facility as well as a new stadium will offer artificial grass pitches and education facilities for all our teams to use.
They added, “it will also celebrate the heritage of not just Sheffield Football Club but also the influential part Sheffield played in the early development of the game.”