A suburb to the South West of Sheffield’s city centre, Broomhall occupies the land that once belonged to Broom Hall, a historic mansion once owned by James Wilkinson, vicar of Sheffield and later by Sheffield legend, designer and cutlery innovator, David Mellor. Broomhall was one of the seven cricket clubs that formed the United Cricket Clubs of Sheffield in 1854.
Founder members of the Sheffield FA, Broomhall football club’s most notable contribution to Sheffield football history was inspiring J.C Clegg, the ‘Napoleon of Football’ who began his illustrious career with ‘the black and whites’ in 1868. Already a strong and well established club by 1866, running three fourteen and two twelve aside teams by this time and beating the top Sheffield teams of the era, Hallam, Pitsmoor, Norfolk and Heeley, they were one of the favourites to lift the inaugural Youdan Cup. In 1867 they played the first game under the new rules, beating Garrick by 2 goals and five rouges to one goal. Results suggest they deployed rouges more consistently and effectively than any other Sheffield team.
This may have been a pragmatic strategy because their Ecclesall road ground was prone to flooding. After defeating Pitsmoor, arguably the strongest team in Sheffield in the early 1860s, 2-0 after a 0-0 draw, they were defeated 1-0 by a strong Norfolk side in the next round.
As Steve Wood notes, Broomhall FC were a privileged and established club who represented powerful elites in the city and, with Sheffield FC deciding not to participate in the inaugural Sheffield challenge cup and focus on challenging teams from other towns, they probably expected to lift the Youdan trophy.
