Champions of Sheffield
Hallam FC was founded by John Charles Shaw, one of the great iconic figures of Sheffield Football history and Captain Tom Vickers (Captain in the Hallamshire rifles and not Hallam football clubs captain, a cause of confusion in some reports at the time). John Shaw came from Penistone Grammar School, a school at the heart of an area with a rich footballing tradition that has recently produced an England captain, John Stones. His headmaster was another inspirational footballing pioneer, Samuel Sunderland. He changed his name to John Charles Shaw to add gravitas when he moved to the great steel city of Sheffield. A Conservative agent and Freemason, Shaw was well connected and influential and became an early captain of Sheffield FC. He was instrumental in forming the Sheffield Association, and the Injured Players Fund.
In 1867 Hallam won the Youdan Cup and could rightfully claim to be Kings of Sheffield football. The cup was won at Bramall Lane, the finest sports ground in the North of England and possibly Great Britain at the time. John Charles Shaw was the man destined to lift the first knock out football trophy in history.
Sheffield club had elected not to take part in this competition. A wise decision from a club that had already established itself as an influential force, arguably the most influential force in directing the development of the modern game of football in the world.
Sheffield FC joined the Football Association in 1863 and subsequently helped to shape the evolution of the game for the next fourteen years, developing the first rules of the modern game. It was Sheffield FC’s William Chesterman’s letter to FA Secretary EC Morley that helped convince the FA not to include running with the ball in hand and hacking in the new code. Their willingness to experiment with different rules and to export their own brand of football was of huge importance to the evolution of the game in Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, Lincoln and many other centres. Had they entered the Youdan cup and been eliminated, then it may have tarnished their reputation as a club with a deep practical understanding of rules based modern football.
On the pitch Sheffield FC had quickly been surpassed by the Pitsmoor club who beat Club in 1862, and three times in 1863 before passing the baton of technical innovation to others. Prior to 1867 the decision on who was Sheffield’s top club was based on success in friendlies against the best opposition, and the Sheffield Daily Telegraph helpfully summarised and evaluated the results at the end of the season. The top teams changed almost every year during the 1860’s and 70’s with Heeley, The Wednesday and Thursday Wanderers (the cup winning wing of Sheffield FC developed by Michael Ellision) emerging as powerful clubs towards the end of the amateur era.
In 1867 Hallam’s record suggested that they were the best team in Sheffield. However, as we were about to discover, cup football is a different entity to ‘friendly football’ and the struggle for football’s first great prize would be an intense and passionate affair. Four teams Hallam, Norfolk, Norton and Broomhall considered that they had a realistic chance of glory and there was always the possibility of a lesser team causing the first cup shock in history.
Heeley were destined to become one of Sheffield’s finest clubs but were beaten by two clear goals at Sandygate. The semifinal was incredibly close. After two and a half hours of excitement on the Oakes Ground neither team had forced an advantage, and the eagerly awaited replay attracted a crowd estimated at around 3,000 spectators. Norton pushed the eventual winners hard and only a solitary rouge forced their elimination.
THE YOUDAN FOOTBALL CUP -The Hallam and Norfolk Football Clubs played the final match for this prize at Bramall Lane Cricket Ground, Sheffield, on Shrove Tuesday. The toss for choice of goals was won by Norfolk, who kicked with the wind, but were unable to score. After playing half time ends were changed, when it was soon evident the Hallamites had the game in their own hands. After half an hour’s play the ball was kicked by Elliott, not through the goal, but just over it, and was touched down by Ash in splendid style, after running round two of his opponents before getting to the ball, thus securing a rouge. The Norfolk captain immediately kicked off, thus hoping to secure a goal for his side whilst his opponents were off their guard, but in their haste and confusion they left their goal unprotected, which was taken advantage of by one of the Hallam players securing another rouge, when time was called. Thus, Hallam won, scoring two rouges to their opponent’s nothing.” Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle – Saturday 09 March 1867.
So, H Ash became to first man to score in a football knock-out cup competitional albeit with a rouge not a goal, and scored after a kick over the posts, not a near a miss to the side of the posts and Hallam became Kings of Sheffield for a season, until Wednesdays victory in the Cromwell Cup a year later.
It appears to have been a victory of substance rather than style for the countrymen were bigger, stronger and more athletic. Given Sheffield FC’s absence, as the second most senior club in Sheffield, playing on the oldest ground, they were the most appropriate first official champions of Sheffield.
Hallam are still a tangible reminder of a remarkable era in Sheffield’s football history, attracting crowds in excess of 1,000 and featuring in the FA Cup as well as participating in the oldest football derby on earth, whenever they meet Sheffield FC.
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