The history of football in Heeley is so rich in achievement, innovation, and anecdote that it deserves world acclaim. The early years are intriguing because there is still much to be discovered, including the possibility that the Heeley Christ Church football club existed before 1862, or even the possibility of another forgotten club from the parish. The church attracts visitors from all over the world and Sir Nathaniel Creswick’s grave was recently visited by the New York Times.
Heeley has a pivotal role in one of the most seminal games in football history. Jack Hunter, Crookes born, and Norton raised, first played for Heeley when he was just 16 and living in the then Derbyshire border village. He was destined to achieve immortality as the first working class captain of England, remarkably whilst a player with the tiny Heeley club. He was also a man who demonstrated a trilogy of organisational brilliance, first class managerial ability and a remarkable flair for both managing the team and coaching tactical innovation, as he orchestrated one of the greatest upsets in football history.
Blackburn Olympic’s FA Cup victory ended the era of football as an elite support for gentleman and introduced a meritocracy which enabled the growth of the people’s game. In addition, it was the Heeley hybrid passing game and switch wing play, utilising the full width of the pitch and hitting balls to George Wilson (a Hallamshire new association player in the centre forward position) that overwhelmed the Old Carthusians in the semi-final and proved too much for the Old Etonians in the FA Cup final.
The second claim to fame is that Heeley Church is the oldest football club linked to a church that is still standing, which links it to the other great ex church clubs such as Everton and Spurs.
Thirdly, Heeley can take credit for their role in advancing both premier Sheffield teams. Charles Stokes, Sheffied’s first dentist, who played for Heeley from 1864 also played for The Wednesday. He played football and cricket for both teams and ran for the Heeley Football Club athletics team. He was on the cricket committee that established Sheffield Wednesday as a football club before going on to help establish the Sheffield United Football Club, acting as Chairman. He was also a member of the Sheffield Football Association and later the Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association, who awarded him a medal for long service.
Anecdotally the club started playing in a field by Heeley Tilt before moving to Meersbrook park where ‘stripping rooms’ were located close by, in the White and Red lion pubs and the Waggon and Horses. As Meersbrook Park was over the border, they were a Derbyshire team and Heeley entered and won the Derbyshire Cup. A considerable achievement as Staveley, known as the ‘old foot and mouth’ because of their vociferous fans and propensity for ‘putting the boot in’ were a formidable team.
Meersbrook park taught me a valuable lesson about locating early football grounds, contrary to my logical expectations teams did not automatically choose the flattest location. The only description I have of Heeley’s ground sarcastically describes ‘a mountain at one end and a coal pit at the other’. Perhaps they thought that opposition teams not used to Sheffield’s seven hills would be disadvantaged and intimidated by the sharpness of the slope.
The Youdan Cup draw gave Heeley a tricky assignment, a trip to Sandygate to face Hallam proved too much for the Heeley boys, the paler, grey shirted Heeley side sporting arguably the least distinguished Youdan kit, were mostly seen defending their own goal before inevitably conceding two goals.
Later in 1867 they met the Wednesday Club for the first time. Wednesday were local rivals for a decade, and as both clubs evolved into the city’s most outstanding teams, a fierce rivalry was established. Simultaneously both sides challenged the amateur ethos by attracting the services of Scottish internationals. James Lang who assisted Wednesday and Peter Andrews, working in Leeds at the time assisted Heeley.
Following on from the Youdan and Cromwell cup experiments the Sheffield FA offered its own challenge cup competition. It would prove to be a huge success and Heeley and Wednesday would contest the first final. It proved to be an epic contest. 3-0 up at half time Heeley had the game won but they faded badly in the second half, Wednesday clawed three goals back and Skinner slipped in a late winner.
Heeley were great at reaching cup finals in this era but generally fell at the final hurdle. They were unlucky to face well-funded clubs with the ability to attract more ‘ringers’ first-class ‘guest’ players who would enhance rival clubs. Thursday FC Wanderers who had evolved into the cup side of Sheffield FC, could attract England Internationals to their cause.
Heeley would lose two further Challenge Cup finals, to Thursday Wanderers in 1879 and Staveley in 1880, and also lost in the inaugural final of the Wharncliffe Charity Cup in 1879, again to Wednesday. Jack Hunter played for both clubs. Heeley, now just Heeley FC, had moved on from their old home a year earlier, settling at Sheaf House, just around the corner from Bramall Lane and using the latter for big FA Cup games. The ‘border villagers’ made an auspicious start reaching the fourth round in 1881-2, beating Lockwood Brothers and Sheffield FC before losing to their nemesis, The Wednesday Club.
Clubs capable of performing in the FA Cup had regional status and Heeley were invited to play prestigious friendlies, even travelling North to face Scottish opposition. A financial crisis in 1888 led to a slow demise of the club and inadvertently to the rise of a great football institution, Sheffield United. Heeley lingered on in local league football until the 1890’s.
As we have noted in various posts the late 1870s and 1880s were decades of rapid innovation in Sheffield football. The intensity of cup competition, especially for the Challenge and Wharncliffe Cups , saw teams develop distinctive styles of passing and combined play. As today simply retaining possession and building slowly did not guarantee victory. Jack Hunter and others who sometimes played three games in a week for different teams, noted innovation and developed a template of combined long and short passing, ball ‘steering’, ‘screw kicks’, overhead kicks, set-piece moves and pressing. A skills set that would be instantly recognisable today.
As early as 1880 the corner ‘or drop’ as it was called had been perfected by teams like Wednesday, Heeley and Staveley who ‘steered’ the ball in the terminology of the day using spin. Staveley’s George Marples who predated Alan Woodward by almost a century scored directly from a corner in a Sheffield cup final at Bramall lane in 1880.
