“The industrial revolution was the most thoroughgoing revolution in human history, changing forever all the modes of production and most of the ways of daily living.” – Arnold J. Toynbee
Whilst the name suggests that the Mechanics were the first team to represent the spirit of Sheffield’s rising working class, they were in fact another team of ‘gentlemen’ from the upper and middle classes. Most skilled workers would have to wait until the 1870’s before they were able exploit an afternoon off. The mechanics were engineers and factory managers, and despite the ‘united’ name, differentiated themselves from the artisans.
Formed in 1865 during a turbulent period of Sheffield history. A decade when the Sheffield Outrages brought arson attacks, beatings, rattenings, bombings, and the assassination of James Linley in the tap room of the Crow Inn (now the excellent real ale pub, The Crown on Scotland Street) It was also the year after the Sheffield floods and there was more outrage in the Sheffield press over the 500 hundred pounds compensation (15,747 in today’s money) awarded to Sheffield character ‘Boney’ Harris for a bang on the head allegedly received during the Bradfield inundation.
The Mechanics, who were probably linked to the Mechanics Institute on the site of the current City Hall, were conceived in the Surrey Arms on Granville Street close to what is now the Midland Station. After a sharp climb up the hill, they played and practiced primarily in Norfolk Park. Norfolk FC probably had priority access to the best pitch because the Mechanics also played home games at Hyde Park, Parkwood, East Bank and Clough Lane.
They initially wore just a blue and white cap, later adopting an amber and blue kit. Club membership peaked at 254 in1865 when JE Deans was secretary.
United Mechanics have two claims to fame. The first use of United as a name associated with sport is thought to be the United Cricket Clubs of Sheffield, a company name invented by the great Michael Ellison for the teams renting Bramall Lane and putting money into the Duke of Norfolk’s booming estate. The first use of United in a football context was identified by the remarkable Martin Westby as the United Mechanics. However, the Mechanics have been trumped by our recent period of obsessive research, which led to the re- discovery of United Norfolk FC formed in 1862, presumably uniting the Norfolk Park and Norfolk works teams. United Norfolk are currently in pole position, but unlikely to get a plaque any time soon, as history never says ‘goodbye’ it says ‘see you later’.
Sheffield United are of course the first team to use the name in the modern era and Manchester United decided to appropriate the name of the FA Cup winners, and most successful new franchise in the game when they rebranded as Newton Heath in 1902, the year the Blades beat Southampton in the final.
The second claim to fame is that, in 1872, the year that was, according to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, ‘the most brilliant ever known in Sheffield football’, and the year of two great contests with London. The year when the paper declared that to achieve success in football, ‘a man must be possessed of speed science and bottom’ saw United Mechanics anointed as the best team in Sheffield, according to a league table of friendlies played.
Mechanics played 24, winning 15, losing 3 and drawing 6. Their rivals Norfolk were second and the Wednesday bottom with 11 defeats. Despite this the Mechanics don’t appear to have been deemed worthy of providing many players to represent the Sheffield Association side in their matches with London. Norfolk had three votes and were able to get one player into the team. G Anthony did sneak in from the Mechanics, see voting below.
As I have pointed out on several occasions the Sheffield Football Association, like the English Football Association was an elitist organisation. The golden rule was that they who had the gold made the rules, and they resisted a system of one member one vote with resilience. Local politics played a part and neither the Sheffield Association side or the English or London representative sides reflected the real strength of football in this era.
An emergency meeting was held at Mr Armfield’s Adelphi Hotel on December 16th 1872 to discuss the ‘undercurrent of dissatisfaction as to the selection of players’. New systems were proposed but thrown out with WH Chambers noting that changes could only be ratified at the AGM anyway. When the team was selected for the first Sheffield v London game in 1873, there was no representation or votes cast, from Mechanics, Perseverance or Fir Vale.
The issue raised its head again when Sheffield began to lose games to Glasgow, which they may have won if the selection process had followed the much more meritocratic mode of trial matches and practice matches deployed by Glasgow. On one occasion, when Wednesday, who were out of favour for some reason, unexpectedly beat the Invincibles of Preston North End, the Glasgow press expressed its amazement that not a single Wednesday player was subsequently selected.
Because United Mechanics failed to evolve into an FA Cup team this was probably the peak of their tactical journey and they don’t seem to feature significantly in the subsequent years of Sheffield’s football history.
