Karl Crowley

The FA wrote the rules of football in 1863. The rules you actually play by? A greenhouse. In Sheffield. 1858. Two mates from the cricket club went for a walk one autumn afternoon. They wanted something to do when the cricket season ended. So they started a football club. The first one on earth. Their headquarters was a greenhouse. Their pitch was the field next to it. There was nobody else to play. So they split into married against singles. Then they wrote rules. No hacking. No tripping. No holding. Free kicks. Throw-ins. Corner kicks. The crossbar. Heading. Eleven players. Ninety minutes. Referees. All Sheffield. When they played London in 1866 and headed the ball, London laughed at them. Nobody's laughing now. In 1867 Sheffield hosted the world's first football competition. Four years before the FA Cup. The trophy went missing for 130 years. A Scottish antiques dealer found it. Worth over £100,000 today. When football turned professional, Sheffield refused. They chose the game over the money. And the game left them behind. William Prest died at fifty-two. His gravestone was removed from the cemetery. Nathaniel Creswick died in October 1917. Exactly sixty years after founding the club. In 2004, FIFA gave Sheffield FC the Order of Merit. The only other club to receive it? Real Madrid. Eighty thousand seats. One of the greatest clubs on earth. Sheffield FC play in the ninth tier of English football. Two thousand seats. Every corner kick. Every header. Every ninety minutes. Two friends. One autumn walk. A greenhouse. Sheffield started it all. The beautiful game had humble beginnings. So do we. Your support keeps us on the pitch. Be part of us. proudofus.co.uk/support Be Proud Of Us. 🇬🇧