Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association

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The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association (originally called the Sheffield Football Association) was formed in Sheffield in 1867 was the first County Football Association in England. Its teams adopted the Sheffield Rules of football up until 1878 when they were merged with the Football Association rules. Its members include some of the oldest football clubs in the world such as Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C.

1 History
2 Today
3 Notable chairmen
4 External links

[edit] History

Organised football started in Sheffield in 1857 with the birth of Sheffield F.C. and the creation of Sheffield Rules. By the early 1860s there were over 15 clubs in the Sheffield area and they were the first to start inter-club games. This was done with no formal body in overall control with Sheffield Rules used by the majority of clubs.

In 1867 it was decided that an association was needed to organise the Youdan Cup, the world's first football tournment. By this time Sheffield F.C. had decided not to play local clubs in favour taking the game to other parts of the country. A total of twelve clubs took part in the tounement, which was won by Hallam. A second cup, the Cromwell Cup, was played the next year. It was only open to teams under two years old and was won by The Wednesday.

In 1871 a rival association given the name Sheffield New was established in protest of Sheffield FA's decision not to allow any club under two years old to become a member. It would later change its name to Hallamshire Football Association. This situation persisted until 1886 when a merger of the two associations was negociated by Charles Clegg who took charge of the new association.

The first annual compotition, the Sheffield Association Challenge Cup, was introduced in the 1876-77 season. This was joined by the Wharncliffe Charity Cup three years later. Both were won by Wednesday, who had become the dominent force in local football, in their first year.

The creep of professionalism began in 1876 when Wednesday brought down James Lang from Glasgow. He was officially hired by the club but received a job with no formal duties from one of the members of the club board. The association subsequently had to deal with open profesionalism when members of The Zulus received payment for matches. A number of players were banned, so many in fact that it led to the abandonment of the 1882 Sheffield Challenge Cup final. In 1885, professionalism was made legal but the Sheffield Association, led by Charles Clegg and William Pierce-Dix remained firm opponents of professionalism in football.

[edit] Today

The Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA still exists today, administering the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League and Sheffield Sports and Athletic League outside of the FA, although its members may join the FA proper, as Sheffield FC and Hallam FC have done.