October 24th: The Day Sheffield F.C. Became the World's First Football Club

As a student of the University of Sheffield, I felt obliged to write about Sheffield F.C. for this day. The Club was founded 155 years ago on October 24th 1857 making them the world's oldest club playing Association football. Back in 1857, however, they had a different set of rules known as the 'Sheffield Rules', which hold a strong resemblance to Australian rules football i.e. there was no offside rule.


   Sheffield football started off when members of the Sheffield cricket club held informal kick-abouts in 1855, where there weren't really any rules enforced at all. Two years later, the Football Club was established at Parkfield House in Highfield, formed by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest. At first the games consisted of "Married vs. Singles" or "Professionals Vs the Rest", but later a proper team took shape. Before the FA began, there were several types of football rules around England, thus the creation of 'Sheffield Rules'.