By David Owen
July 25 – The origins of one of football’s most emotive and universal concepts are to be celebrated in a small town in north Derbyshire, not far from Sheffield, on Saturday.
The BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield is to host the 153rd edition of the world’s first football derby, between Sheffield Football Club, the world’s oldest, founded in 1857, and Hallam Football Club, founded three years later, who also have their roots in the South Yorkshire steel city.
The match itself will kick off at 6pm, but it will be preceded, at 1pm, by a clash between the two clubs’ veterans in the style of the sport at the time of the first derby. Spectators are encouraged to “dress traditional”.
While two of the city’s clubs – Wednesday and United – are among the most famous names in English football, even if they have enjoyed little real success in recent times, Sheffield FC and Hallam keep humbler company.
The away side – which in 1867 had the distinction of winning the world’s first organised football tournament, the Youdan Cup, named after a local theatre owner – perform nowadays in division one of the Northern Counties East League.
Sheffield FC – which reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup three times in the 1870s, twice losing to Wanderers, the eventual winners – now play in division one south of the Northern Premier League.
“When football was still unknown and an embryonic sport, it was Sheffield FC and Hallam FC, the two oldest teams in the world, who decided to play a friendly but competitive football match,” said Richard Tims, the Sheffield FC chairman.
“We love football and local derbies.
“We are happy and proud about the fact William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick [the wine merchant and solicitor who co-founded Sheffield FC, which was headquartered at first in a borrowed potting-shed] gave the impulse for its invention.”
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