Date: Tuesday 16th October 2018
Venue: Coach & Horses Ground, Sheffield Road, Dronfield, South Yorkshire, S18 2GD
Kick Off: 7.45pm
Competition: Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division One East
Match Coverage: Twitter
Highlights: Highwaymen TV
The Highwaymen return to league action on Tuesday evening when they make the trip to South Yorkshire to face Sheffield F.C.
History
In 1855, members of a Sheffield cricket club organised informal kick-abouts without any official rules. Subsequently, two members, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, formed the Sheffield Football Club.
The inaugural meeting of the club took place on 24 October 1857 at Parkfield House in the suburb of Highfield. The original headquarters was a greenhouse on East Bank Road lent by Thomas Asline Ward, father of the first club president Frederick Ward, and the adjacent field was used as their first playing ground. Initially, Sheffield FC games were played among club members themselves and took the format of “Married v Singles” or “Professionals v the Rest”.
Creswick and Prest were responsible for drawing up the club’s rules of play, which were decided upon at the club’s AGM on 21 October 1858. They were referred to as the Sheffield Rules, and were the first official set of rules and laws for the game of football. At the time, before the formation of the Football Association (FA), many different kinds of football were popular in England. For example, each of the various public schools played football according to their own individual rules, and these varied widely. The Sheffield Rules were later adopted by the Sheffield Football Association when it was formed in 1867.
Sheffield’s near neighbour, Hallam, was formed in 1860 and in the same year the two clubs first met each other in a local derby which is still contested today. By 1862 there were 15 clubs in the Sheffield area.
In 1873 the club entered the FA Cup for the first time, their first ever tie in the competition, against Shropshire Wanderers, being decided after a replay by a coin toss; the only time in the history of the competition that a tie has been decided in this way. They would reach the 4th Round of the competition in 1877–78 and 1879–80.
Their reluctance to play against local clubs led to the formation of Thursday Wanderers in 1876, a team of players registered to Sheffield who wished to play in the Sheffield Challenge Cup. The Wanderers operated from 1876 to 1879, winning the cup in their final year.
Sheffield’s decline from the top echelon of football began with the introduction of professionalism in July 1885, with the amateurs of Sheffield failing to compete with professional teams, losing heavily that year to Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Notts County. After the legalisation of professionalism, the staunchly amateur Sheffield suggested to the FA the creation of a cup exclusively for amateur clubs. The FA Amateur Cup was inaugurated in 1893 and Sheffield themselves won the competition in 1904.
They joined their first league competition in 1889 when entering the Midland League, but left after just one season when they finished bottom of the table. They were also founder members of the original Yorkshire League in 1898, but again they spent just a single season in the competition.
2007 was a momentous year for Sheffield F.C. as they entered their 150th year. They finished as runners-up in the league to secure promotion to the Northern Premier League (NPL) for the first time. In October 2007, FIFA president Sepp Blatter attended the club’s anniversary dinner, and the following month the club played anniversary celebration matches against Internazionale and Ajax at Bramall Lane. Football legend Pelé was guest of honour at the first game and was introduced to the teams and the fans before the game. The match ended 5–2 to Inter, with 18,741 supporters attending the match. Inter’s side included World Cup winner Marco Materazzi and a young Mario Balotelli. As part of his visit, Pelé opened an exhibition which included the first public showing in 40 years of the original hand-written rules of football.
Last Match
Morpeth were involved in a seven goal thriller on Saturday but were on the wrong end of the result as they went down 4-3 to Brighouse Town in the Buildbase FA Trophy. Zeph Thomas’ deflected strike put the visitors ahead before Iulian Petrache volleyed home. Liam Henderson converted a penalty for the Highwaymen on half time but parity was restored through an unfortunate own goal 3 minutes into the second half. Aaron Martin put the visitors back ahead before Henderson converted his second penalty but Martin won it when he nodded home with 6 minutes remaining.
Sheffield weren’t involved in the FA Trophy at the weekend so have had a longer break between fixtures. Their last outing was a 3-1 home defeat to Worksop Town in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup. Charlie Wakefield put the oldest football club in the world ahead on 14 minutes. Tomas Poole equalised before Max Pemberton put the visitors ahead. Kyle Jordan added the third late on.
Manager
Gavin Smith – Enjoyed an illustrious playing career at Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End and went on to ply his trade in Non-League at Gainsborough Trinity, Bradford Park Avenue, Worksop Town and Sheffield FC before moving into coaching and management. Took over the role in May 2018 after impressing in a caretaker role.
