The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association is a County Football Association in England. It was formed in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association, and is the second-oldest football governing body after

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

(FA). Its teams adopted the

Sheffield Rules The Sheffield Rules was a code of football devised and played in the English city of Sheffield between 1858 and 1877. The rules were initially created and revised by Sheffield F.C., Sheffield Football Club, with responsibility for the laws pa ...

of football until 1878, when they were merged with the FA's rules. Its members include the two oldest football clubs in the world,

and

Hallam Hallam may refer to: Places * Hallam, Victoria, Australia ** Hallam railway station UK * Hallamshire, an area in South Yorkshire, England, UK ** Royal Hallamshire Hospital ** Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency) ** Sheffield Hallam Univer ...

. Today, the County FA is responsible for the administration, control, promotion and development of grass-roots football within a 20-mile radius of Sheffield Cathedral. This covers almost all of South Yorkshire (excluding only the area around Askern, Hatfield and Thorne) as well as parts of North

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

(e.g.

Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park i ...

), North

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

(e.g.

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...

), and southern parts of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

(e.g. Emley,

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

History

Organised football started in Sheffield in 1857 with the birth of Sheffield Football Club 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

used by the majority of clubs. The Sheffield Football Association was founded by the end of January 1867, with Harry Chambers, secretary of Sheffield FC, serving as its first President. It claimed membership of 14 clubs, representing over 1,000 members. The Association issued its first set of rules on 6 March 1867, basing them on the FA's rules which had been formulated in February of the same year. Although the

Youdan Cup The Youdan Football Cup, also known as the Youdan Cup, was an 1867 Sheffield rules football competition. Preceding the FA Cup by more than four years, it was among the first tournaments in any code of football. Background Thomas Youdan, se ...

took place between February and March 1867, and was competed for by most of the Association's member clubs, it was organized by a separate committee and was unable to use the Sheffield FA's rules, since they were not issued until the day after the Cup's final. A second cup, the Cromwell Cup, was played the next year under the auspices of the Sheffield Association. It was only open to teams under two years old, and was won by The Wednesday. On 2 December 1871, the Sheffield Association played the first inter-association game with the London Association, beating them 3–1 at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

. Despite losing the game, the London Association (now known as the F.A.) became the primary association which led to the national adoption of the London rules. However, the Sheffield Association continued to have some influence and on 17 February 1872 proposed Rule VII introducing the

corner-kick A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

to the Association Rules. Over the next few years, matches against the associations of Birmingham, Glasgow, North Wales, Manchester and Staffordshire were arranged. Other non-association friendlies were played notably against the Wanderers, the Swifts and the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. The first annual competition, the Sheffield Association Challenge Cup, was introduced in the 1876–77 season. This was joined by the Wharncliffe Charity Cup two years later. Both were won by Wednesday, who had become the dominant force in local football, in their first year. The creep of

professionalism Professionalism is a set of standards that an individual is expected to adhere to in a workplace, usually in order to appear serious, uniform, or respectful. What constitutes professionalism is hotly debated and varies from workplace to workplac ...

began in 1876 when Wednesday brought down James Lang from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. 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 professionalism 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 Charles Myron Clegg Jr. (June 29, 1916 – August 25, 1979) was an American author, photographer, and railroad historian. Clegg is primarily remembered as the lifelong romantic partner of famed railroad author Lucius Beebe, and was a co-author o ...

and William Peirce Dix remained firm opponents of professionalism in football. In 1877, 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 later changed its name to Hallamshire Football Association. This situation persisted until the end of the 1886–87 season when a merger of the two associations was negotiated by Clegg who took charge of the new association with Dix employed as secretary. The clubs of the Sheffield F.A. of 1877 were Albion, Artillery and Hallamshire Rifles, Attercliffe, Brightside, Brincliffe, Broomhall,

Crookes Crookes is a suburb of the City of Sheffield, England, about west of the city centre. It borders Broomhill to the south, Walkley and Upperthorpe to the east and open countryside around the River Rivelin to the north. The population of the ...

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, Exchange Brewery, Fir Vale, Gleadless,

, Heeley, Kimberworth, Millhouses, Norfolk, Norfolk Works,

Owlerton Owlerton () is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, England, northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was a small rural village from the Early Middle Ages; it became part of Sheffield in the e ...

, Oxford, Parkwood Springs, Philadelphia,

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

, Surrey, Thursday Wanderers,

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In English, the name is derived from Old English and Middle English , 'day of Woden', reflecting ...

Competitions

Men's

* Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League ( levels 11-13) * Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior Cup ( clubs at levels 5-11) * Sheffield & Hallamshire Association Cup ( clubs at levels 12-14) * Sheffield & Hallamshire Junior Cup ( clubs at levels 15-)

Women's

* Sheffield & Hallamshire Women's County League ( clubs at levels 7-9) * Sheffield & Hallamshire Women's Challenge Cup ( clubs at levels 1-7)

Affiliated clubs

Unlike most County FAs, which cover a historic county of England, teams are affiliated to the S&HCFA if they are located within a 20-mile radius of

Sheffield Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul, Sheffield, also known as Sheffield Cathedral, is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status when ...

, although this rule is not set in stone. Hundreds of football clubs are affiliated to the association. As of 2025/26, the following S&HCFA-affiliated clubs compete in senior men's and women's football (not including reserve teams):

Men's teams

Women's teams

Representative teams

The Sheffield & Hallamshire FA formerly ran the Sheffield representative team that was active from the earliest days of the game in the 1860s, playing against select teams from cities such as

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

, the series against the latter running from 1874 to 1960.Sheffield v Scotland : The Inter-City games 1874-1960
Martin Westby, England's Oldest Football Clubs, 12 May 2020 Since 1944 an U18 side has represented the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA in the FA County Youth Cup, winning the competition in 1953 and 1964.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association County football associations Sport in Sheffield 1867 establishments in England Sports organizations established in 1867 Organisations based in Sheffield