Sheffield created football - but still no museum 170 years after writing the rules
When it comes to the story of football, Sheffield looms large.
The city is widely known to have the world’s oldest club, world’s oldest ground, and to have written up the earliest set of rules for the game.
Visitors come from all over the world to take a look at its heritage, including special trips to watch the oldest club, Sheffield FC, and take in games at the oldest ground, Hallam FC in Sandygate.
Yet despite this huge legacy, the city has no permanent visitor attraction to mark this massive contribution to the game.
The National Football Museum, originally set up in what was the oldest league ground, at Preston, is now in Manchester, a comparative newcomer when it comes to football.
There have been calls for something to be set up in Sheffield for many years - long before the national museum opened.
Many will remember a temporary museum which was set up during Euro 96, in Kelham Island, at a time when its organisers had aspirations of something permanent.
But 30 years after that exhibition, there is still no permanent attraction, other than Sheffield United’s own club museum which looks at the club’s own history, at Bramall Lane.
However, there are hopes among some that something may be changing.
The organisation Sheffield Home of Football, or SHOF, have not been able to get anything over the line over the last 30 years, but trustee and local football historian John Clarke feels there is more interest than ever in the idea among local councillors - and believes there could be something created in the next four years.
They have sent a business plan to the South Yorkshire Mayor.
Meanwhile, Sheffield FC have already outlined plans for a museum as well, as part of a planning application two years ago.
However, some fear the challenge may be too big for SHOF alone, with big obstacles, such as finance.
Manchester Council spent millions of pounds to get the National Football Museum moved to its city.
Experts say Manchester comes nowhere close to Sheffield when it comes to claims to have been the birthplace of football, despite the recent success of its professional clubs.
People in Manchester were playing rugby at the time Sheffield was pioneering the game in the 1850s.
One expert told The Star that Manchester’s football history did not really start until the 1870s. By the time Sheffield had seen some 250 clubs set up, Manchester only had a handful. Some believe when it comes to football in its earliest days, only Glasgow comes close, which is now home to Scotland’s National Football Museum.
And John said: “Apart from the fact that Sheffield had the oldest clubs, the oldest rules and the oldest ground, Sheffield had a football culture that other places did not have.”
He said that from 1857 to 1875, half the clubs in the world were in Sheffield. He also pointed out that Sheffield United became the first professional club, when they were set up within what had been a cricket club, by a player who left the older Sheffield Wednesday.
John’s organisation has placed plaques across Sheffield depicting what they consider to be key locations in the history of the game. They include the location where the first rules were drawn up on East Parade, near Sheffield Cathedral.
They also run walking tours, which attract people from around the world, which he describes as an open air museum.
But can the city one day have a museum?
Sheffield FC have drawn up plans in the past to create a museum within a new stadium for the historic club. A planning application for a development on the site of the Sheffield Transport club was submitted to Sheffield Council in March 2024. The scheme has hit opposition from local residents’ groups.
It also drew concerns from Sport England, who are worried that the scheme would involve the loss of one of Sheffield’s cricket pitches at the site, near Greenhill.
Meanwhile, John says SHOF recently submitted a feasibility study to the office of the South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, outlining how he believes a museum could be created in the city. They already have a small display in Sheffield Town Hall.
The proposal includes and cafe and a shop, with both virtual and actual exhibits, as well as a computerised archive. They also look at education and space hire.
His organisation has acquired dozens of early artworks, showing football before photography was widespread. It still has access to the items which were displayed at Kelham Island in 1996, and says that collection has at least trebled since then.
“We’ve spent five and a half months putting together a business case to send to the South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority,” he said. “We think we’re looking at something that would be worth £9m to the local economy.”
They have looked at how other small museums have made themselves sustainable across the country.
John believes with the right support it could happen in three or four years. However, he says the cost could be between £6m and £14m. SHOF had a turnover of £24,000 last year.
“We would love to do this and get some pride back into the city,” he said.
However, no museum has happened yet in the 30 years that they group has been trying.
It has also been pointed out that Manchester Council ploughed money into the taking the National Football Museum to the city and continues to do so.
Capital costs of the move to Manchester and adaptations to the Urbis building where it is based cost £7,6m. The council paid roughly half of that. It intended it to be a long-term occupant of the building, and figures show it receives a grant of over £1 m every year from the council.