Sheffield heritage: Stunning new statue design celebrates little known piece of city's football history

But a stunning new statue is planned to celebrate one of the city’s lesser known contributions to the beautiful game’s history.

In 1873, Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club, played Shropshire Wanderers twice in the FA Challenge Cup, with both matches ending in a draw.

After the second stalemate, played at Shewsbury Racecourse, the teams enjoyed a meal together and agreed to decide who progressed to the next round by tossing a coin.

Sheffield FC’s captain Harry Chambers won the toss, and Shropshire Wanderers became the only team to be eliminated from the famous competition through the flick of a coin.

That moment in history is commemorated by the eye-catching new bronze ‘Heads or Tails’ sculpture, showing a spinning coin in different stages of its rotation, designed by the Sheffield-born artist David Westby.

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An application has been submitted to Sheffield City Council by Dr J P Wilson, on behalf of the Sheffield Home of Football campaign, to place the statue outside the Millennium Gallery, on Arundel Gate, where it would be seen by thousands of people each day heading to and from the city centre via the railway station. The planning application describes how the two-metre tall sculpture, depicting an 1873 Queen Victoria penny, will showcase Sheffield’s sporting heritage while also being a fun ‘interactive focal point’ for people making decisions like where to go for a drink with friends.

The bottom coin will detail the sporting significance of the sculpture before asking admirers ‘what decision will you make by spinning a coin?’.

The sculpture would be close to the Crucible Theatre, situated on the site of the Adelphi Hotel, where the influential 1858 Sheffield Rules were famously agreed, and it would be linked to the Sheffield Home of Football Walking Tour App.

Sheffield Home of Football is a charity which was set up to promote and educate the public about Sheffield’s role as the birthplace of modern football. One of its key goals is to establish a football museum in the city.