The Sheffield representative football team was a city-wide team composed of players drawn from the dozens of Sheffield clubs of the time. This picture appeared in the Sheffield Portrait Gallery: A Journal of Literature, Criticism, and Satire in April 1876. It is the world’s first photograph of a football team to appear in a newspaper. Only etchings had appeared beforehand. Remarkably, the image is a genuine photograph pasted to the cover. Instructions are provided inside:
‘To remove the photograph, the back of it should be moistened with cold water, when the photograph can be removed without injury. It should then be mounted in the Album or Scrap book, or on a card.’
Each monthly edition of the Sheffield Portrait Gallery had a photograph attached. Middlesex County Cricket Club appeared in September 1876. The idea originated from cartes-de-visite — calling cards with a photographic portrait mounted on them, an exceedingly fashionable fad in mid-19th century England.
The photograph was actually taken in November 1875, in anticipation of an eleven-a-side match between Sheffield and Birmingham. The event was in aid of the Sheffield Football Players’ Accident Society and was played at Bramall Lane before 2,000 spectators.
There are another couple of world-firsts. It is the first known football giveaway, a gimmick adopted by tobacco companies within the decade, and the forefather of trading cards. The second is the presence of women in a football photograph. While the names of the men are clearly stated, the identities of the women in the centre and far left are unknown.
The Clegg brothers were football royalty. John Charles was the most illustrious. He played for multiple Sheffield clubs, including Sheffield FC (the world’s first football club), Broomhall, Albion, Perseverance, and the Wednesday. He played for England in the world’s first official international, in 1872 (a 0-0 draw with Scotland), played in the first floodlit game, in 1878, and refereed the FA Cup Finals of 1882 and 1892. He was Chairman of the FA for almost fifty years, and the first footballer to be knighted; the second was Stanley Matthews thirty-eight years later.
Jack Hunter earned seven caps playing for England, and would go on to coach Blackburn Olympic to FA Cup glory in 1883, the first northern club to raise the trophy. He is honoured by a blue plaque, unveiled in Sheffield on the day of this post.
I am deeply indebted to Martin Westby for his books England’s Oldest Football Clubs 1815 to 1889 and A History of Sheffield Football 1857-1889. A fellow Blade, Martin sadly passed away in 2020, aged 63.