The youdan and Cromwell cups: Sheffield football's knockout trophies

It is fitting that in the year celebrating 150 years of the Football Association Challenge Cup, a focus is given to Sheffield's own knock-out competition held 4 years before the FA Cup was launched. While it is argued in certain quarters that Charles Alcock based the FA competition on his own e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soccer and society 2023-01, Vol.24 (1), p.62-73
Main Author: Neill, Kevin
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:It is fitting that in the year celebrating 150 years of the Football Association Challenge Cup, a focus is given to Sheffield's own knock-out competition held 4 years before the FA Cup was launched. While it is argued in certain quarters that Charles Alcock based the FA competition on his own experiences of the Cock House tournament during his time at Harrow School - although, interestingly, no cup was awarded for this during that period - it could also be argued that the success of the world's first adult football club knock-out competition, the Youdan Cup, possibly influenced the direction of his thinking. Why the Sheffield tournament was established in the first place and why it was only staged for just 1 year in 1867 are the more obvious questions surrounding its conception which this article aims to address.
ISSN:1466-0970
1743-9590
DOI:10.1080/14660970.2022.2113129