Hallamshire Cup


The Hallamshire Cup was an association football competition, for clubs in and around Sheffield, in the 1870s and 1880s.

History

The Sheffield New Football Association was established on 2 April 1877, made up of 14 clubs which had been prevented from joining the Sheffield Football Association on the ground that they were under 2 years old. The New Association promptly arranged for a cup competition for its members, to start in the 1877–78 season. The New Association Challenge Cup trophy was not ready until the second season of the competition; the design was shaped like a handled goblet, a footballer depicted on top of the lid with one foot resting on a football, and two players seated on the base of the pedestal.
The first winner of the competition was Pye Bank, who needed five games to beat fellow Sheffield side Rising Star in the semi-final. The Pyebankers hammered Owlerton Broughton 5–0 in the final the Sheaf Ground, at the time the home of Broomhall.
By 1881 the New Association covered a radius of 20 miles around Sheffield. In 1882, therefore, the association changed its name from the Sheffield New Association to the Hallamshire Association, and the New Association Cup was duly re-named the Hallamshire Cup.
The first winner of the newly-named competition was Spital; the final had to be played at the Black Bank ground in Heeley, home of the Wild Myrtle club, as Bramall Lane was hors de combat because of damage from a Notts County versus Sheffield Wednesday match.
The competition's final edition took place in the 1886–87 season, as the Hallamshire Association merged into the Sheffield at the close of the season. The trophy was used as the runner-up prize for the Sheffield Senior Cup, and later as the champion trophy for the Sheffield Association League.

List of finals

YearWinnerScoreRunner-upGround
1877–78Pye Bank5–0Owlerton BroughtonSheaf Ground
1878–79Rising Star4–1Pitsmoor Christ ChurchSheaf Ground
1879–80Burton Star2–0Rising StarBramall Lane
1880–81Intake1–0Burton StarBramall Lane
1881–82Intake1–0Dronfield ExchangeBramall Lane
1882–83Spital3–0Owlerton BroughtonBlack Bank
1883–84Eckington Works4–3ClintonBramall Lane
1884–85Staveley2–0Eckington WorksRecreation Ground (Chesterfield)
1885–86Staveley3–2Eckington WorksBramall Lane
1886–87Eckington Works3–0ClintonBramall Lane