Youdan and Cromwell Cups

It is often claimed that the FA Cup is the oldest football cup competition in the world, but the Youdan Cup preceded the FA Cup by four years.

The Youdan Football Cup, also known as the Youdan Cup, was an 1867 Sheffield rules football competition. Preceding the FA Cup by more than four years, it was among the first tournaments in any code of football.

Background

The competition took its name from a local theatre owner, Thomas Youdan, who sponsored the competition and provided the trophy.

Rules

On 28 January 1867, representatives of thirteen football clubs from the Sheffield area met at the Adelphi Hotel to form the "Youdan Prize Committee". The committee drew up the following regulations to govern the tournament:

Matches would be played under Sheffield Rules.

Matches would start at three o'clock, with two umpires and one referee.

There would be 12 players on each side.

Games would last ninety minutes. If the scores were tied, up to one hour of extra time would be played, with the first team to score during this period being declared the winner. If scores were still tied after extra time, the match would be replayed.

After the first round, the committee added a new rule that "the referee shall have power to award a Free Kick to the opponents of any Club, which makes more than three fouls or kicks-out, when the ball is being thrown in, if he (the referee) considers those fouls or kicks-out to be intentional".

The Cromwell Cup was the second ever Sheffield rules football competition (after the Youdan Cup) and was held in Sheffield, England. It was held in February 1868 and named after Oliver Cromwell, manager of the local Alexandra Theatre (not to be confused with the Lord Protector or Sir Oliver Cromwell, or Oliver Cromwell), who donated the cup. He also played for Garrick F.C.. The tournament was only open to teams under two years old. The final was held at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. The trophy is still held in the Sheffield Wednesday trophy cabinet.

Sheffield Rules at the time involved rouges as well as goals. Garrick were expected to sweep aside the newly created Wednesday team. Despite this, the final remained 0(0)–0(0) at the end of the regulation 90 minutes. Both captains then agreed to carry on playing for a result with the scorer of the first goal taking the trophy. After another 10 minutes of play, Wednesday finally broke the deadlock with a goal, thus claiming their first trophy.