1.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
Sheffield F.C.
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Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. They play in the Northern Premier League Division One South, at level 8 of the English football league system, founded in 1857, the club is the oldest club now playing association football. Sheffield F. C. initially played games under the Sheffield rules, the club competes in the Rules derby with near neighbours Hallam. On the pitch, the clubs finest hour came in 1904 when they won the FA Amateur Cup and they also finished as runners up of the FA Vase in 1977. In 1855, members of a Sheffield cricket club organised informal kick-abouts without any official rules, – subsequently two members, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, formed the Sheffield Football Club. The inaugural meeting of the club took place on 24 October 1857 at Parkfield House in the suburb of Highfield, initially, Sheffield FC games were played among club members themselves and took the format of Married v Singles or Professionals v the Rest. Creswick and Prest were responsible for drawing up the rules of play. They were referred to as the Sheffield Rules, and were the first official set of rules, at the time, before the formation of the Football Association, many different kinds of football were popular in England. For example, each of the public schools played football according to their own individual rules. The Sheffield Rules were later adopted by the Sheffield Football Association when it was formed in 1867, sheffields near neighbour, Hallam, was formed in 1860 and in the same year the two clubs first met each other in a local derby which is still contested today. By 1862 there were 15 clubs in the Sheffield area and they became members of The Football Association on 30 November 1863 but continued to use their own set of rules. On 2 January 1865, the club played its first fixture outside Sheffield against Nottingham, by this time the club had decided only to play teams outside Sheffield in order to seek a bigger challenge. On 31 March 1866, there was a match between a team representing the city of Sheffield and one representing London, at Battersea Park, Rules that differed only slightly from the FA rules were used. The game, played as an aside, was won by London by 2 goals. However the matter of rules remained a problem with Sheffield clubs continuing to play by their own rules, Sheffield clubs finally adopted the FA rules in 1878. They would reach the 4th Round of the competition in 1877–78 and their reluctance to play against local clubs led to the formation of Thursday Wanderers in 1876, a team of players registered to Sheffield who wished to play in the Sheffield Challenge Cup. The Wanderers operated from 1876 to 1879, winning the cup in their final year, after the legalisation of professionalism, the staunchly amateur Sheffield suggested to the FA the creation of a cup exclusively for amateur clubs. The FA Amateur Cup was inaugurated in 1893 and Sheffield themselves won the competition in 1904 and they joined their first league competition in 1889 when entering the Midland League, but left after just one season when they finished bottom of the table
4.
Sheffield
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Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, its derives from the River Sheaf. With some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield is 569,700, Sheffield is the third largest English district by population. The metropolitan population of Sheffield is 1,569,000, in the 19th century, Sheffield gained an international reputation for steel production. Known as the Steel City, many innovations were developed locally, including crucible and stainless steel, Sheffield received its municipal charter in 1843, becoming the City of Sheffield in 1893. International competition in iron and steel caused a decline in these industries in the 1970s and 1980s, the 21st century has seen extensive redevelopment in Sheffield along with other British cities. Sheffields gross value added has increased by 60% since 1997, standing at £9.2 billion in 2007, the economy has experienced steady growth averaging around 5% annually, greater than that of the broader region of Yorkshire and the Humber. The city is in the foothills of the Pennines, and the valleys of the River Don and its four tributaries, the Loxley, the Porter Brook, the Rivelin. 61% of Sheffields entire area is space, and a third of the city lies within the Peak District national park. The area now occupied by the City of Sheffield is believed to have inhabited since at least the late Upper Palaeolithic period. The earliest evidence of occupation in the Sheffield area was found at Creswell Crags to the east of the city. In the Iron Age the area became the southernmost territory of the Pennine tribe called the Brigantes and it is this tribe who are thought to have constructed several hill forts in and around Sheffield. Gradually, Anglian settlers pushed west from the kingdom of Deira, a Celtic presence within the Sheffield area is evidenced by two settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield. The settlements that grew and merged to form Sheffield, however, date from the half of the first millennium. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Sheffield area straddled the border between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, after the Norman conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to protect the local settlements, and a small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city. By 1296, a market had been established at what is now known as Castle Square, from 1570 to 1584, Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor. During the 1740s, a form of the steel process was discovered that allowed the manufacture of a better quality of steel than had previously been possible
5.
Football
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Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. Unqualified, the football is understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. Sports commonly called football in certain places include, association football, gridiron football, Australian rules football, rugby football and these different variations of football are known as football codes. Various forms of football can be identified in history, often as popular peasant games, contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the nineteenth century. The expanse of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside of the directly controlled Empire, in 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, several of the kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world. They tend to use throwing and running as the ways of moving the ball. Body tackling is a skill, and games typically involve short passages of play of 5–90 seconds. Association football, Australian rules football and Gaelic football tend to use kicking to move the ball around the pitch, body tackles are less central to the game, and players are freer to move around the field. Common rules among the sports include, Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players, some variations that have fewer players are also popular, a clearly defined area in which to play the game. Scoring goals or points by moving the ball to an opposing teams end of the field and either into a goal area, goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts. The goal or line being defended by the opposing team, players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying, or hand-passing the ball. Players using only their body to move the ball, in all codes, common skills include passing, tackling, evasion of tackles, catching and kicking. In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, there are conflicting explanations of the origin of the word football. It is widely assumed that the word refers to the action of the foot kicking a ball. There is an explanation, which is that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe. There is no evidence for either explanation. The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played ball games
6.
The Football Association
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The Football Association, also known simply as the FA, is the governing body of association football in England, and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur, the FA sanctions all competitive football matches within its remit at national level, and indirectly at local level through the County Football Associations. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup, the FA is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the laws of the game. As the first football association, it not use the national name English in its title. The FA is based at Wembley Stadium, London, the FA is a member of the British Olympic Association, meaning that the FA has control over the mens and womens Great Britain Olympic football team. All of Englands professional football teams are members of the Football Association, although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, it has veto power over the appointment of the League Chairman and Chief Executive and over any changes to league rules. The English Football League, made up of the three professional divisions below the Premier League, is self-governing, subject to the FAs sanctions. Another set of rules, the Sheffield Rules, was used by a number of clubs in the North of England from the 1850s, eleven London football clubs and schools representatives met on 26 October 1863 to agree on common rules. The founding clubs present at the first meeting were Barnes, Civil Service, Crusaders, Forest of Leytonstone, many of these clubs are now defunct or play rugby union. Civil Service FC, who now plays in the Southern Amateur League, is the one of the original eleven football clubs still in existence. There are only three institutions which have been members of the F. A. since 1863, those being Civil Service, Forest School and Kings College. Central to the creation of the Football Association and modern football was Ebenezer Cobb Morley and he was a founding member of the Football Association in 1863. In 1862, as captain of Barnes, he wrote to Bells Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport led to the first meeting at The Freemasons Tavern that created the FA. He was the FAs first secretary and its president and drafted the Laws of the Game generally called the London Rules at his home in Barnes. As a player, he played in the first ever match in 1863, the first version of the rules for the modern game was drawn up over a series of six meetings held in The Freemasons Tavern from October till December. Of the clubs at the first meeting, Crusaders, Surbiton and Charterhouse did not attend the subsequent meetings, replaced instead by the Royal Navy School, Wimbledon School, at the final meeting, F. M. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, the term soccer dates back to this split to refer to football played under the association rules. The Richmond side were obviously unimpressed by the new rules in practice because they helped form the Rugby Football Union in 1871
7.
History of association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, can be traced to as far back as the Medieval period in Britain. The modern game of association football originates from the formation of The Football Association in London and this allowed clubs to play each other without dispute and which specifically banned handling of the ball and hacking during open field play. After the fifth meeting of the association a schism emerged between association football and the rules played by the Rugby school, later to be called rugby football. At the time, football clubs had played by their own, individual codes, for example, the Sheffield Rules that applied to most matches played in the Sheffield area were a different code. Soccer has been an Olympic sport ever since the second modern Summer Olympic Games in 1900, the first set of football rules was drawn up at the University of Cambridge in 1848 and became particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football. Thring, who had one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School. In early October 1863, a version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven-member committee representing former pupils of Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury, Rugby, Marlborough. Ebenezer Cobb Morley, a solicitor from Hull, wrote to Bells Life newspaper in 1863, for this, he is considered not just the father of the Football Association, but of Association Football itself. Forest School was also influential in formulating the new rules, being present at the meeting of the F. A. on 1 December 1863. During the formulation of the rules of Association Football in the 1860s representatives of Charterhouse and Westminster pushed for a passing game, other schools favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule. It is claimed that Stoke Ramblers were formed in 1863 when former pupils of Charterhouse School formed a club while apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway works in Stoke-on-Trent. By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Charterhouse and Westminster game, on the evening of 26 October 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the Greater London area met at the Freemasons Tavern on Long Acre in Covent Garden. This was the first meeting of The Football Association and it was the worlds first official football body and for this reason is not preceded with the word English. The first meeting resulted in the issuing of a request for representatives of the schools to join the association. With the exception of Thring at Uppingham, most schools declined. In total, committee member J. F. Alcock, said, The Cambridge Rules appear to be the most desirable for the Association to adopt. After the third meeting, a set of rules were published by the FA. However, at the beginning of the meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published Cambridge Rules of 1863
8.
Cuthbert Ottaway
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Cuthbert John Ottaway, was an English footballer. He was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in the first official football match. Representing his university at five different sports – a record that remains unmatched – Ottaway was also a cricketer until his retirement shortly before his early death at the age of only 27. Cuthbert Ottaway was born in Dover, the child of James Ottaway. He was educated at Eton and at Brasenose College, Oxford, the best amateur racquet player of his time, a capital football player and a fair sprint runner. It has fallen to the lot of few cricketers to attain greater popularity. Ottaway read Classics at Brasenose, and, after going down, the precise cause of death remains a matter of speculation. Diabetes ran in the Ottaway family, and this may have increased his susceptibility to respiratory diseases and it is also possible that he had earlier contracted tuberculosis. Ottaway had one daughter, Lilian, who was born after his death and he is buried in Paddington Old Cemetery. Ottaways greatest successes came as a footballer, Ottaway played an important part in two of his three finals. In 1874 he captained Oxford and helped to pin the Engineers back in their own half for long periods with extended excursions into opposition territory. He also participated in a three-man dribble that took the ball almost the length of the pitch and resulted in the scoring of his teams second. In 1875, Ottaway represented Old Etonians in a match notable chiefly because it was played in a howling gale. The conditions considerably favoured the Eton team, which had the wind at its backs for all but 10 minutes of the 90, and all 30 minutes of extra time. Ottaway failed to recover in time for the replay, held three days later, and Etonians also lost the services of three other players who had prior commitments. Unable to obtain adequate replacements, the Old Boys arrived at the ground an hour late, although the precise nature of Ottaways ankle injury remains unknown, there is no evidence that he never played senior football again after the 1875 Cup Final. His biographer, Michael Southwick, suggests that the damage sustained to his ankle, signalled the end of his footballing career. As an international, Ottaway was selected to lead the England team travelling to Partick to meet Scotland on 30 November 1872 in what is now recognised as the first international match to be played, the game ended in a 0–0 draw
9.
FIFA
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The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations, although FIFA does not control the rules of football, it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013, FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U. S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million and those among these officials who were also indicted in the U. S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee including Sepp Blatter, in early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. The need for a body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries, the founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram. The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin, Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the association. Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914. During World War I, with players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann and it was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership, the FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA is headquartered in Zürich, and is an association established under the Law of Switzerland. FIFAs supreme body is the FIFA Congress, a made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength, the Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The congress makes decisions relating to FIFAs governing statutes and their method of implementation and application, only the Congress can pass changes to FIFAs statutes
10.
Alfred Goodwyn
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Alfred George Goodwyn was an English Royal Engineer, who represented his regiment at football. He was a member of the Regiments team that was defeated in the very first FA Cup final and he also represented England in the second international football match against Scotland in 1873. In 1869, he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, in August 1871, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. Fellow graduates on the day were two of his fellow FA Cup finalists, Edmond Cotter and Herbert Muirhead, as well as Richard Ruck. He played football for the regiment, generally playing in defence, en route to the final, the Engineers did not concede a goal and defeated Hitchin 5–0, Hampstead Heathens 3–0 and Crystal Palace 3–0. Although the Engineers entered the final, played at Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872, as favourites to win the trophy, their opponents, in its report on the match, the Glasgow Herald noted that the back play of A G Goodwyn. was faultless. In 1874, Goodwyn was posted back to India with his regiment, ironically, he died on the morning of the 1874 FA Cup Final where his colleagues were defeated 2–0 by Oxford University. He was the first international footballer to die, Royal Engineers FA Cup Final finalist,1872 Alfred Goodwyn England profile at Englandstats England football career
11.
Segar Bastard
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Segar Richard Bastard was an English amateur association football player and referee born in Chigwell, Essex. He played football on a basis for three clubs as well as playing for England once. He was also a referee and was held in high regard throughout English football. Bastard also played county cricket for Essex County Cricket Club and Marylebone Cricket Club and was a solicitor by profession, Bastard grew up in Bow, London, and played for Upton Park F. C. between 1873 and 1887. He also played for Trojans F. C. and Leyton F. C. like many of his contemporaries, Bastard was a player and a referee—unlike modern referees, who are neutral and have no playing connections. He refereed the 1878 FA Cup Final between Wanderers F. C. and Royal Engineers A. F. C. at The Oval and he also refereed Englands first match against Wales at the same venue on 18 January 1879. In his role as a referee, Bastard was well-respected by the fans, players, after refereeing the 1878 FA Cup final, he was referred to as a knight of the whistle. Bastards debut as a player came on 13 March 1880. That match was his only appearance for England. Between 1877 and 1883, Bastard was also a member of one of The Football Associations committees, Bastard also played cricket for Essex County Cricket Club in 1881,1882 and 1885, where he was listed on cricket scorecards as S. R. Bastard. Bastards next match against Suffolk County Cricket Club was at Portman Road in Ipswich and this resulted in Bastard getting a king pair after he was caught out in his second innings. After that, Bastard did not play for Essex for three years and he was recalled in 1885 to play against Northamptonshire County Cricket Club at Racecourse Ground Promenade in Northampton. Bastard was again out for a duck in his first innings, Bastard then became a member of the MCC. In 1886, he played his cricket match for the MCC against his home county at the County Ground. In his first innings, he was nine not out, and in his final innings, in English football culture there is a popular belief that because of his name, Bastard was the inspiration behind the football chant, Whos the bastard in the black. Which is sung to the tune of Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer, the chant is usually aimed by English football fans towards football referees. Bastard was born in Chigwell to Richard Bastard and Josephine Green and his family were working class, his father was a hop merchant by trade. Bastards family initially ran a shop and drapers in Exeter called Wholesale Linen-Drapers and Hop-Merchants until 1870
12.
Billy Mosforth
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William Mosforth was an English football player who played either as an inside or outside left. Born in Sheffield he played for several Sheffield clubs but the majority of his career was spent at The Wednesday and he later joined Sheffield United, playing in their first season in existence before retiring in 1890. He won nine caps for England between 1877 and 1882, which was a record at the time, scoring three goals for his country. Playing in his town of Sheffield for his entire career Mosforth was known as the Little Wonder or The Sheffield Dodger due to his small stature. He was often considered the best local player during his era with outstanding ball control, crossing ability and long dribbles, sometimes taking it the entire length of the pitch. He was also an exponent of the screw shot that allowed him to bend the ball in the air. Mosforth began his career at Sheffield Albion and made his debut at 14 but was famous for swapping sides and profiteering from his play. As an amateur player he was allowed to play for more than one club under FA rules at that time, although like many players Mosforth probably received some sort of payment for his services. One anecdotal story says that when he ran onto the pitch in Hallam colours someone in the crowd shouted 10 bob and free drinks, Billy and he promptly ran back to the dressing room and returned in a Sheffield Wednesday shirt. Despite this he was selected to play for the Sheffield Football Association in 1876 at the age of 18, in 1879 he played for The Zulus a touring side created to aid families of casualties of the Zulu War. The side became embroiled in controversy when it was revealed that the players were to make money themselves, like many of the Wednesday players who were involved in the Zulu team, Mosforth was also one of the players who pushed them into becoming professional team. He played for the team that intended to become Sheffields first professional side. After leaving The Wednesday he was amongst the first players to answer the advertisement asking for players to form the new Sheffield United team that were placed in the local press, Mosforth made his debut for England in March 1877, appearing in a friendly against Scotland. He went on to nine times for his country and scored three goals. Billy Mosforth holds a number of records in the game, these are as follows, First player to score for both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. Scored the first goal at Sheffield Uniteds ground Bramall Lane, First Sheffield United player to be substituted. Record England Cap holder at the time, played in the first professional game to be played under floodlights. After he retired from playing Mosforth became a licensee in Sheffield
