Our 1st Small Sided Team of 1996
27 Jan 2012

Photo of our First small sided team from 1996

This squad was put together jointly by Graham Bearder Stuart Coales and Steve Green.
The squad consisted of 2 x 6 year olds 9 x 8 year old and 9 true under 9's as this was originally the introductionary age Group.

They played there first ever game away @ one of Sheffields most famous of Clubs Throstles and believe it or not they actually won this match 3 - 2 with 2 goals from Robert Crossland and 1 from Adam Bearder.
The second game within the fixture wasn't as successful losing 5-1 with a goal from Ben Ridley but this team did include the 2 six year olds in Liam Smith & Michael Bearder who both eventually had successful careers joining Chesterfield in their early teens.
Two of the player Ben Leversidge & Adam Bearder played every season from Under 9 through to Under 18 for the club.

The squad comprised of Ben Coales, Robert Crossland, Adam Bearder, Louis Green, Mark Younger, Ben Leversidge, Liam Healey, Jack Poole, Liam Smith, Roger Wood, Ben Shepherd, James Hoodless, Joe Gill, Dean Parkinson, Alex Brewin, Michael Bearder, Chris Kelly, Missing from the picture are Ben Ridley, Simon Mintoft & Stuart Hill.
 
Can you name the players in the photo?
 

AFC Dronfield Founded 1985
21 Jun 2011

Club History
AFC Dronfield was formed in June 1985 by a gentleman called Mac Mason and was originally known as Dronfield Contact Junior Football Club. Mac's idea was to give young boys, in the area, an opportunity to play organised competitive football within a structured framework. With Mac's enthusiasm, and the success of the football these boys played, a single team started to grow into the club we have today.

For the first nine years of their existence, football within the club was only played at 11-a-side with enrolment starting from the age of 10. In 1994 Howard Wilkinson introduced the Blue Print for the future development of Football in Britain and the introduction of the SMALL SIDED GAME. AFC Dronfield agreed with this philosophy and became one of the founder members of what was then known as THE SHAUN MORRIS LEAGUE, allowing youngsters, both male and female, to play in organised matches from the age of seven. Although not deemed to be competitive, this gave rise to the opportunity for young players to practise their skills without the worry of the result.

In 2000 the club was invited to become an Associate Junior Club of Sheffield United, as they considered AFC Dronfield to be one of the top junior football clubs in South Yorkshire & North East Derbyshire, who regularly produced players of sufficient ability to be considered for their Academy.

In 2001, the club was again approached with an invitation to form an alliance with Sheffield FC, The Worlds Oldest Football Club (Founded 1857 - and recognised as such by FIFA). Sheffield FC offered further development of players from within the club and also the opportunity to ascend to the next level of competitive football.

Today, AFC Dronfield fields teams throughout the season ranging in age from under 8 to under 14. It's teams aged under 15 to under 18 play as Sheffield FC Juniors, and are proud to do so.

As of 2011-2012 season AFC Dronfield are proud to announce they are to run an open age group team. (See First Team)

Sheffield FC (The Worlds Oldest Football Club)
24 Jun 2011

Sheffield FC

Sheffield: Where football kicked off
The worlds very first football club was born in Sheffield on October 24th 1857.

Football in some form had been around for years. As early as the 14th century, a game was being played in the streets and fields of England by two teams with a ball. Mob Football, as it was known, was very violent and could be played on pitches that ran the length of the town with anything up to 500 players.

By the mid 19th century the game had evolved, but it was still nothing like the game we know and love today. It wasn't uncommon for 20-a-side games to go on until dusk and there wasn't even a standard set of rules. People in different towns played by completely different laws to each other.

The club is born
Everything changed in May 1857 when two keen cricket lovers, William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick, chatted late into the night about the need for an organized sport to keep their fitness levels up during winter. They decided on football.

Five months later the world's first football club was formed. Offices of the club were elected, with Creswick named as Secretary and Captain, and headquarters were established in a potting shed and green house at the bottom of East Bank Road.

The first thing Sheffield Club did was to study the existing sets of rules and lay down its own code of laws, which were the foundation stones for the first commonly accepted set of rules.

Sheffield Club attracted a lot of interest and members organised themselves into teams so they could play matches, like Married Men vs Unmarried Men and Professional Occupations vs The Rest.

The world catches on
Soon other clubs began to spring up and by 1862 there were 15 clubs in and around the Sheffield area.

The following year, the first association of clubs was set up. Sheffield Club representatives appear to have attended as observers though they did not agree to join immediately.

Sheffield FC has pioneered many innovations in football over the years. Heading was unheard of in the south of England until 1875. When Sheffield travelled to the Oval to play London, the sight of the Sheffield players butting the ball reduced London's players and fans to fits of hysterics.

In those days the crossbar was just a length of rope strung between the uprights. The Sheffield Laws introduced, for the first time, the notion of a solid crossbar.

Other innovations included the first use of corner kicks, the first free kicks for fouls, the first proper throw-ins and the first floodlit match.

Proud amateur dramatics
Sheffield FC was closely involved in the formation of Sheffield United in 1889. They provided some of the players for United's early games and used to join in practice sessions with the United professionals.

Over the next few years, professionalism took over the game and Sheffield Clubs imprint on the national game diminished. Sheffield's finest hour on the pitch came on April 4th 1904, when they beat Ealing 3-1 in front of 6,000 fans at Valley Parade to lift the FA Amateur Cup.

In 1957 Sheffield FC became the first club to reach the magic 100 years old mark. To celebrate, a Sheffield XI played an England XI at Hillsborough and a banquet was held at Cutlers Hall attended by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Sir Stanley Rous.

On the pitch successes have been few and far between, but in 2001 the club regained the FA Amateur Cup they won in 1904 and recently progressed to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1959.

Proud history, bright future
Off the field huge progress has been made in securing the future of the worlds oldest club. When Richard Tims became Chairman, he set the target of making the club financially self-sufficient. Not only are the club now on a sounder financial footing than ever, but they also now have their own ground for the first time in their history.

Now there's two senior teams, nine junior teams, one womens team and one disability team plying their trade at the clubs Bright Finance Stadium in Dronfield on the outskirts of Sheffield.

And with a global membership scheme and website recently launched, it seems that at last, the club with the illustrious past has a future to match.