Hallamshire Cup

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.^[1] The New Association promptly arranged for a cup competition for its members, to start in the 1877–78 season.^[2] 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.^[3]

The first winner of the competition was Pye Bank, who needed five games to beat fellow Sheffield side Rising Star^[4] in the semi-final.^[5] The Pyebankers hammered Owlerton Broughton 5–0 in the final the Sheaf Ground, at the time the home of Broomhall.^[6]

By 1881 the New Association covered a radius of 20 miles around Sheffield.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9] The trophy was used as the runner-up prize for the Sheffield Senior Cup,^[10][11] and later as the champion trophy for the Sheffield Association League.^[12]