Early football, governance and cup competitions: the formative years of the Staffordshire Football Association, c. 1877–1887

Abstract

ABSTRACT The adoption of the half-holiday in North Staffordshire during the mid-1870s facilitateda dramatic increase in association football activity throughout the region. However,the game wasundoubtedly still in its formative stages, with various sets of contrastingrules being applied simultaneously by clubs and players, which created a significant amount of confusion and, at times,conflict. In 1877, the Staffordshire Football Association was established toprovide association football in North Staffordshire with greater governance,including establishing a cup competition and adopting Sheffield Rules. Regionalfootball associations played a central role in the growth of the game in England duringthe final decades of the nineteenth century, yet few scholars have sought toinvestigate their functions, activities and impact. This paper begins toaddress this gap in the literature by examining the formative years of theStaffordshire FA and exploring how it influenced the development of the game inNorth Staffordshire.