The earliest rules of club football will be sold by Sotheby’s in London on July 14. 
The document is part of the archive of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FC which was established in 1857. They are estimated at £800,000-£1,200,000. The lot includes both the original handwritten draft rules (1858) and the only known surviving copy of the printed Rules, Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot?Ball Club (1859).
The document is part of the archive of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FC which was established in 1857. They are estimated at £800,000-£1,200,000. The lot includes both the original handwritten draft rules (1858) and the only known surviving copy of the printed Rules, Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot?Ball Club (1859).The 1858 rules promoted a passing game played with the feet, and included the free kick, throw-in, goal kick, restrictions on handling the ball, and the banning of “hacking or tripping”. The archive, which sheds light on the world’s first vibrant football culture in Sheffield in the 1860’s, comprises club minute books. These are from the 1850’s and ’60’s. There is a volume of match reports from the early 1860’s.
Chairman of Sheffield Football Club, Richard Tims, commented: “The sale of this remarkable piece of sporting history will allow Sheffield Football Club to develop its facilities and secure its future as the home of grass?roots football.
In New York last December Sotheby’s sold James Naismith’s Founding Rules of Basketball from December 1891. The two page typed document, which was tacked up in a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA gym, made $4.4 million dollars including buyer’s premium.
UPDATE: THE earliest rules of club football – sold as part of the historic archive of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield – fetched £881,250 setting a record at auction for any item of football memorabilia. It was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder.
