& In the Beginning…
(Part Three…)
Arrival of the Rivals…
( 1/2 )
McKenzie F.C
(1861-1887)
“Hailing from Kintail & Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands, the Mackenzie clan developed a special fond-ness for Sheffield supplying families across the whole of the Steel City…”
Proper Player - John Marsh…
…their chaotic clashes with the celebrated…
Cemetery Road F.C
(1861-1863)
“…barely yards separating the home territory of the Clubs…”
…making it just about the local-est possible version of what will come to be, in time referred to as a…
‘Local Derby’
( The Mackenzi-ites win their initial match, in the chilly late November of 1861, by a solitary GOAL to Nil…)
Hard upon their heels & looking for a little footballing action of their own, came…
hopelessly hoopy…
Heely Christ Church F.C
(1862-1899 )
…who, in 1877, find themselves at blowy old Bramall Lane, contesting the very first Final of the…
Proper Player - Jack Hunter…
Sheffield Challenge Cup
…a Final in which they’ll, somewhat ineptly, end up blowing a 3 Goal advantage to arch rivals, The Wednesday, losing a ‘ 7 Goal Thriller’ in a clash some have gone as far as to describe as…
“…going down in folklore as one of the very finest games of the entire Victorian era…”
‘Owlstalk…’
(…& as we’ll be discovering along the way, many such a fine game will occur in that particular passage of time…)
Next, Arrival of the Rivals , Pt 2…
Norton, Plainmoor & Broomhill…
