David Levick

#loveparkrun #SWFC

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl I remember going to watch your Dad play. Not sure who he was playing for at the time. Places like Hollin Bush and bottom of Common.

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl His face when Brighton got their 2nd… he’s a lightweight who thinks he is a world beater. Stupid hair as well.

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

Thanks for this great update, @sheffieldfc @HallamFC1860

[Proudofus.uk @ProudofusUK]

The FA wrote the rules of football in 1863.

The rules you actually play by?

A greenhouse. In Sheffield. 1858.

Two mates from the cricket club went for a walk one autumn afternoon. They wanted something to do when the cricket season ended.

So they started a football club. The first one on earth.

Their headquarters was a greenhouse. Their pitch was the field next to it. There was nobody else to play. So they split into married against singles.

Then they wrote rules. No hacking. No tripping. No holding. Free kicks. Throw-ins.

Corner kicks. The crossbar. Heading. Eleven players. Ninety minutes. Referees.

All Sheffield.

When they played London in 1866 and headed the ball, London laughed at them.

Nobody's laughing now.

In 1867 Sheffield hosted the world's first football competition. Four years before the FA Cup.

The trophy went missing for 130 years. A Scottish antiques dealer found it. Worth over £100,000 today.

When football turned professional, Sheffield refused. They chose the game over the money. And the game left them behind.

William Prest died at fifty-two. His gravestone was removed from the cemetery.

Nathaniel Creswick died in October 1917. Exactly sixty years after founding the club.

In 2004, FIFA gave Sheffield FC the Order of Merit. The only other club to receive it?

Real Madrid. Eighty thousand seats. One of the greatest clubs on earth.

Sheffield FC play in the ninth tier of English football. Two thousand seats.

Every corner kick. Every header. Every ninety minutes.

Two friends. One autumn walk. A greenhouse.

Sheffield started it all.

The beautiful game had humble beginnings. So do we. Your support keeps us on the pitch.

Be part of us.

https://t.co/rih7iKwnvf

Be Proud Of Us. 🇬🇧

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@northener1950 We’ve had better seasons.

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

Why no mention of @sheffieldfc ?

[Proudofus.uk @ProudofusUK]

Every football club on earth exists because of this island. 🇬🇧

Kings banned it. The richest schools in England claimed it. They wrote the rules and locked the gates.

Then the working class stole it back.

In 1850, Parliament passed the Factory Act. Work stopped at two on a Saturday. Working men had free time. And they chose football.

Churches formed clubs to keep men out of pubs: Aston Villa, Bolton, Everton.

Factories formed teams from their own workers: West Ham from the Thames Ironworks, Arsenal from a munitions factory.

The FA Cup Final. Blackburn Olympic: weavers, spinners, a plumber. They beat the Old Etonians 2-1. No private school team ever reached the final again.

Then British workers carried it everywhere they went ⚽🌍

Scottish miners in Spain founded its oldest club. A Nottingham lace trader gave Juventus their black and white stripes.
A butcher's son from the same city founded AC Milan. British railway workers in Uruguay named their team after Stephenson's Rocket.
Cornish miners founded Mexico's first football club. A schoolteacher from Kent taught the game to his students in Argentina. His school produced Lionel Messi.
A boy from Southampton brought two footballs to Brazil. They call him the father of Brazilian football.
Real Madrid are said to wear white because of an English amateur team.

From Lancashire cotton mills to every continent on earth.

Three and a half billion people watch football. The most popular sport ever created. And it was created here. By the British people.

Every Saturday, three o'clock. That kickoff time exists because of the Factory Act of 1850. The moment working men were given an afternoon off.

They chose football. And the world followed.

No owners. No sponsors. Just supporters.

Be part of us. 👉 https://t.co/rih7iKwnvf 🙏

Be Proud Of Us. 🇬🇧

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@mazymixer When is the planned opening date Simon?

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@davgloss66 , think we went to Bolton on the train for this game. Not sure if the year is right, but remember singing Always look on the bright side of life at the station after losing.

[The Far Post Owls @wearethefarpost]

Wednesdayites at Burnden Park, Bolton May 1982 #swfc

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl What’s the secret of the 80year olds that can still do it? Sex n drugs n rock n roll?

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl @footballmemorys Could it be Tony Gregory?

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@picturethis74 @BlondieOfficial @clem_burke @chrissteinplays Love the drumming on this. #RIPClemBurke

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Dunsbyowl Couldn't believe it when we signed him, as I'd got his sticker in my 1979 Panini album. Not many SWFC players in there in those days!

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@MickAnyon @MartinSLewis Who is it in the photo?

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl Still got the Panini sticker album Football 79, where he and TC were the only Wednesday players I'd got

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Dunsbyowl @TheFraserDigby At least 3 from Ashleigh School. Tony Daws, John Beresford and Ian Straw. I got nowhere near the A team!

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@Jinja_Owl @retrofootballnw One of my fave pictures of Hirsty. The look on Steve Bruce’s face is classic. Think it was a header from Worthington cross in front of the Kop.

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@aizlewoodsmill

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@aizlewoodsmill

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@davgloss66 @swfc You can scan the ticket from your phone Dave, don’t need a paper printout.

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

I just signed the petition demanding Liz Truss is denied a resignation honours list. Will you sign too? https://t.co/TCXnGHh32g via @38degrees

[David Levick @DavidLevick]

@cgsk26 @screwloose1980 I saw the tweet and ‘liked’ it. Sent it to your mum to ask if number 33 was in the picture. Any idea what year it was?