A Sheffield football club has disputed the claim that the FA cup is the oldest football trophy in the world.
Hallam FC are the owners of the Youdan cup, which they claim was first contested in 1867, four years before the start of the FA cup.
The trophy is named after its inventor, Thomas Youdan, who used the competition to raise money after his theatre burned down during a performance of the Great Fire of London.
Rich Pillinger, Chairman of Hallam FC, said: “We tried to get in touch with the FA but they don’t want anything to do with us.
“It’s poor. It’s really poor I think by the FA. This is history. It’s the oldest challenge cup, and Thomas Youdan was really the Bill Gates of his time.
“This is where it started, this is history. We need a bit of backing which we don’t seem to get, which is bizarre.
“I think if Manchester or Liverpool had the history and the heritage that we’ve got, they’d be shouting it from the rooftops.”
The annual competition consisted of 12 teams from around Sheffield, with Hallam being awarded the first and only trophy after beating Norfolk in the final at Bramall Lane.
Stuart Goodacre, 59, a football historian, said: “What you’ll find is that it’s falsely assumed the FA cup is the oldest, just as Cambridge Rules were the origins of football. Neither is true.
“I’ve always adored the FA cup, but credit has to go to Thomas Youdan for creating the first knockout tournament, for which the Youdan cup was awarded.”
The cup had been lost for many years, but it resurfaced in 1997 when it was found by a Scottish antiques collector.
Hallam had the cup valued at £100,000 on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, but it has tripled in value after a recent reevaluation.
Pillinger said: “We got the trophy reevaluated this year for insurance purposes, it’s been a few years since we did it last, and you have to keep up with modern times.
“The cup is not for sale at any cost. It’s heritage, it’s part of our club and our history, and that is where it will remain. We are mere custodians to pass it onto the next generation”
The FA refused ShefNews’s interview request, with a statement that said: “The FA Cup is the oldest and longest-running national knockout football competition played under the laws of the game.”