A football charity is appealing for people to get involved in a new scheme to show the public around Sheffield’s historic footballing hotspots.
Through their appeal, the Sheffield Home of Football Charity aims to educate people on the unique footballing destinations through the city with tours by guided leaders.
Andy Kershaw, 64, trustee of the charity, said: “We are advertising for volunteer walk leaders to walk groups of people around the city centre and all the key landmarks where football evolved because between 1857 and 1875 Sheffield was the epicentre of football.”
The tour training evening is taking place on Tuesday 26th March, from 7-9pm and is being held at Christ Church Central on Fitzwilliam Street.
The voluntary role involves learning the historical route around the city and giving a commentary on the key locations to groups of around six to eight people, having been taught by an experienced guide leader and historian, answering any questions the group have.
The guided walking tours will be led by the charities team of historians including former teachers and current lecturers.
Sheffield Home of Football became a registered charity last August, and their team of trustees and historians have uncovered lots about the birth of football and the Sheffield rules, written in 1858 that established the goalkeeper and other key parts of the game.
The charity has established a programme of work around evenings with ex-footballers and personalities such as Tony Currie to raise capital for the charity.
Councillors and MPs around Sheffield such as Richard Caborn, Paul Blomfield and Clive Betts are supporting the scheme, as well as the House of Commons footballing committee, promising that if funding becomes available they will build them into any funding bids.
Furthermore, the charity has big ambitions to get a UNESCO world status for Sheffield as a footballing city and have commissioned a statue to commemorate the famous FA cup coin toss victory for Sheffield FC.
Mr Kershaw said: “I want people to get behind my evangelistic drive for this project and get on board this wagon because no other city in the world can claim what we can in Sheffield.”
People can book tickets for the guided tours for £5 a ticket and contribute to the charities fundraising efforts by contacting info@sheffieldhomeoffootball.org or calling 07395023887.