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Further information: oldest football club

The world's oldest football competition is a title claimed by many. Many early football fixtures before the 1850s did not have set rules, clubs or trophies and are poorly documented. Some competitions were semi-organised fixtures, others offered trophies. This is a list of club, national and international competitions, their founding dates as well as those that are still running.

[edit] Timeline

Years	Date	Competition	Type	First trophy awarded, years	Original code	Current code	Location	Notes
1858–	7 August	Melbourne Grammar School-Scotch College	schools fixture	Cordner-Eggleston Cup, 1989–	experimental	Australian rules football	Melbourne, Australia	^[1]^[2]
1861–1876	December	Caledonian Challenge Cup	club trophy	Caledonian Challenge Cup, 1861–1864	Melbourne Rules	defunct	Melbourne, Australia	^[3] Later trophy donated by the Athletic Sports Committee before becoming the South Yarra Challenge Cup.
1867 only		Youdan Cup	club trophy	Youdan Cup, 1867	Sheffield Rules	defunct	Sheffield, England
1868 only		Cromwell Cup	club trophy	Cromwell Cup, 1868	Sheffield Rules	defunct	Sheffield, England
1871–		FA Cup	club trophy	FA Cup, 1871–	Association Football	Association Football	England	oldest surviving football competition/trophy in the world
1874–		United Hospitals Challenge Cup	club trophy	Challenge Cup	rugby football	Rugby Union	Surrey, England	oldest rugby football competition in the world
1874–		Scottish Cup	national club trophy	Scottish Cup 1874–	Association Football	Association Football	Scotland	oldest national trophy in the world
~1875–^[4]		Bromsgrove–KESB	schools fixture	Siviter-Smith Cup, 1935–	rugby football	Rugby Union	Bromsgrove/Birmingham, England	Later trophy donated by Paul Siviter-Smith, a Birmingham businessman, who had sons at both schools.^[5]
1877–	30 April	South Australian Football Association	club league	Thomas Seymour Hill Premiership Trophy, ?	Australian rules football	Australian rules football	Adelaide, South Australia	oldest Australian rules football league and earliest governing body
1877–	17 May	Victorian Football Association	club league	?	Victorian Rules	Australian rules football	Melbourne, Australia	most influential early governing body for Australian rules football
1879–		Tasmanian Football League	club league	?	Victorian Rules	Australian rules football	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia	some discontinuity, most recently dormant between 2001-2008 and returns in 2009
1879–	10 March	Calcutta Cup	international challenge	?	Rugby football	Rugby union	England, Scotland	competed for by the England and Scotland international rugby teams annually
1880–		Bendigo Football League	club league	?	Victorian Rules	Australian rules football	Bendigo, Australia	includes the Castlemaine football club, second oldest football club in Australia
1882–?		Northern Football Association	club league	?	Victorian Rules	defunct	Launceston, Tasmania	clubs included Launceston, City and Longford
1883–		Black Diamond Football League	club league	Black Diamond Challenge Cup, 1887–	Australian Rules Football	Australian rules football	Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia	^[6] trophy donated to the league by Newcastle’s Richmond Tobacco Co. claims to be the longest running football trophy in Australia
1885–		West Australian Football League	club league	?	Australian rules football	Australian rules football	Perth, Western Australia
1888–		The Football League	club league	?	Association Football	Association Football		oldest association football league
1888–		Durand Cup	Tournament	Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1988-	Experimental	All India Football Federation	Shimla, India	Oldest football Tournament in India
1888–		Broken Hill Football League	club league	?	Australian rules football	Australian rules football	Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia
1896–		Australian Football League	club league	Flag 1895-; AFL Premiership Cup, 1959–	Australian Rules Football	Australian rules football	Victoria, Australia (national since 1990)	premiership flag awarded since 1895. Now the game's premier competition and highest governing body.
1898–		Yates Cup	college league		Canadian football	Canadian football	Ontario, Canada	The Ontario University Athletics football trophy and oldest football trophy in North America, won by the Western Ontario Mustangs a record 28 times.
1901–		New South Wales Suburban Rugby Union	club league		Rugby union	Rugby union	Sydney, Australia
1903–		Sydney AFL	club league		Australian Rules Football	Australian rules football	Sydney, Australia
1904–		AFL Queensland State League	club league		Australian Rules Football	Australian rules football	Brisbane, Australia
1908–		New South Wales Rugby League	club league		Rugby League	rugby league	Sydney, Australia
1908–		Hong Kong First Division League	club league		Football League	football league	Hong Kong, China
1909–		Grey Cup	Originally national club trophy; now national league		"Rugby football" (early form of Canadian football)	Canadian football	Canada	Now the championship trophy of the Canadian Football League.
1910–		Newcastle Rugby League	club league		Rugby League	rugby league	Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
1911–		Illawarra Rugby League	club league		Rugby League	rugby league	Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia

[edit] References

^ Melbourne Grammar wins 150th anniversary match - Leader News: Melbourne community news
^ The Cordner-Eggleston Cup
^ First contested in 1862 (a trophy was prepared for an 1861 match that was cancelled). The first Australian Rules competition and trophyHistory of the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne
^ Bromsgrove & KES Birmingham.
- Thomas Winter Hutton, King Edward's School, Birmingham, 1552-1952, Blackwell, 1952. p. 148 "The first Bromsgrove game was in 1875, and 121 games have been played—two in a season at one period."
- Henry Icely, Bromsgrove School through four centuries, Blackwell, 1953. pp. 69,99. "Rugby football, hitherto an unregulated and unsatisfactory game, was by 1875 a far better occupation for October half-holidays than wooding." "In the seventies the Rugby game was still twelve a side. There were School matches. KES, Birmingham, was an early fixture; SES, Oxford, was played for the first time in 1882."
^ Highbeam Research citing Michael Blair, RUGBY UNION: Refresher course in old values; King Edward's School Birmingham 0 Bromsgrove School 18 the Birmingham Post, 2 December 2002
^ Australian Football 150 Years > Article > Football gold mined in coal country

[0] Melbourne Grammar wins 150th anniversary match - Leader News: Melbourne community news

[1] The Cordner-Eggleston Cup

[2] First contested in 1862 (a trophy was prepared for an 1861 match that was cancelled). The first Australian Rules competition and trophyHistory of the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne

[3] Bromsgrove & KES Birmingham.

Thomas Winter Hutton, King Edward's School, Birmingham, 1552-1952, Blackwell, 1952. p. 148 "The first Bromsgrove game was in 1875, and 121 games have been played—two in a season at one period."

Henry Icely, Bromsgrove School through four centuries, Blackwell, 1953. pp. 69,99. "Rugby football, hitherto an unregulated and unsatisfactory game, was by 1875 a far better occupation for October half-holidays than wooding." "In the seventies the Rugby game was still twelve a side. There were School matches. KES, Birmingham, was an early fixture; SES, Oxford, was played for the first time in 1882."

[5] Thomas Winter Hutton, King Edward's School, Birmingham, 1552-1952, Blackwell, 1952. p. 148 "The first Bromsgrove game was in 1875, and 121 games have been played—two in a season at one period."

[6] Henry Icely, Bromsgrove School through four centuries, Blackwell, 1953. pp. 69,99. "Rugby football, hitherto an unregulated and unsatisfactory game, was by 1875 a far better occupation for October half-holidays than wooding." "In the seventies the Rugby game was still twelve a side. There were School matches. KES, Birmingham, was an early fixture; SES, Oxford, was played for the first time in 1882."

[4] Highbeam Research citing Michael Blair, RUGBY UNION: Refresher course in old values; King Edward's School Birmingham 0 Bromsgrove School 18 the Birmingham Post, 2 December 2002

[5] Australian Football 150 Years > Article > Football gold mined in coal country

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