Sheffield United FC vs The World

Winner Stays On

Maybe you saw that Chelsea beat SE Palmeiras (of Brazil) in the FIFA World Club Championship in Abu Dhabi in February 2022. Did you also see that, when Brentford beat Chelsea 4-1 in early April, The Bees put out an emoji bejazzled bantz Tweet asking if they were World Champions now?

Nice try. Not without humour. But. No mate. You're not.

It's an interesting twist though. What if the World Champions were simply Winner Stays On. The team that beat the team that beat the team. Interesting idea. But, you wouldn't start with that random Chelsea win in 2022 in Abu Dhabi, would you?

To do it properly, you'd have to have a look at the life and times of Jarvis Kenrick. Born in Chichester in 1852. Jarvis lived until he was 96!! Man, he had some stories to tell his grandkids. And, at 96, plenty of time to tell them. Jarvis won the FA Cup three years running playing for Wanderers. He scored in the 1877 Final, and bagged twice the following year. Earlier, in 1871, Jarvis had played for an English representative side against Scotland. He once took ALL TEN wickets in an innings for Beddington Cricket Club. And, he played one First Class cricket game for Surrey. Some tales to tell.

But, none of those are the reason Jarvis Kenrick is in this story. Before he joined Wanderers in 1874, Jarvis had scored two, including the opener, for Clapham Rovers in a three nil hammering of Upton Park on 11 November 1871. That opener was the first goal, in the first round of the FA Cup, in the first season it was played. Quite simply, it was the first goal scored in competitive football as we now know it. Jarvis was 18. And I hope Jarvis dined out on that for the rest of his 78 years. He's a God 'round our way.

That day, in 1871, Jarvis's double made Clapham Rovers the reigning World Champions in Football Game One. Just a month later, December 1871, Wanderers beat Clapham Rovers 1-0 in World Championship Game Two. The Unofficial Football Club Championship had changed hands. We were up and running. Winner Stays On.

And, indeed, Brentford Twitter Guy, you're selling your famous old football club short. Forget beating Chelsea in 2022. Before Chelsea were even formed, Brentford had already lifted this Winner Stays On World Championship, in Game 613, in October 1902 when they beat Reading 2-0 in the Western League.

While we're at it. Are you familiar with the work of Edmond Tapsoba? He's also in this story. He was born in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1999.

On Thursday 9 March 2023, in Game 5244 of the World Championship, after Kerem Demirbay had opened the scoring, Edmond bagged the second on 86 minutes to see his team, Bayer 04 Leverkusen beat the reigning World Champions, Ferencvárosi TC, two nil in the first leg of a UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie.

Jarvis Kenrick scored the first World Championship goal, and Edmond Tapsoba scored the most recent goal in this, the Unofficial Football Club Championship (UFCC).

I'm writing about Edmond's goal because that is truly a goal that will be heard around the world. That Leverkusen win drags the World Championship out of Hungary, where it has bounced around between Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnoksag 1 and 2 since December 2021. In marvellous symmetry, Bayer 04 Leverkusen actually LOST the World Championship to Ferencvárosi TC that night in Budapest.

A switch of the World Championship is always big news in Football Nerd World. Opening up a whole heap of possibilities. Tonight, the toast is Kemer & Edmond.

Eighth In The World

Unlike the arriviste FIFA version Chelsea won (and Brentford "amusingly" claimed), this version, the UFCC, is weighted throughout time, throughout ALL football. Before the Oligarchs. Before sports washing. Before the oil money. Before Sky Sports. When football was football.

Wait a minute. Hold your horses. 1871. Clapham Rovers. 1902. Brentford.

Computes … Sheffield United were formed in 1889.

Computes … Maybe the Blades have actually competed for this old fangled version of the World Championship. Whaaaaat. Maybe we've even won it, held it, whatever'd it. Maybe The Blades have been Champions Of The World. And we missed it.

Maaaate. The Carrier Bag Firm didn't miss it.

Sheffield United have competed in one hundred and sixty eight World Championship games. Indeed, if you were to award a point for every World Championship game won. And develop a sort of World Rankings Table. Sheffield United have won 72 of those World Championship games. Making us the EIGHTH most successful club in the World. Only Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Burnley, Preston North End, Arsenal & Sunderland rank above us.

Could Have Been A Contender

The Blades got their first crack at the World Championship in October 1893. Game 271. And got mullered 4-0 away at Aston Villa. Poor on the day. As reported by The Sheffield Daily Telegraph.

"Gallagher was altogether out of sorts - more fit for bed than a football field."

"Howell was dead off, whilst Hill was outclassed."

"United were outclassed by the wonderful form exhibited by the Villans, the home team's exhibition being almost unbeatable."

We Are The Champions … Of The World

We didn't have to wait long, mind. In March 1894, World Championship Game 290, in a Division One clash at The Lane, we beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2. And lifted our first ever World Championship title. Just five years after we were formed in 1889.

This time, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph were drooling.

"That United won on their merits it is only fair to say."

"There was more dash and energy in their display than has been seen for some time."

No mention of the game being for the Unofficial Football Club Championship though. Strange that.

The Blades first spell as World Champions lasted another two matches. With an away win at Newton Heath, and a home win against Burnley. Before a 3-0 tonking away at Preston North End brought it all back down to earth.

The last time The Blades were World Championship contenders was Game 2529 in 1956. A one one draw away at Blackpool meant that we were unsuccessful. Sounded a bit unlucky really.

Taffy Williams in the Green 'Un reported;

"Sheffield United put up another good performance in drawing 1-1 with Blackpool, second in the first division table, at Bloomfield Road, and on the run of the play fully deserved the point, for they had been the better side in the first half."

That game was played on Easter Saturday. Two games in two days back then. Both teams had also played on Good Friday.

Hodgy IS Better Than Yashin

So, the last time our illustrious, eighth ranked in the world, football club actually held the World Championship was in August 1954. Sixty eight lean years ago.

In Game 2449, on 28 August 1954 we won 2-1 away at Newcastle United and were briefly Cock o' t'World until Man City beat us at the Lane two days later. FFS. That away win in the North East was United keeper Alan Hodgkinson's league debut.

Taffy again, in the Green 'Un;

"Young Hodgkinson, making his first appearance in goal, did not do at all badly, although he was a little at fault when Mitchell got Newcastle's goal from a header. But he got out a number of dangerous centres and generally dealt capably with every situation that arose."

You've got to admit, 1954 sounds a long time ago to last be World Champions. But, I'm sure you're beginning to see the beauty of this Winner Stays On version.

What A Palavas

Relegations, cup draws & giant killings can take the World Championship into a whole heap of Carrier Bag Firm grooviness. CE Palavas (yes, THAT CE Palavas), who plied their trade down the French Football Pyramid in French Division Honneur Languedoc Roussillon are ranked higher than Barcelona.

And, the World Championship landscape changed forever on 18 November 1958. Forever I tells ye. Schalke beat Wolves 2-1 in Gelsenkirchen in the European Cup First Round Second Leg to take the World Championship to the West German Oberliga West. No English club has held the World Championship since. No one. So, United's long wait for the title doesn't look so bad now.

The blasted thing has been all over the shop since then. And that's the point really. German amateur leagues - eg FVgg Mombach. A Marshal Tito Cup Semi Final. The Swiss Nationalliga B - eg FC Grenchen. The Scottish Premier Division - Dundee United. The Georgian Umaghlesi Liga. And way, way down both the Spanish and (particularly) French pyramids. All over the shop.

"UEFA/FIFA Sanity" was only restored as recently as January 2020 in Game 5115. Dijon beat minnows FC Limonest Saint-Didier in the French Cup (only after extra time I might add) to bring the World Championship back to French Ligues 1.

A little sequence of results after that left PSG going into Game 5128 as World Champions. Game 5128 was the UEFA Champions League Final. When Bayern Munich beat them 1-0 in Porto. That's quite neat in its own way. It sort of validates the Winner Stays On World Championship. Unifying it with another major football trophy.

As you'll have already noted, "Carrier Bag Firm Sanity" was, of course, restored less than 100 games later. With the World Championship going with MTK Budapest down into the Hungarian second division But, the main takeaway needs to be;

Sheffield United. Eighth best ranked club side in the World. Tell your friends…

Jarvis Kenrick was a hero in this story. But, not as much of a hero as Steve, of Steve's Footie Stats Site fame.

https://www.stevesfootballstats.uk/unofficial_football_club_championship_ufcc.html

Every World Championship Game detailed. And a lot more besides.

You can follow the ups and downs of the Unofficial Football Club Championship on Twitter.

@UFCC_World

But, quite frankly, it's the downs innit? The ups? Not interested, Pal.

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph and Green 'Un quotes were dragged out of The British Newspaper Archive.

An earlier version of this story was published by The Pinch, a newsletter about Sheffield United.

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