The Sheffield and Hallamshire Football Association is a County Football Association in England. It was formed in Sheffield in 1867 as the Sheffield Football Association, and is the second-oldest football governing body after the Football Association (FA). Its teams adopted the Sheffield Rules of football until 1878, when they were merged with the FA's rules. Its members include the two oldest football clubs in the world, Sheffield and Hallam. Today, the County FA is responsible for the administration, control, promotion and development of grass-roots football within a 20-mile radius of Sheffield Cathedral. This covers almost all of South Yorkshire (excluding only the area around Askern, Hatfield and Thorne) as well as parts of North Derbyshire (e.g. Dronfield), North Nottinghamshire (e.g. Worksop), and southern parts of West Yorkshire (e.g. Emley, Hemsworth). History Organised football started in Sheffield in 1857 with the birth of Sheffield Football Club and the creation of Sheffield Rules. By the early 1860s there were over 15 clubs in the Sheffield area and they were the first to start inter-club games. This was done with no formal body in overall control with Sheffield Rules used by the majority of clubs. The Sheffield Football Association was founded by the end of January 1867, with Harry Chambers, secretary of Sheffield FC, serving as its first President. It claimed membership of 14 clubs, representing over 1,000 members. The Association issued its first set of rules on 6 March 1867, basing them on the FA's rules which had been formulated in February of the same year. Although the Youdan Cup took place between February and March 1867, and was competed for by most of the Association's member clubs, it was organized by a separate committee and was unable to use the Sheffield FA's rules, since they were not issued until the day after the Cup's final. A second cup, the Cromwell Cup, was played the next year under the auspices of the Sheffield Association. It was only open to teams under two years old, and was won by The Wednesday. On 2 December 1871, played the first inter-association game with the London Association, beating them 3–1 at Bramall Lane. Despite losing the game, the London Association (now known as the F.A.) became the primary association which led to the national adoption of the London rules. However, the Sheffield Association continued to have some influence and on 17 February 1872 proposed Rule VII