Sheffield Campaign for Football Museum and World Heritage

Campaigners calling for Sheffield to be recognized as the “home of football” have said they remain confident a museum dedicated to the sport will open in the city.

The Sheffield Home of Football (SHOF) charity said the “longer-term aspiration” would need around £2m in funding.

They even want Sheffield to be designated as a World Heritage Site for its contribution to football history.

There are around 50 footballing ‘awards’ the city can claim with proof, including being the place where the modern rules of the game were invented and home to the world’s oldest club, Sheffield FC.

SHOF historian and administrator Steve Wood said he was “confident” funding opportunities would “present themselves at some point”.

He said: “The short-term aspiration is to do all the things that can get us there.”

Yorkshire currently has only two sites that have been awarded World Heritage status by Unesco; the village of Saltaire near Bradford and Fountains Abbey near Ripon.

The charity claims the importance of football to Sheffield is as important as the association between Liverpool and The Beatles.

Administrators have plans for regular walking tours and an app that will guide users to places of football interest.

Wood said Sheffield “has the credentials” to be recognized by Unesco as the official home of football.

“If there’s one place that can make that argument, it’s Sheffield,” he said.

“There’s no place that comes close. It’s all there really, in terms of making a claim.”

Other influential figures in the development of football lived and worked nearby, Mr Wood said.

“You associate Stratford with Shakespeare, you associate the Cavern Club in Liverpool with the Beatles.

“If you go into the Amazon and talk to the locals, show them a copy of Revolver, Shakespeare books and a soccer ball, we’re pretty confident most people will recognize it.

“Football is bigger than Shakespeare and The Beatles, so 9 East Parade is Sheffield’s Cavern Club.”

The building itself – now the offices of a law firm – would be too small for a museum, Mr Wood said.

“There are a lot of rental buildings nearby. There is scope in that part of central Sheffield to develop something.

“A museum is still an aspiration for Sheffield because Sheffield, being the birthplace of football, needs a place to display things.”