Qatari backing for football club
The organisers of the World Cup in Qatar have pledged their support for the world’s first football club’s ambition to move back to its original ground.
A delegation from Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), led by Secretary General H.E Hassan Al Thawadi, travelled to Sheffield last week to announce their support for Sheffield FC’s relocation back to the city, which it left in 2001.
The delegates visited Sheffield FC’s former Olive Grove ground, where the first rules of modern football were formed in 1857.
The club currently play home games at Dronfield in Derbyshire.
Chairman Richard Tims gave a tour of the Olive Grove site, talked of the club’s history and heritage and its ambitions to move back to the city and build a football history museum alongside a community stadium on the site.
Hassan Al Thawadi said: “The city of Sheffield holds so many wonderful memories for me as a student of law at the university, so it is not difficult to speak fondly of this vibrant and important city. I am delighted to continue our support of the oldest football club in the world as it relocates back to its original ground, Olive Grove in Sheffield, the birthplace of the modern game and the site where in 1857 the rules of the modern game were devised.”
Al Thawadi previously supported Sheffield FC’s women’s team in 2015 to see their promotion into the FA Women’s Super League and remains a keen follower of the club’s fortunes.
As part of the SC’s continued commitment to protecting the history and heritage of the game, Al Thawadi said he hoped the visit could act as a catalyst for others to support Sheffield FC.
He said: “I have been so impressed by the vision of the chairman and staff at the club to develop such an exciting project; to create a new home of football, a centre for grassroots, a place for football fans across the world to come and learn about where the rules of the game were born. From this field here in Sheffield 160 years ago to the first Middle Eastern FIFA World Cup in Qatar, football truly is a global game. My hope is that when the new ground and museum at Olive Grove is developed and schoolchildren visit they will be able to comprehend just how far the game travelled to every corner of the globe.”
Tims said: “It seems fitting that in our 160th year of playing football that we can look confidently towards the club’s relocation back to Sheffield and to Olive Grove. Today is about having a catalyst that makes everyone sit up and take note, a partnership between the new pioneers of football, Qatar and Sheffield FC, the original pioneers of the game.
“Together we are protecting the heritage of football and we are asking all our friends in the world of football to come together and join us.
“We are delighted that Qatar is joining us to support the new Home of Football grassroots centre at Olive Grove. We need to become sustainable as a club. We need to use our club’s famous history to create a genuinely neutral centre for grassroots.
“Chelsea FC has already pledged support by donating its foundation year of £1,905 and are looking to further develop their relationship with us. Two further premier league clubs have also shown support which we will announce in due course. We are encouraging others to do the same.”
