Nottinghamshire Guardian 10.12.69
Further evidence of the rather shambolic state of football in the 1860s. Newark short handed, unscientific in their play and a lack of clarity regarding the code.We were somewhat surprised to find them not playing the Football Association Rules, inasmuch as the Sheffield Club are members of the Association... this comment by the (Nottingham) reporter reveals the confusion that persisted 6 years after the FA had set out to standardise the laws of the game. Sheffield, of course, was something of a special case- the Sheffield Association observed their own code of rules as they converged with those of the Football Association, eventually unifying in 1878.
Newark Town, currently of the Central Midlands Football League: North Division proudly display the foundation year of 1868 on their club crest.
