Tiverton Preedy

Thanks to the philosophy of Muscular Christianity and the missionary attitude that many Victorian Christians had towards the proletariat, churches and chapels were often the focus of football clubs in industrial cities and towns.
Bolton Wanderes and Everton were examples amongst the original members of the Football League; Manchester City can trace their origins to a church team.

Barnsley

Barnsley are another club who owe their existence to a man of the cloth.
Tiverton Preedy had direct links with the Muscular Christianity ethos. He studied at Lincoln Theological College - an institution founded by a former Rugby Schoolmaster, Edward Benson.

Rev. Preedy took his belief that sport was a useful means of providing moral education to Barnsley in 1887.  Barnsley was  predominantly a Rugby town, and  Rev. Preedy originally  played Rugby, but when he left the Rugby club in protest at their playing a match on Good Friday, he turned his attentions to Association. 

Rev. Preedy was a curate at St Peter's, and the club he formed carried the name of the church. The fixture lists of the north of England at this time are full of Saints and Holy Trinities. 

A generous friend to the poor...

Having graduated through the Sheffield and District League and the Midland League Barnsley were elected to The Football League in 1898.
They reached the FA Cup Final in 1910, losing to Newcastle United. In 1912 Barnsley lifted the FA Cup, beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in a replayed Final at Bramall Lane. The club presented the match ball to Rev. Preedy. 

Sarah Briggs from Barnsley Council and Arthur Bower, Barnsley FC historian, with the match ball from the 1912 FA Cup Final.

  Barnsley Chronicle 08.06.13

101 years previously- the same ball is booted away by Barnsley's Dick Downs. 

Dicky Downs

In his autobiography, A Lifetime in Football, Charlie Buchan argues that Dick Downs, a right back who played for Barnsley between 1908-1919, was the cause of a decline in player discipline. According to Buchan, Downs introduced the sliding tackle. Although it was completely legal, it increased the pace at which the game was played and the amount of physical contact. Buchan wrote:...in my opinion, this tackle which I first saw introduced by Dicky Downs... has done more than anything else, except the change in the offside law in 1925, to alter the character of the game.

I have read a reference on an Everton website that suggests Downs might have been an innovator in other areas too: 
 ...overhead-kick specialist Dicky Downs, who was also known for his flexibility.  It is said, that Downs invented the sliding tackle. 
However I can find no further references to Downs performing the overhead kick.

Downs spent most of his career with Barnsley in Division 2 . He played 305 games for The Tykes  between 1908 and 1919, and was an FA Cup Winner in 1912. He then moved to Everton where he played 95 games over 5 seasons before finishing his career at Brighton and Hove Albion. 
Downs won 1 England cap, in a 2-0 win over Ireland in 1920.