F. Boyington's Football Boots Are Unequalled

Nottingham Evening Post 28.09.80

Frederick Boyington played cricket and football for a club in Nottingham called Castle Gate. He relocated to London in the mid 1880s, and although the 1891 census records his occupation as Cricket and Football Guard Maker he was, for 40 years, the scorer for Surrey County Cricket Club.
S.W Widdowson's contribution to the history of the game has already been covered here.

Sam Weller Widdowson

In 1874 the Nottingham Forest skipper Sam Weller Widdowson decided to protect his shins with modified cricket pads, cut down to size. 

 Widdowson made 1 appearance for England in 1880, by which time he had already been chairman of Forest for a year. 

Initially the shin guards were seen as a novelty, and were even a source of derision. They were also something of a luxury (only one player in the unnamed Scottish team above seems to be wearing them). Partick Thistle, on the other hand are far better protected...

Nottingham

Notts County are the oldest football team in the world to currently play at a professional level, although their foundation pre dates Association and they played a hybrid form of the game in their earliest days. In 1864, the decision was made to play games against outside opposition.
The following year Forest was founded by bandy players (bandy being a stick and ball game). James Catton, who spent some time living in Nottingham, states that initially County were considered more of an upper crust outfit, with Forest being more associated with the city people, workers and small businessmen. 

Here's a timeline of the early years:

	Notts. County	Nottingham Forest
1862	Formed on 28 November, playing at Park Hollow (Nottingham Castle).
1864	December- decide to play against outside opposition.
		1865	Foundation
1866	22 March: First meeting of the 2 clubs- Forest’s first game. 11 of County drew 0-0 with 17 of Forest at Forest Recreation Ground; 19 April: rematch also finishes 0-0
1869	Join FA
1872	Ernest Greenhalgh plays for England v Scotland in international #1
1877	03.11.77- first FA cup tie
1878	County are knocked out of the FA Cup by Forest (see below for details of this, the first competitive match between the two)	1878-79	Join FA Enter the FA cup for the first time and reach the semi-final.
1883	Move to Trent Bridge Cricket ground
1888	Founder members of Football League
		1889	Founding members of Alliance
		1891	Move to Town Ground
		1892	Join Football League
1894	FA Cup Winners
		1898	FA Cup Winners Move to City Ground
1910	Move to Meadow Lane

The 1878 FA Cup match:

 Supplement to the Nottinghamshire Guardian 22.11.78

 If the reporter got the formations right it looks like Notts (County) were playing a good old fashioned 1-3-6, whereas Forest must surely have been the first team in the history of the game to line up in a 4-2-4!

	Notts (County)
Goal	H. Greenhalgh
Backs	Dobson*
Halves		E.H Greenhalgh(c)*	Seals		Morse*
Forwards	A.W Cursham*	R. Greenhalgh	C. Cursham	Owen*	H.Cursham*	Oliver
Forwards		Earp	Turner	Goodyer*	Smith
Halves		Holroyd			Bates
Backs		Widdowson (c)*	E. Luntley*	W. Luntley	Caborn
Goal	Sands*
	Forest

* England internationals

Here's a look at how the 2 clubs progressed and how the bragging rights in the city changed hands down the years:

	Notts. County		Nottingham Forest
season	League	FA Cup	League	FA Cup
1877-78		R1
1878-79		R1		SF
1879-80		R1		SF
1880-81		R3		R2
1881-82		R3		R1
1882-83		SF		R3
1883-84		SF		R2
1884-85		QF		SF
1885-86		R5		R3
1886-87		QF		R3
1887-88		R3		R5
1888-89	11th	R2		R2
1889-90	10th	QF		R1
1890-91	3rd	finalists		R3
1891-92	8th	R1		SF
1892-93	14th	R2	10th	R2
1893-94	Div 2. 3rd	winners	Div 1. 7th	R3
1894-95	Div 2. 2nd	R1	Div 1. 7th	R3
1895-96	Div 2. 10th	R1	Div 1. 13th	R1
1896-97	Div 2. winners	R2	Div 1. 11th	R3
1897-98	Div 1. 13th	R1	Div 1. 8th	winners
1898-99	Div 1. 5th	R2	Div 1.11th	R3
1899-00	Div 1. 15th	R2	Div 1. 8th	SF
1900-01	Div 1. 3rd	R2	Div 1. 4th	R2
1901-02	Div 1. 13th	R1	Div 1. 5th	SF
1902-03	Div 1. 15th	R3	Div 1.10th	R2
1903-04	Div 1. 13th	R1	Div 1. 9th	R2
1904-05	Div 1. 18th	R1	Div 1.16th	R2
1905-06	Div 1.16th	R1	Div 1. 19th(r)	R3
1906-07	Div 1. 18th	R4	Div 2. winners	R1
1907-08	Div 1. 18th	R2	Div 1. 9th	R1
1908-09	Div 1. 15th	R1	Div 1. 14th	R4
1909-10	Div 1. 9th	R1	Div 1. 14th	R3
1910-11	Div 1. 11th	R1	Div 1. 20th (r)	R1
1911-12	Div 1.16th	R2	Div 2. 15th	R1
1912-13	Div 1. 19th(r)	R1	Div 2. 17th	R2
1913-14	Div 2. winners	R1	Div 2. 20th	R1
1914-15	Div 1.16th	R1	Div 2. 18th	R1
1919-20	Div 1. 21st(r)	R3	Div 2. 18th	R1
1920-21	Div 2. 6th	R2	Div 2. 18th	R1
1921-22	Div 2. 13th	SF	Div 2. winners	R3
1922-23	Div 2. winners	R1	Div 1. 20th	R1
1923-24	Div 1.10th	R2	Div 1. 20th	R1
1924-25	Div 1. 9th	R3	Div 1. 22nd(r)	R2
1925-26	Div 1. 22nd(r)	R5	Div 2. 17th	QF
1926-27	Div 2.16th	R3	Div 2. 5th	R4
1927-28	Div 2. 15th	R3	Div 2.10th	QF
1928-29	Div 2. 5th	R3	Div 2.11th	R3
1929-30	Div 2. 22nd(r)	R3	Div 2.10th	QF
1930-31	Div 3s winners	R4	Div 2. 17th	R3
1931-32	Div 2.16th	R3	Div 2.11th	R3
1932-33	Div 2. 15th	R3	Div 2. 5th	R3
1933-34	Div 2. 18th	R3	Div 2. 17th	R4
1934-35	Div 2. 22nd(r)	R3	Div 2. 9th	R5
1935-36	Div 3s. 9th	R3	Div 2. 19th	R4
1936-37	Div 3s. 2nd	R1	Div 2. 18th	R3

Forest in the 1880s

County with the FA Cup -1894

And here's a head to head record of League and FA Cup matches:

Date	Home		Visitors
16.11.78	County	1	3	Forest	FAC
08.11.79	Forest	4	0	County	FAC
01.12.83	County	3	0	Forest	FAC
26.11.87	Forest	2	1	County	FAC
08.10.92	County	3	0	Forest	Div.1
25.02.93	Forest	3	1	County	Div.1
24.02.94	Forest	1	1	County	FAC
03.03.94	County	4	1	Forest	FAC
04.09.97	Forest	1	1	County	Div.1
09.10.97	County	1	3	Forest	Div.1
08.10.98	County	2	2	Forest	Div.1
04.02.99	Forest	0	0	County	Div.1
11.11.99	County	1	2	Forest	Div.1
17.03.00	Forest	0	3	County	Div.1
24.11.00	Forest	5	0	County	Div.1
26.12.00	County	1	0	Forest	Div.1
16.11.01	County	3	0	Forest	Div.1
26.12.01	Forest	1	0	County	Div.1
15.11.02	Forest	0	0	County	Div.1
26.12.02	County	1	1	Forest	Div.1
28.11.03	County	1	3	Forest	Div.1
25.12.03	Forest	0	1	County	Div.1
26.11.04	Forest	2	1	County	Div.1
25.03.05	County	1	2	Forest	Div.1
04.11.05	County	1	1	Forest	Div.1
25.12.05	Forest	1	2	County	Div.1
07.12.07	Forest	2	0	County	Div.1
04.04.08	County	2	0	Forest	Div.1
21.11.08	County	3	0	Forest	Div.1
27.03.09	Forest	1	0	County	Div.1
04.09.09	Forest	2	1	County	Div.1
08.01.10	County	4	1	Forest	Div.1
03.09.10	County	1	1	Forest	Div.1
31.12.10	Forest	0	2	County	Div.1
25.12.13	County	2	2	Forest	Div.2
26.12.13	Forest	1	0	County	Div.2
11.09.20	Forest	1	0	County	Div.2
18.09.20	County	2	0	Forest	Div.2
05.11.21	County	1	1	Forest	Div.2
14.11.21	Forest	0	0	County	Div.2
22.09.23	County	2	1	Forest	Div.1
29.09.23	Forest	1	0	County	Div.1
20.09.24	County	0	0	Forest	Div.1
24.01.25	Forest	0	0	County	Div.1
18.09.26	County	1	2	Forest	Div.2
05.02.27	Forest	2	0	County	Div.2
17.09.27	Forest	2	1	County	Div.2
22.02.28	County	1	2	Forest	Div.2
20.10.28	County	1	1	Forest	Div.2
02.03.29	Forest	1	2	County	Div.2
07.09.29	Forest	1	1	County	Div.2
04.01.30	County	0	0	Forest	Div.2
03.10.31	Forest	2	1	County	Div.2
13.02.32	County	2	6	Forest	Div.2
08.10.32	County	2	4	Forest	Div.2
18.02.33	Forest	3	0	County	Div.2
07.10.33	Forest	2	0	County	Div.2
17.02.34	County	1	0	Forest	Div.2
29.09.34	County	3	5	Forest	Div.2
09.02.35	Forest	2	3	County	Div.2

	W	G
County	17	73
Forest	27	87
Draws	16