Southampton & Sheffield United, 1902

April 19th, 1902.
Sheffield United were to face Southampton at Crystal  Palace and The Sporting Life was jam packed with statistics on the Cup Final teams.

	Age	Weight		Height
Foulke	25	21 st	133 kg	6 ft 2 1/2	1.89
Thickett	28	14 st 7	91 kg	5 ft 8 1/2	1.74
Boyle	25	12 st 7	79 kg	5 ft  9	1.75
Johnson	24	12 st  5	78 kg	5 ft  9	1.75
Wilkinson	22	10 st 9	67 kg	5 ft 5 1/2	1.66
Needham	29	11 st 3	71 kg	5 ft  6	1.67
Bennett	28	13 st 3	84 kg	5 ft  7 1/2	1.71
Common	21	13 st	82 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Hedley	24	12 st 5	78 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Priest	27	12 st 12	81 kg	5 ft  8	1.72
Lipsham	24	11 st 5	72 kg	5 ft  9	1.75

	Age	Weight		Height
Robinson	32	13 st 7	85 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Fry	20	13 st	82 kg	5 ft 10	1.77
Molyneux	23	11 st 13	75 kg	5 ft 10 1/2	1.79
Meston	31	11 st 11	74 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Bowman	30	11 st	69 kg	5 ft 7	1.70
Lee	23	13 st	82 kg	6 ft	1.82
A Turner	25	11 st 11	74 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Wood	34	13 st 1	83 kg	5 ft 10	1.77
Brown	23	11 st 8	73 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Chadwick	32	10 st 11	68 kg	5 ft 6	1.67
J Turner	29	11 st 5	72 kg	5 ft 7	1.70

The game finished 1-1, Harry 'The Wolf' Wood (playing in his 5th Cup Final) scoring a controversial equalizer for Southampton in the 88th minute. Wood was in an offside position when the ball came to him, reportedly tying his bootlace. The referee, Mr Kirkham, adjudged that the ball had come off a United player. Then followed the  legendary incident in which a naked Foulke berated Mr Kirkham who had to hide in a cupboard to escape the goalkeeper's attentions.

Yorkshire

The Wednesday, 1892

Huddersfield Town, 1910

Middlesbrough, 1910

Sheffield United, 1915

Leeds United, 1934

Bradford (Park Avenue), 1914

Apart from the city of Sheffield, Yorkshire was Rugby country. Professional Association teams began to emerge at the turn of the century, but public interest largely remained with Rugby. This is illustrated by the relative attendances in Huddersfield as late as 1919. Town's average attendance was around 4,000 whilst the Rugby club drew crowds of 10,000.
Sheffield of course held a  special place in the development of organised football (pre dating Association), and the emergence of 2 great clubs was a reflection of the huge popularity of the Association game in the city when the rules had effectively become unified.
Let's look at the League careers of the Yorkshire based clubs in the pre 1937 era:

SEASON	Div 1.		Div 2.
92-93	The Wednesday (12)		Sheffield United (2)
93-94	Sheffield United (10) The Wednesday (12)		Middlesbrough Ironopolis (11) Rotherham Town (14)
94-95	Sheffield United (6) The Wednesday (8)		Rotherham Town (12)
95-96	The Wednesday (7) * Sheffield United (12)		Rotherham Town (15)
96-97	Sheffield United (2) The Wednesday (6)
97-98	Sheffield United (1) The Wednesday (5)
98-99	Sheffield United (16) *  The Wednesday (18)		Barnsley (11)
1899-1900	Sheffield United (2)		The Wednesday (1) Middlesbrough (14) Barnsley (16)
1900-01	The Wednesday (8) Sheffield United (14)		Middlesbrough (6) Barnsley (15)
01-02	The Wednesday (9) Sheffield United (10) *		Middlesbrough (2) Doncaster Rovers (7) Barnsley (11)
02-03	The Wednesday (1) Sheffield United (4) Middlesbrough (13)		Barnsley (8) Doncaster Rovers (16)
03-04	The Wednesday (1) Sheffield United (7) Middlesbrough (10)		Barnsley (8) Bradford City (10)
04-05	Sheffield United (6) The Wednesday (9) Middlesbrough (15)		Barnsley (7) Bradford City (8) Doncaster Rovers (18)
05-06	The Wednesday (3) Sheffield United (13) Middlesbrough (18)		Leeds City (5) Hull City (6) Barnsley (11) Bradford City (12)
06-07	Sheffield United (4) Middlesbrough (11) The Wednesday (13) *		Bradford City (5) Barnsley (7) Hull City (9) Leeds City (10)
07-08	The Wednesday (5) Middlesbrough (6) Sheffield United (17)		Bradford City (1) Hull City (8) Leeds City (12) Barnsley (16)
08-09	The Wednesday (5) Middlesbrough (9) Sheffield United (12) Bradford City (18)		Hull City (4) Leeds City (12) Bradford Park Avenue (16) Barnsley (17)
09-10	Sheffield United (6) Bradford City (7) The Wednesday (11) Middlesbrough (17)		Hull City (4) Barnsley (9) Bradford Park Avenue (10) Leeds City (17)
10-11	Bradford City (5) * The Wednesday (6) Sheffield United (9) Middlesbrough (16)		Hull City (5) Leeds City (11) Bradford Park Avenue (12) Huddersfield Town (13) Barnsley (19)
11-12	The Wednesday (5) Middlesbrough (7) Bradford City (11) Sheffield United (14)		Barnsley (6) * Hull City (7) Bradford Park Avenue (11) Huddersfield Town (17) Leeds City (19)
12-13	The Wednesday (3) Bradford City (13) Sheffield United (15) Middlesbrough (16)		Barnsley (4) Huddersfield Town (5) Leeds City (6) Hull City (12) Bradford Park Avenue (13)
13-14	Middlesbrough (3) Bradford City (9) Sheffield United (10) The Wednesday (18)		Bradford Park Avenue (2) Leeds City (4) Barnsley (5) Hull City (7) Huddersfield Town (13)
14-15	Sheffield United (6) * The Wednesday (7) Bradford Park Avenue (9) Bradford City (11) Middlesbrough (12)		Barnsley (3) Hull City (7) Huddersfield Town (8) Leeds City (15)
19-20	Bradford Park Avenue (11) Middlesbrough (13) Sheffield United (14) Bradford City (15) The Wednesday (22)		Huddersfield Town (2) Hull City (11) Barnsley (12) Rotherham County (17)
20-21	Middlesbrough (8) Bradford City (15) Huddersfield Town (17) Sheffield United (20) Bradford Park Avenue (22)		The Wednesday (10) Hull City (13) Leeds United (14) Barnsley (16) Rotherham County (19)
21-22	Middlesbrough (8) Sheffield United (11) Huddersfield Town (14) * Bradford City (21)	Barnsley (3) Hull City (5) Leeds United (8) The Wednesday (10) Rotherham County (16) Bradford Park Avenue (21)		Div. 3N
				Halifax Town (19)
22-23	Huddersfield Town (3) Sheffield United (10) Middlesbrough (18)	Leeds United (7) The Wednesday (8) Barnsley (9) Hull City (12) Bradford City (15) Rotherham County (21)		Bradford Park Avenue (2) Halifax Town (7)
23-24	Huddersfield Town (1) Sheffield United (5) Middlesbrough (22)	Leeds United (1) The Wednesday (8) Barnsley (11) Hull City (17) Bradford City (18)		Rotherham County (4) Bradford Park Avenue (5) Doncaster Rovers (9) Halifax Town (14)
24-25	Huddersfield Town (1) Sheffield United (14) * Leeds United (18)	Hull City (10) Middlesbrough (13) The Wednesday (14) Barnsley (15) Bradford City (16)		Bradford Park Avenue (5) Halifax Town (9) Doncaster Rovers (18) Rotherham County (22)
25-26	Huddersfield Town (1) Sheffield United (5) Leeds United (19)	The Wednesday (1) Middlesbrough (9) Hull City (13) Bradford City (16) Barnsley (18)		Bradford Park Avenue (2) Halifax Town (5) Doncaster Rovers (10) Rotherham United (14)
26-27	Huddersfield Town (2) Sheffield United (8) The Wednesday (16) Leeds United (21)	Middlesbrough (1) Hull City (7) Barnsley (11) Bradford City (22)		Bradford Park Avenue (3) Halifax Town (4) Doncaster Rovers (8) Rotherham United (19)
27-28	Huddersfield Town (2) Sheffield United (13) The Wednesday (14) Middlesbrough (22)	Leeds United (2) Barnsley (13) Hull City (14)		Bradford Park Avenue (1) Doncaster Rovers (4) Bradford City (6) Halifax Town (12) Rotherham United (14)
28-29	The Wednesday (1) Sheffield United (11) Leeds United (13) Huddersfield Town (16)	Middlesbrough (1) Bradford Park Avenue (3) Hull City (12) Barnsley (16)		Bradford City (1) Doncaster Rovers (5) Halifax Town (13) Rotherham United (16)
29-30	Sheffield Wednesday (1) Leeds United (5) Huddersfield Town (10) Middlesbrough (16) Sheffield United (20)	Bradford Park Avenue (4) Barnsley (17) Bradford City (18) Hull City (21)		York City (6) Doncaster Rovers (14) Rotherham United (20) Halifax Town (21)
30-31	Sheffield Wednesday (3) Huddersfield Town (5) Middlesbrough (7) Sheffield United (15) Leeds United (21)	Bradford City (6) Bradford Park Avenue (10) Barnsley (19)		Hull City (6) York City (11) Rotherham United (14) Doncaster Rovers (15) Halifax Town (17)
31-32	Sheffield Wednesday (3) Huddersfield Town (4) Sheffield United (7) Middlesbrough (18)	Leeds United (2) Bradford Park Avenue (6) Bradford City (7) Barnsley (21)		Hull City (8) York City (9) Doncaster Rovers (15) Halifax Town (17) Rotherham United (19)
32-33	Sheffield Wednesday (3) Huddersfield Town (6) Leeds United (8) Sheffield United (10) Middlesbrough (17)	Bradford Park Avenue (8) Bradford City (11)		Hull City (1) Doncaster Rovers (6) Barnsley (8) Halifax Town (15) Rotherham United (17) York City (20)
33-34	Huddersfield Town (2) Leeds United (9) Sheffield Wednesday (11) Middlesbrough (16) Sheffield United (22)	Bradford Park Avenue (5) Bradford City (6) Hull City (15)		Barnsley (1) Doncaster Rovers (5) Halifax Town (9) York City (12) Rotherham United (21)
34-35	Sheffield Wednesday (3) * Huddersfield Town (16) Leeds United (18) Middlesbrough (20)	Sheffield United (11) Hull City (13) Bradford Park Avenue (15) Barnsley (16) Bradford City (20)		Doncaster Rovers (1) Halifax Town (2) Rotherham United (9) York City (15)
35-36	Huddersfield Town (3) Leeds United (11) Middlesbrough (14) Sheffield Wednesday (20)	Sheffield United (3) Bradford City (12) Bradford Park Avenue (16) Doncaster Rovers (18) Barnsley (20) Hull City (22)		Rotherham United (11) York City (16) Halifax Town (17)
36-37	Middlesbrough (7) Huddersfield Town (15) Leeds United (19) Sheffield Wednesday (22)	Sheffield United (7) Barnsley (14) Bradford Park Avenue (20) Bradford City (21) Doncaster Rovers (22)		Hull City (5) Halifax Town (7) York City (12) Rotherham United (17)

League Championships	Wednesday (4) Huddersfield Town (3) Sheffield United (1)
Average Division 1 position	Huddersfield Town 6.9 Wednesday 8.5 Sheffield United 10.2 Bradford City 12.5 Middlesbrough 13.11 Bradford Park Avenue 14 Leeds United 14.7
Most seasons in Division 1	Sheffield United (37) Wednesday (34) Middlesbrough (26) Huddersfield Town (17) Leeds United (11) Bradford City (10) Bradford Park Avenue (3)
FA Cup Wins	Sheffield United (4) Wednesday (3) Huddersfield Town Bradford City Barnsley