When the Football Association football was formed in 1863, the sport was played mainly by public schools, or teams with public school roots, and amateurism was the norm.

This remained the case until the 1880s, when working-class teams began to vie for supremacy.

Blackburn Olympic, a team composed mainly of factory workers, won the 1883 FA Cup Final.

[2] Though professionalism was not permitted, Olympic arranged jobs for their players, and supplemented their income with additional payments, a common occurrence among Lancashire clubs.

[3] * England score given first Key Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour.