Until the employment of professionals by Darwen and their success in reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup in 1879, all teams had been amateur.
The FA Cup was initially contested by mostly southern, amateur teams but more professionally organised northern clubs began to dominate the competition during the early 1880s; "The turning point, north replacing south, working class defeating upper and professionals impinging upon the amateurs' territory, came in 1883.
"[1] Hitherto, public school sides had played a dribbling game punctuated by violent tackles, but a new passing style developed in Scotland was successfully adopted by some Lancashire teams (some of which had hired Scottish players, referred to at the time as Scotch Professors), along with a more professional approach to training.
The clubs present set up a committee of 12 and discussed a barrister's opinion that the Football Association's rulings were invalid.
Sunderland and Walsall Swifts attended the second meeting, and pledged to put the matter of joining to the respective club committees.