[2] The club won the prestigious Sheffield Senior Cup for the first time in 1885–86 when beating Heeley at Bramall Lane.
[4] The club remained amateur in a professional era, the players – all locals – being paid expenses or "beer money",[5] although many of the team were Methodist teetotallers.
The 1897–98 campaign was the most successful in the club's history, winning the Midland League title as well as finishing runners-up in the Yorkshire League and reaching the 5th qualifying round of the FA Cup (the final stage before the competition proper), where the club lost 1–0 at home, in front of a crowd of 3,500, to Gainsborough Trinity; the visitors winning thanks to a first-half "flaky" shot, although Boro goalkeeper Hardy later saved a penalty.
[8] They decided to revert to more local football in 1899, joining the Sheffield Association League, but the fans' interest wained and the club seems to have wound up for financial reasons at the conclusion of the 1899–1900 season.
[9] * League play-off winners The club's colours were originally red and white,[13] with striped jerseys identical to Lincoln City's.