<P> Many early Northern sports players were working class and needed to miss work to play, with their teams compensating them for lost wages . By contrast, Southern teams, drawing from the traditions of public schools and Oxbridge, put great emphasis on amateurism and the Southern - dominated governing bodies forbade payments to players . This tension shaped the sports of association football and cricket, and led to the schism between the two main forms of rugby . The North is also associated with the animal sports of dog racing with whippets, pigeon racing and ferret legging, although these are now far more popular in stereotype than in reality . </P> <P> The first football club in the UK was Sheffield F.C., founded in 1857 . Early Northern football teams tended to adopt the Sheffield Rules rather than the Football Association Rules, but the two codes were merged in 1877 . Many of the innovations of Sheffield Rules are now part of the global game, including corners, throw - ins, and free kicks for fouls . </P> <P> In 1883 Blackburn Olympic, a team composed mainly of factory workers, became the first Northern team to win the FA Cup, and the next year Preston North End won an FA Cup match against London - based Upton Park . Upton Park protested that Preston had broken FA rules by paying their players . In response, Preston withdrew from the competition and fellow Lancashire clubs Burnley and Great Lever followed suit . The protest gathered momentum to the point where more than 30 clubs, predominantly from the North, announced that they would set up a rival British Football Association if the FA did not permit professionalism . A schism was avoided in July 1885 when professionalism was formally legalised in English football . The Football League was founded in 1888, and marked its independence from the London - based Football Association by establishing headquarters in Preston--the League retained a Northern identity even after it accepted several Southern teams into its ranks . Intense local derbies between neighbouring teams mean that there is less of a North--South rivalry than in some other sports . </P> <P> Many of the powerhouses of English football came from the North--as of the 2016--17 season, of the 119 top - flight league titles since 1888, 79 (66%) have been won by teams based north of Crewe . Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and, since 2001, Manchester City are among the mainstays of the Premier League, while teams like Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Sunderland have had more inconsistent runs in recent years, regularly being promoted and relegated from the top flight . Local teams retain staunchly loyal followings, even in the lower leagues of football--a person from Doncaster, Barnsley or Rotherham would be more likely to support Doncaster Rovers, Barnsley F.C. or Rotherham United respectively than a Premier League team . </P>

What is the most northern football team in england