User:Bladeboy1889/sandbox/List of Sheffield United F.C. wartime guest players

During both World War I and World War II, the English FA suspended all competitive football, cancelling both the Football League and the FA Cup from the 1915–16 to the 1918–1919 seasons, and again from the 1939–40 to the 1944–45 seasons.

World War I
Organised football in England had initially continued in 1914 and 1915, following the outbreak of hostilities, but growing political and media pressure eventually prompted the FA to suspend both league and cup football, and declared that clubs were no longer allowed to employ men as playing staff, insisting that these players should be working towards the war effort. The clubs argued in return that football should continue, insisting that without the benefit of gate receipts the clubs would go out of business, and that football could play a role in raising the morale of the country.

The argument from the clubs won out and they were allowed to organise themselves into leagues to play a schedule of 'non-competitive' fixtures.