Editing Sparta Rotterdam (section)

===Origins===
[[File:SpartaBlackpoolRdam1957.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Sparta Rotterdam vs [[Blackpool F.C.]], August 1957]]
On the Easter Sunday of 1 April 1888, eight students from Rotterdam founded a [[cricket]] club called '''Rotterdamsche Cricket & Football Club Sparta'''. It was established in the garden of the house of the first treasurer, Hartevelt Hoos Oostvestple, a building located on the 11 in Rotterdam.<ref name=Sparta>{{Cite web |url=https://historiebetaaldvoetbal.nl/sparta/ |title=Sparta – Historie Betaald Voetbal |trans-title=Sparta – History Professional Football |language=nl |website=historiebetaaldvoetbal.nl |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607064056/https://historiebetaaldvoetbal.nl/sparta/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The club was founded by eight students between the ages of 13 and 16.<ref name=oldest>{{Cite web |url=https://wedstrijd.tips/sparta-oudste-voetbalclub-nederland/ |title=Sparta de oudste voetbalclub van Nederland |trans-title=Sparta the oldest football club in the Netherlands |language=nl |website=wedstrijd.tips |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701215941/https://wedstrijd.tips/sparta-oudste-voetbalclub-nederland/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Five of them were students of the then [[Hogere Burgerschool|HBS]] at the Van Alkemadeplein, and the remaining three were students of the [[Gymnasium Erasmianum]] on the Coolvest, the name of the [[Coolsingel]] before it changed in 1888.<ref name=Sparta/> All the founders came from wealthy families in Rotterdam, because at the time, it was only the high and middle classes who had the time and money to practice sports, such as cricket.<ref name=Sparta/> All the founders, along with the other early members of Sparta, lived in the [[Stadsdriehoek]], [[Cool, Rotterdam|Cool]], [[Rubroek]] or [[Crooswijk]] neighborhoods of Rotterdam, which had become a fast-growing port city of the Netherlands in the second half of the 19th century.<ref name=Sparta/>

Sparta initially started as a cricket club, with the Dutch newspaper [[NRC (newspaper)|NRC]] of May 1888 already reporting a victory for Sparta over Achilles by 45 runs.<ref name=Sparta/> However, when the boys were given a [[Ball (association football)|suitable ball]], they also engaged in the sport of football, which had recently come over from the United Kingdom.<ref name=Sparta/><ref name=oldest/> The young Sparta members began playing this sport in the terrain that was located on the [[Noordereiland]], west of the [[Burgmeester Hoffmanplein]],<ref name=Sparta/> and in July 1888, a football branch of the club was thus established. In the Netherlands, it was Sparta who introduced the goal with a crossbar and nets. Before them, only a rope was stretched between the posts.<ref name=Sparta/>