1871–72 FA Cup

FA Cup 1871–72

Country

England

Scotland

Dates

11 November 1871 – 16 March 1872

Teams

Champions

Wanderers

Runners-up

Royal Engineers

Matches played

Goals scored

26 (2 per match)

1872–73 →

The 1871–72 Football Association Challenge Cup was the first staging of the Football Association Challenge Cup, usually known in the modern era as the FA Cup, the oldest association football competition in the world. Fifteen of the association's fifty member clubs entered the first competition, although three withdrew without playing a game. In the final, held at Kennington Oval in London on 16 March 1872, Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by a single goal, scored by Morton Betts, who was playing under the pseudonym A.H. Chequer.

The leading Scottish club Queen's Park entered the competition and managed to reach the semi-finals without having to play a match, due to a combination of an inability to agree venue, opponents withdrawing from the competition and byes. After holding Wanderers to a draw in the semi-final, however, they could not afford to return to London for a replay and were themselves forced to withdraw, giving their opponents a walkover into the final. At the time the competition also employed a rule which stated that, in the event of a drawn match, both teams could be put through to the next round at the organising committee's discretion, which occurred on two occasions.

Background

The Football Association, the governing body of the sport in England, had been formed in 1863, but for the first eight years of its existence, its member clubs played only friendly matches against each other, with no prizes at stake.^[1] In 1871, however, Charles Alcock, the association's secretary, conceived the idea for a knock-out tournament open to all member clubs, with a trophy to be awarded to the winners. Alcock's inspiration came from his days at Harrow School, where the houses which comprised the school competed each year for the title of "Cock House".^[1] Fifty clubs were eligible to enter, but only twelve chose to do so: Barnes, Civil Service, Clapham Rovers, Crystal Palace, Hampstead Heathens, Harrow Chequers, Harrow School, Lausanne, Royal Engineers, Upton Park, Wanderers and Windsor Home Park.^[2] Before the first round took place, however, Harrow School, Lausanne and Windsor Home Park all withdrew, reducing the number of entrants to nine. Six other clubs agreed to enter, however, including the leading club in Scotland, Queen's Park.^[2]

Most of the original entrants are now defunct. Queen's Park continued to compete in the FA Cup until 1887, when the Scottish Football Association banned its member clubs from entering the English competition. They are still active in the lower divisions of the Scottish Football League. Marlow and Maidenhead (now Maidenhead United) are still active, and each has only missed a single season in the history of the competition. A team from the Civil Service still exists, playing in Amateur Football Alliance competitions. The Crystal Palace team from 1871–72 is a defunct former amateur club not connected to the Crystal Palace professional club which exists today. The team from Hitchin in the 1870s reformed to become the modern Hitchin Town in 1928.

Format

First Round: 14 teams (with Hampstead Heathens getting a bye) would play against a different team. The seven winners would advance. Hitchin, Crystal Palace, Queen's Park and Donington School all advanced because of either a tie or the match not being played

Second Round: The remaining 10 teams would play. The 5 winners would move on.

Third Round: 4 teams would play, Queen's Park would advance to the Semi-Final without even playing a single match

Semi-Final: With Crystal Palace and Royal Engineers tying in the Third Round, they would both advance. The four teams all had to replay. The winners advanced

Final: The two remaining teams would play at the Kennington Oval. The winner would be crowned Champion

Calendar

Round	Date	Fixtures				Clubs	New entries this round
Round	Date	Original	Replays	Walkovers	Byes	Clubs	New entries this round
First Round	11 November 1871	7	0	2	3	15 → 10	15
Second Round	16 December 1871	5	1	1	0	10 → 5	none
Third Round	20-27 January 1872	2	0	0	1	5 → 4	none
Semi-finals	17 February - 5 March 1872	2	2	1	0	4 → 2	none
Final	16 March 1872	1	0	0	0	2 → 1	none

First round

Although there were seven matches scheduled in the first round, only four took place. Wanderers and Royal Engineers both won their matches by walkover when their opponents withdrew from the competition, and as Queen's Park and Donington School were unable to agree on a mutually acceptable date for the game, they were both allowed to progress to the second round without playing.^[3] Due to there being an odd number of entrants, Hampstead Heathens were awarded a bye to the second round. The first goal in FA Cup competition was scored by Jarvis Kenrick of Clapham Rovers.^[2]

Barnes v Civil Service

11 November 1871

Barnes	2–0	Civil Service
Dunnage' Weston'

Stadium = Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Hitchin v Crystal Palace

11 November 1871

Hitchin	0–0	Crystal Palace

Top Field, Hitchin
Referee: Unknown

Maidenhead v Marlow

11 November 1871

Maidenhead	2–0	Marlow
Young' (2)

York Road, Maidenhead
Referee: Unknown

Upton Park v Clapham Rovers

11 November 1871

Upton Park	0–3	Clapham Rovers
		Kenrick' (2) Thompson'

West Ham Park, London
Referee: Unknown

Queen's Park v Donington School

Queen's Park	vs.	Donington School

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Royal Engineers v Reigate Priory

Royal Engineers	w/o from	Reigate Priory

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Wanderers v Harrow Chequers

Wanderers	w/o from	Harrow Chequers

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Hampstead Heathens v

Hampstead Heathens	bye

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Queen's Park and Donington School were both permitted to advance to the second round because they could not agree on a venue
Hitchin and Crystal Palace were both permitted to advance to the second round without a replay being played

Second round

In the second round Queen's Park and Donington School were again drawn together. This time the school club withdrew from the competition altogether, meaning that Queen's Park progressed to the quarter-final, still without having played a match. The match between Barnes and Hampstead Heathens ended in a draw, but this time, rather than both progressing to the next round, the teams were made to play again and the Heathens emerged victorious.

Crystal Palace v Maidenhead

16 December 1871

Crystal Palace	3–0	Maidenhead
Bouch' Chenery' Lloyd'

Crystal Palace Park
Referee: Unknown

Wanderers v Clapham Rovers

16 December 1871

Wanderers	3–1	Clapham Rovers
Pelham' Unknown' Unknown'		Unknown'

Stadium = Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Barnes v Hampstead Heathens

23 December 1871

Barnes	1–1	Hampstead Heathens
Highton'		Barker'

Barnes
Referee: Unknown

Hampstead Heathens v Barnes

6 January 1872

Hampstead Heathens	1–0	Barnes
Leach'

Stadium = Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Hitchin v Royal Engineers

10 January 1872

Hitchin	0–5	Royal Engineers
		Unknown' (5)

Stadium = Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Queen's Park v Donington School

Queen's Park	w/o from	Donington School

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Third round

Due to there being an odd number of teams left in the competition, Queen's Park received a bye and thus reached the semi-finals without having played a match in the competition. The match between Wanderers and Crystal Palace finished in a draw and both teams were allowed through to the semi-finals. Royal Engineers completed the semi-final line-up after beating Hampstead Heathens. The Heathens never again entered the competition.

Wanderers v Crystal Palace

20 January 1872

Wanderers	0–0	Crystal Palace

Clapham Common
Attendance: Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Royal Engineers v Hampstead Heathens

27 January 1872

Royal Engineers	3–0	Hampstead Heathens
Unknown' (3)

Stadium = Unknown
Attendance: Unknown
Referee: Unknown

Queen's Park v

Queen's Park	bye

Stadium = N/A
Attendance: N/A
Referee: N/A

Wanderers and Crystal Palace were both permitted to advance to the semi-finals without a replay

Semi-finals

All matches from this stage of the competition onwards were played at Kennington Oval in London. Both semi-finals finished in goalless draws and thus went to replays. Queen's Park, however, could not afford to make the long trip from Glasgow a second time and thus withdrew from the competition, giving Wanderers a place in the final. Royal Engineers secured the second place in the final by defeating Crystal Palace at the second attempt.^[3]

Crystal Palace v Royal Engineers

17 February 1872

Crystal Palace	0–0	Royal Engineers

Kennington Oval, London

Queen's Park v Wanderers

5 March 1872

Queen's Park	0–0	Wanderers

Kennington Oval, London

Replays

Royal Engineers v Crystal Palace

9 March 1872

Royal Engineers	3–0	Crystal Palace
Renny-Tailyour' (2) Mitchell'

Kennington Oval, London

Wanderers v Queen's Park

Wanderers	w/o from	Queen's Park

Final

The final took place at Kennington Oval between Wanderers and Royal Engineers. The Engineers were leading exponents of the tactic of passing the ball, which at the time was known as the "Combination Game" and considered extremely innovative at a time when most teams relied solely on dribbling. Despite this, Wanderers dominated the game and won 1–0 with a goal from Morton Betts. For unclear reasons, Betts played in the final under the pseudonym "A.H. Chequer", derived from his membership of the Harrow Chequers club.^[4]

Wanderers v Royal Engineers

16 March 1872
15:05 BST

Wanderers	1–0	Royal Engineers
Betts 15'	Report

Kennington Oval, London
Attendance: 2,000^[5]
Referee: Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.)

References

1 2 Davies, Hunter (2003). Boots, Balls and Haircuts: An Illustrated History of Football from Then to Now. Cassell Illustrated. p. 31. ISBN 1-84403-261-2.
1 2 3 Matthews, Tony (2006). Football Firsts. Capella. p. 85. ISBN 1-84193-451-8.
1 2 "F.A. Cup 1871–72". The Football Club History Database. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
↑ Warsop, Keith. The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. p. 28.
↑ Warsop. Early FA Cup Finals. p. 40.

External links

FA Cup History at The Football Association
1871–72 FA Cup at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18
Qualifying rounds	1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18
Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
History Trophy List of finals Third-fourth place matches Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round

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1871–72 FA Cup

Background

Format

Calendar

First round

Second round

Third round

Semi-finals

Replays

Final

See also

References

External links