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| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | England Scotland |
| Dates | 11 November 1871 – 16 March 1872 |
| Teams | 15 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Wanderers(1st title) |
| Runners-up | Royal Engineers |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 13 |
| Goals scored | 26 (2 per match) |
1872–73 → | |
The1871–72 FA Cup is the modern era name of the1871–72 Football Association Challenge Cup, the first staging of theFootball Association Challenge Cup, the oldest association football competition in the world. Fifteen of the association's fifty member clubs entered this tournament, although three withdrew without contesting.Wanderers successfully pursued on 16 March 1872, atKennington Oval, London thefirst FA Cup defeating theRoyal Engineers by a single goal, made byMorton Betts, who was playing under the pseudonym A. H. Chequer.
The Football Association, the governing body of the sport in England, had been formed in 1863, and for the first eight years of its existence, its member clubs contested only each other inconsequentially infriendly matches, no prizes at stake.[1] In 1871, however,Charles Alcock, the association's secretary, conceived the idea for aknock-out tournament open to all member clubs, with a trophy to be awarded to the winner. Alcock's inspiration came from his days atHarrow School, where the houses which comprised the school competed each year for the title of "Cock House".[1]
The rules of the competition stipulated that each team should consist of eleven players, and that each match should last 90 minutes (at this time, theLaws of the Game did not specify these matters). They made no provision forextra time. When a match was drawn after 90 minutes, there would either be a replay, or both teams would be allowed to proceed to the next round; the choice between these alternatives was left to the organising committee's discretion in each case. Matches were officiated by two umpires, one provided by each team:[2] following disputes over the laws in the earlier rounds of the competition, a neutral referee was added in the later rounds[3]
At this time, changes in thelaws of the game came into force immediately. Thus thelaws of 1871 were used for most of the competition, but thelaws of 1872, which introduced thecorner kick and thefree kick for handball, were used for the last two matches (the final and the semi-final replay between Royal Engineers and Crystal Palace).[4]
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 andDonington School all advanced because of either a draw 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 Wanderers drawing in the Third Round, they would both advance. The four teams all had to replay. The winners all advanced.
Final: The two remaining teams would play at the Kennington Oval. The winner would be crowned Champions.
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 andWindsor Home Park.[5] 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.[5]
Most of the original entrants are now defunct. Queen's Park continued to compete in the FA Cup until 1887, when theScottish Football Association banned its member clubs from entering the English competition. They are still active in the lower divisions of theScottish Professional Football League.Marlow and Maidenhead (nowMaidenhead 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 inAmateur Football Alliance competitions.Crystal Palace was a founding member of the FA that was defunct by 1875. Recently links have been suggested to theCrystal Palace professional club which exists today, however the FA and National Football Museum have rejected these claims, and they have been thoroughly debunked by football historians.Hitchin in the 1870s reformed to eventually become in 1928 the modernHitchin Town.
Scotland's leading clubQueen'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 andbyes. 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 awalkover into the final.
| Round | Date | Fixtures | Clubs | New entries this round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Replays | Walkovers | Byes | ||||
| 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 |
Although there were seven matches scheduled in the first round, only four took place. Wanderers and Royal Engineers both won their matches bywalkover 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.[6] Due to there being an odd number of entrants, Hampstead Heathens were awarded abye to the second round. Barnes beat a Civil Service team consisting of only eight players.[2] The first goal in FA Cup competition was scored byJarvis Kenrick of Clapham Rovers.[5]
| Barnes | 2–0 | Civil Service |
|---|---|---|
 Dunnage' Weston' |
| Hitchin | 0–0 | Crystal Palace |
|---|---|---|
| Maidenhead | 2–0 | Marlow |
|---|---|---|
| Young' (2) |
| Upton Park | 0–3 | Clapham Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Kenrick' (2) Thompson' |
| Royal Engineers | w/o from | Reigate Priory |
|---|---|---|
| Wanderers | w/o from | Harrow Chequers |
|---|---|---|
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 staging a replay.
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. At Kennington Oval, The Royal Engineers easily beat Hitchin that could muster only eight players.[7] The match between Barnes and Hampstead Heathens ended in a draw after bad light stopped play. The committee ordered a replay (the first in FA Cup history), with the Heathens emerging victorious, despite playing both matches away from home and with only ten players.[8][9]
| Crystal Palace | 3–0 | Maidenhead |
|---|---|---|
| Bouch' Chenery' Lloyd' |
| Wanderers | 3–1 | Clapham Rovers |
|---|---|---|
| Pelham' Unknown' Unknown' | Unknown' |
| Barnes | 1–1 Abandoned after 68 minutes[10] | Hampstead Heathens |
|---|---|---|
| Highton' (68) | Barker' |
| Hitchin | 0–5 | Royal Engineers |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown' (5) |
| Queen's Park | w/o from | Donington School |
|---|---|---|
| Barnes | 0–1 | Hampstead Heathens |
|---|---|---|
| Leach' |
The odd number of teams at this stage in the competition resulted Queen's Park receiving abye and reach the semi-finals without having played a match in this round. The match between Wanderers and Crystal Palace finished in a draw; 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.
| Royal Engineers | 3–0 | Hampstead Heathens |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown' (3) |
| Queen's Park | bye | |
|---|---|---|
Wanderers and Crystal Palace were both permitted to advance to the semi-finals without a replay
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. Wanderers proposed thirty minutes of extra time to settle the match, but Queen's Park refused.[13] Royal Engineers secured the second place in the final by defeating Crystal Palace at the second attempt.[6]
| Crystal Palace | 0–0 | Royal Engineers |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Park | 0–0 | Wanderers |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Engineers | 3–0 | Crystal Palace |
|---|---|---|
| Renny-Tailyour' (2) Mitchell' |
| Wanderers | w/o from | Queen's Park |
|---|---|---|
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 ondribbling. Despite this, Wanderers dominated the game and won 1–0 with a goal fromMorton Betts. For unclear reasons, Betts played in the final under the pseudonym "A.H. Chequer", derived from his membership of theHarrow Chequers club.[15]
