Official match programme | |||||||
| Event | 1881–82 FA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 25 March 1882 | ||||||
| Venue | Kennington Oval,London | ||||||
| Referee | Charles Clegg | ||||||
| Attendance | 6,500 | ||||||
←1881 1883 → | |||||||
The1882 FA Cup final was contested byOld Etonians andBlackburn Rovers at theKennington Oval. Old Etonians won 1–0, the only goal scored, according to most reports, byWilliam Anderson,[1] although another, questionably, givesReginald Macaulay. It was the last final to be won by one of the Southern "gentleman amateur" teams who had dominated the first decade of the competition.

In the final, played atKennington Oval on 25 March 1882, theOld Etonians metBlackburn Rovers, who were the first team from outside London and theHome counties to appear in an FA Cup final. Blackburn includedEngland internationals,Fred Hargreaves and his brother,John, andJimmy Brown. Owing to the clash of the club's regular colours, Rovers wore "something very much like" theDarwen hoops[2] in dark blue and white, while the Etonians wore their light blue and white colours in a "harlequin" (i.e. quartered) design.[3]
The Old Boys dominated the early stages of the match but Rovers defended well until, according to the match report in Gibbons' "Association Football in Victorian England", "following an expert through ball byDunn,Macaulay steered the ball between the Blackburn goalposts to secure a well-deserved half-time lead".[4] However, a tribute inThe Times (1937) states Macaulay was fond of recalling he outpaced the Blackburn players and helped towards the goal, without claiming to have scored it. Other reports identify the scorer differently:Bell's Life in London,The Field andThe Times stated it was Anderson, the first two detailing the ball had been successively passed to him by Macaulay and Dunn, whileThe Sporting Life stated the ball was centred "to the front of the posts" by Novelli before it was kicked "out of a brief and loose bully" (i.e. a scrimmage) by an unnamed player.[5]
Also varied is the time at which the goal was reportedly scored: eight minutes from the start byBell's Life, ten minutes byThe Sportsman, and "a quarter of an hour's play" byThe Sporting Life.[6]
The Old Etonians were able to prevent Blackburn from scoring in the second half, thus claiming the cup for the second time in three years.
![]() Old Etonians | ![]() ![]() ![]() Blackburn Rovers |
In May 2013 a programme from the game sold at auction atSotheby's for £35,250, a world record for a football programme.[7]