1876 FA Cup final

September 2012 September 2020 1876 FA Cup final 1871 FA Cup.jpg A trophy, silver in colour and topped by a figure of a footballer, on an ebony plinth An illustration of the FA Cup trophy awarded in 1876 1875–76 FA Cup Wanderers Old Etonians Final 1 1 1876 3 11 y Kennington Oval London W. S. Buchanan (Clapham Rovers) 3,500 Replay 3 0 1876 3 18 y Kennington Oval London William Rawson (Oxford University) 3,500 1875 1877 The 1876 FA Cup final was an association football match between Wanderers and Old Etonians on 11 March 1876 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the fifth final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (known in the modern era as the FA Cup). The Wanderers had won the Cup on two previous occasions. The Etonians were playing in their second consecutive final, having lost in the 1875 match after a replay against Royal Engineers. In 1876, both finalists had conceded only one goal in the four rounds of the competition prior to the final. In the semi-finals, the Wanderers defeated the Swifts and the Etonians beat the 1874 Cup winners, Oxford University. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, the second consecutive FA Cup final to finish level and require a replay. John Hawley Edwards scored for the Wanderers, but the Etonians equalised with a goal credited in modern publications to Alexander Bonsor, although contemporary newspaper reports do not definitively identify him as the scorer. A week later, the teams met again at the same venue. The Etonians were forced to make several changes to their line-up due to players being unavailable, and the revised team lost 3–0. Charles Wollaston and Thomas Hughes scored a goal apiece in a five-minute spell before half-time, and Hughes added the third early in the second half. Background The Football Association Challenge Cup (commonly known in the modern era as the FA Cup) was the first formal competition created for the sport of association football.Soar Tyler 1983 12Collett 2003 16 The creation of the tournament had been proposed in 1871 by Charles W. Alcock, the secretary of the Football Association (the FA), who wrote that "it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association, for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete".Soar Tyler 1983 19 His inspiration had been a similar competition between houses during his time as a pupil at Harrow School.Soar Tyler 1983 19Collett 2003 17 The first FA Cup competition took place during the 1871–72 season and 15 clubs entered.Collett 2003 17 The Wanderers won the final, defeating Royal Engineers,Soar Tyler 1983 154 and Alcock himself was the winning captain.Warsop 2004 40 The members of the Wanderers club were wealthy gentlemen who had attended some of the leading English public schools, including Harrow and Eton College. Old Etonians, the team specifically for former pupils of Eton,Warsop 2004 21 first entered the FA Cup in the 1873–74 season but withdrew without playing a match.Collett 2003 468 The following season, they reached the final but were defeated by the Royal Engineers in a replay after the initial match finished in a 1–1 draw.Collett 2003 528 The Wanderers followed their victory in 1872 by retaining the trophy in 1873 but had not progressed beyond the quarter-finals in the subsequent two seasons.Collett 2003 630 Route to the final thumb|right|alt=View of the Kennington Oval sports ground|Kennington Oval (pictured in 1891) was the venue for the semi-final and final matches. The 1875–76 FA Cup had 32 entrants, all joining the competition at the first round stage. In the random draw for the first round, the Wanderers and Old Etonians were both allocated matches at home.Collett 2003 630Collett 2003 467 The Wanderers defeated the 1st Surrey Rifles team, representing the army regiment of the same name, 5–0, and the Etonians overcame Pilgrims 4–1.Collett 2003 630Collett 2003 467 In the second round, both teams played at London's Kennington Oval on the same day, 11 December.Football – Yesterday The Observer 12 December 1875 6 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/141793115 Newspapers.com In the first of the two games, the Etonians took a 1–0 lead in the first half against Maidenhead and scored seven more goals in the second half to win 8–0. Immediately afterwards, the Wanderers defeated Crystal Palacecp a 3–0.Collett 2003 394 At the quarter-final stage, the Wanderers took on Sheffield, the only team left in the competition from the north of England, and won 2–0, and the Etonians gained a 1–0 victory over Clapham Rovers.Collett 2003 238Collett 2003 537 Both semi-final matches took place at Kennington Oval. The Etonians beat the 1874 FA Cup winners Oxford University 1–0 in the first semi-final on 19 February, and a week later Wanderers clinched their place in the final, defeating the Slough-based club Swifts 2–1.Collett 2003 479Collett 2003 596 Match Summary thumb|upright|Etonian player Alfred Lyttelton also played first-class cricket, as depicted in this 1884 caricature. The final took place at Kennington Oval. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/141793115 6 The Observer 17 April 2024 Newspapers.com Football (yesterday) 12 March 1876 24 February 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240224183022/https://www.newspapers.com/image/257861634/?clipping_id=141793115&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjI1Nzg2MTYzNCwiaWF0IjoxNzA4Nzk5NDE2LCJleHAiOjE3MDg4ODU4MTZ9.POcLIpD6ZhcrzChburPOhEM-TIeJfTGkxflmEFOE9mo live Three sets of brothers played in the match: Francis and Hubert Heron lined up for the Wanderers, while the Etonians' team included Hon. Edward Lyttelton and his brother Hon. Alfred Lyttelton as well as Albert Meysey-Thompson and his brother Charles.Warsop 2004 45 The latter pair's surname had been simply Thompson until it was legally changed in 1874, and for the final Albert played under the name Thompson and Charles under the name Meysey.Warsop 2004 45 As of the 21st century, it remains the only FA Cup final in which two or more pairs of brothers played.Collett 2003 792–793 The Etonian team also included Julian Sturgis, who had been born in the United States and was the first player to appear in the Cup final who was not born either in Britain or to British parents residing in the overseas territories of the British Empire.Warsop 2004 128 Arthur Kinnaird, who had captained Wanderers to victory in the 1873 final, now captained the Etonian team.Warsop 2004 93 The crowd was estimated by the press at 3,500, the largest for an FA Cup final to that point.Warsop 2004 40–45 Wanderers began the match with two full-backs, two half-backs and six forwards, while the Etonians opted for one full-back, two half-backs and seven forwards.Warsop 2004 45 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/145609852 4 Sheffield and Rotherham Independent 18 April 2024 Newspapers.com The Football Association Challenge Cup 12 March 1876 Wanderers won the coin toss for the choice of ends in the first half and chose to start the game defending the Harleyford Road end of the Oval. The match was played in a strong wind, and when Frederick Maddison took a corner kick for Wanderers, the gale blew the ball back out of play.Warsop 2004 45 The Wanderers were awarded three early corner kicks, but none came to anything. Alfred Lyttelton made an attacking run but it was countered by the defending of Francis Birley and William Lindsay. A reporter for The Observer noted that "the game was carried on with great spirit by both sides without much advantage to either" for 35 minutes until Charles Wollaston eluded Thompson and passed the ball to John Hawley Edwards. With what a reporter for The Daily Telegraph called a "very fine kick", he put the ball into the Etonians' goal to give Wanderers the lead.The Association Challenge Cup The Daily Telegraph 13 March 1876 3 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/145611688 Newspapers.com 18 April 2024 The Wanderers' forwards had further attacking opportunities but were too slow to take a shot on goal and at half-time the score remained 1–0. The Daily Telegraph reporter praised Quintin Hogg, the Etonians' goalkeeper, for his "coolness and pluck" in the first half of the game. After ends were changed at half-time, the Old Etonians had the wind, which had by now increased in intensity, in their favour in the second half and had the better of the play.Warsop 2004 45 Around five minutes after the interval, an errant kick by one of the Wanderers' backs gave away a corner kick to the Etonians. This led to a "scrimmage" (a term in common use at the time to describe a group of players all struggling to gain possession of the ball, now usually referred to as a "goalmouth scramble") in front of their opponents' goal, which resulted in the ball and a number of players being forced over the goal-line, uprooting the goalposts in the process.Warsop 2004 45 Modern sources credit the goal to Alexander Bonsor,Barnes 2009 132 but contemporary newspaper reports do not mention his name, merely noting that the goal was scored "from a scrimmage".Warsop 2004 33 Following their equaliser, the Etonians had the better of the play for a short time before their opponents began to dominate, the Wanderers' forwards passing the ball between themselves well. Neither team managed to score another goal and the game finished with the scores level, meaning that for the second successive season a replay would be needed to determine the winners of the competition.Barnes 2009 132 The referee had the option to order thirty minutes of extra time but chose not to exercise this due to a number of players struggling with injuries. Details 11 March 1876 Wanderers 1–1 Old Etonians Edwards 35 Bonsor (unconfirmed) 50Warsop 2004 34 Kennington Oval, LondonWarsop 2004 45 3,500Warsop 2004 45 W. S. Buchanan (Clapham Rovers)Warsop 2004 45 _wanderers FC _wanderers FC _wanderers FC rightarm 000000 WanderersWarsop 2004 20 D1E7E5 D1E7E5 D1E7E5 FFFFFF 000000 Old EtoniansWarsop 2004 20 Wanderers:Warsop 2004 45 GK W. D. O. Greig FB Alfred Stratford FB William Lindsay HB Frederick Maddison HB Francis Birley (Captain) FW Charles Wollaston FW Francis Heron FW Hubert Heron FW John Hawley Edwards FW Jarvis Kenrick FW Thomas Hughes Old Etonians:Warsop 2004 45 GK Quintin Hogg FB James Welldon HB Hon. Edward Lyttelton HB Albert Thompson FW Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (Captain) FW Charles Meysey FW Capt. William Kenyon-Slaney FW Hon. Alfred Lyttelton FW Julian Sturgis FW Alexander BonsorFW Herbert Alleyne Replay Summary alt=Footballer Arthur Kinnaird|thumb|upright|Arthur Kinnaird (1912 caricature) was nursing an injury from the first match. The replay took place one week later at the same venue. The Wanderers fielded an unchanged team, but the Etonians had to make a number of changes, as Meysey was injured and three other players were unavailable due to other commitments. One of the replacements, Edgar Lubbock, had not long recovered from a bout of illness and was noted as being out of practice, and Kinnaird was still suffering the after-effects of an injury sustained in the original match.Warsop 2004 46 Francis Wilson, normally an outfield player, played in goal in place of Hogg, who was unavailable, although some newspaper reports erroneously listed Hogg in the line-up.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/18760320/065/0004 British Newspaper Archive Wanderers v Old Etonians The Sportsman 7 April 2024 20 March 1876 4Warsop 2004 136 The reported attendance was again 3,500.Warsop 2004 46 William Rawson, who had played for Oxford University in the 1874 final, was the referee, replacing W. S. Buchanan, who had undertaken the role for the original match.Warsop 2004 120 The weather on the day of the match was extremely cold, with the threat of snow.Warsop 2004 46 The Etonians won the coin toss and the Wanderers kicked off defending the Harleyford Road end of the ground. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/145612876 2 The Daily Telegraph 18 April 2024 Newspapers.com Association Challenge Cup 20 March 1876 The Etonians began the match playing in a rough manner,Warsop 2004 46 and there were many appeals from the players of both teams for handball, which resulted in a series of free kicks, all of which came to nothing. Edwards of the Wanderers made a strong run and took a shot at the Etonians' goal, but Sturgis and Alfred Lyttelton were able to repulse it. The Etonians then made a counter-attack, but the Wanderers' goalkeeper, W. D. O. Greig, kept the ball out of his goal. More free kicks were awarded to the Wanderers for handball but the Etonians successfully defended them all. After around half an hour, the Wanderers' forwards surged towards their opponents' goal and Wollaston got the final kick which sent the ball past Wilson.Warsop 2004 34 Almost immediately afterwards, another massed attack by the Wanderers led to Thomas Hughes doubling his team's lead.Warsop 2004 34 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/141793346 3 The Daily News 19 April 2024 Newspapers.com The Association Football Challenge Cup 20 March 1876 24 February 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240224182844/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/141793346/ live At the half-time interval, the score was 2–0 to the Wanderers. Soon after half-time, Wollaston made a run for the Wanderers but found himself blocked. Shortly afterwards, Edwards, Francis Heron, and Jarvis Kenrick combined in a skilful attack and set up Hughes to score his second goal of the game.Warsop 2004 34 After this, according to The Daily Telegraphs report, William Kenyon-Slaney of the Etonians "dribbled the ball beautifully down the ground", resulting in the game's first corner kick. It marked the start of a period of end-to-end play, as the Wanderers quickly took the ball down to the opposite end of the pitch and gained a corner kick of their own before Herbert Alleyne of the Etonians made a run back the other way and had an unsuccessful shot at the Wanderers' goal. Free kicks continued to be awarded to both teams for handball. Sturgis, Alleyne, and Bonsor combined in another attack for the Etonians but play was stopped when Bonsor was deemed to be in an offside position. Late in the game, Hubert Heron of the Wanderers made a number of good runs and the Etonians made several further attacks, but no further goals resulted and the final score was 3–0 to the Wanderers. Birley, the winning team's captain, was praised for his performance by the press, as were both Lyttleton brothers for the Etonians.Warsop 2004 46 Details 18 March 1876 Wanderers 3–0 Old Etonians Wollaston 30Hughes 33 50 Kennington Oval, LondonWarsop 2004 45 3,500Warsop 2004 45 William Rawson (Oxford University)Warsop 2004 45 _wanderers FC _wanderers FC _wanderers FC rightarm 000000 WanderersWarsop 2004 20 D1E7E5 D1E7E5 D1E7E5 FFFFFF 000000 Old EtoniansWarsop 2004 20 Wanderers:Warsop 2004 45 GK W. D. O. GreigFB Alfred StratfordFB William LindsayHB Frederick MaddisonHB Francis Birley (c)FW Charles WollastonFW Francis HeronFW Hubert HeronFW John Hawley EdwardsFW Jarvis KenrickFW Thomas HughesOld Etonians:Warsop 2004 45 GK Francis WilsonFB Edgar LubbockHB Hon. Edward LytteltonHB Matt FarrerFW Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (c)FW James StrongeFW Capt.William Kenyon-SlaneyFW Hon. Alfred LytteltonFW Julian SturgisFW Alexander BonsorFW Herbert Alleyne Post-match As occurred each year until 1882, the winning team did not receive the trophy at the stadium on the day of the match, but later in the year at their annual club dinner.Warsop 2004 53 In addition to receiving the Cup, the players each received a gold medal from the committee of Surrey County Cricket Club, the primary tenants of the Oval; Alcock, the Wanderers' former captain, was the secretary of the cricket club.Warsop 2004 19, 46 Wollaston, who had played in both of the Wanderers' previous Cup final victories, became the first player to win the competition three times.Warsop 2004 40–46 He would retire from football having won the FA Cup five times, a record which was not broken until 2010, when Ashley Cole won his sixth.Warsop 2004 93, 137https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8683314.stm FA Cup final as it happened BBC Sport Stevenson Jonathan 15 May 2010 19 April 2024 A week after the replay, four of the victorious Wanderers players were included in a select team which represented London in a match against an equivalent side from Sheffield. Despite their presence, the London XI lost the game 6–0. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/144632474 4 Sheffield and Rotherham Independent 2 April 2024 Newspapers.com Sheffield Association v London: Victory for Sheffield 27 March 1876 The Wanderers won the Cup again in each of the next two seasons; as of 2024, this remains one of only two occasions when a team has won the competition in three consecutive seasons.https://www.11v11.com/competitions/fa-cup/ FA Cup Association of Football Statisticians 26 April 2024 The club's fortunes declined rapidly thereafter, partly because many of the team's leading players opted to play instead for the clubs set up specifically for the former pupils of their individual schools. The Wanderers last took part in the FA Cup in the 1879–80 season,Collett 2003 19 and by the mid-1880s the club had ceased to play matches altogether.Warsop 2004 20https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2009/oct/29/fa-cup-the-wanderers-unicef The forgotten story of ... the first ever FA Cup winners Will Buckley The Guardian 30 October 2009 22 February 2024 4 April 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220404105225/https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2009/oct/29/fa-cup-the-wanderers-unicef live The Etonians won the Cup in 1879, defeating Clapham Rovers in the final.Soar Tyler 1983 156 They reached the final again four years later but lost to Blackburn Olympic, the first occasion on which a team from a working-class background had won the Cup.29 May 2015 A brief history of ... the rise and fall of the FA Cup, England's Super Bowl http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/29/a-brief-history-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-fa-cup-englands-super-bowl 18 July 2021 The Guardian en Scott Murray 25 May 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210525030459/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/29/a-brief-history-of-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-fa-cup-englands-super-bowl live10 April 2020 Conor Pope Why the real history behind The English Game matters – and what it tells us about modern football https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/netflix-english-game-real-history-julian-fellowes-blackburn-olympic-fa-cup-old-etonians-passing-working-class 18 July 2021 FourFourTwo en 18 July 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210718112050/https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/netflix-english-game-real-history-julian-fellowes-blackburn-olympic-fa-cup-old-etonians-passing-working-class live The victory marked the end of the domination of the competition by teams of upper-class amateurs; no such team won the FA Cup again and the Etonians did not enter the competition after the 1887–88 season.Collett 2003 21, 469 Footnotes a. cp This Crystal Palace club is not generally regarded as being the same as the modern club of the same name. In 2020, the modern club, which had long been regarded as having been formed in 1905, began asserting that it was a direct continuation of the team which existed in the 1870s based on new research by club historians,https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11706/11976646/crystal-palace-claim-they-are-oldest-professional-football-club-in-existence Crystal Palace claim they are oldest professional football club in existence Sky Sports 21 April 2020 21 March 2024 14 January 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240114235850/https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11706/11976646/crystal-palace-claim-they-are-oldest-professional-football-club-in-existence live but this was disputed by other football researchers and rejected by the English football authorities.Hill López-Menchero Tomás Crystal Palace come full circle after 150 years – but are they the real Palace? https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/crystal-palace-come-full-circle-after-150-years-but-are-they-the-real-palace-mjpzjrc7r subscription live https://web.archive.org/web/20220416120230/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/crystal-palace-come-full-circle-after-150-years-but-are-they-the-real-palace-mjpzjrc7r 16 April 2022 16 April 2022 The Times 16 April 2022 References Works cited Nationwide Football Annual 2009–2010 Barnes Stuart 2009 SportsBooks Limited 978-1-899807-81-9 The Complete Record of the FA Cup Collett Mike 2003 SportsBooks Limited 1-899807-19-5 Soar Phil Tyler Martin Encyclopedia of British Football 1983 CollinsWillow 0-002-18049-9 Martin Tyler Warsop Keith The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs 2004 SoccerData 1-89946-878-1 1876 Final Category:1876 in sport in London Category:March 1876 in the United Kingdom 1876