1873 FA Cup final

Association football match between Wanderers and Oxford University in 1873 October 2020 1873 FA Cup final 1871 FA Cup.jpg 150 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 1873 1872–73 FA Cup Wanderers 2 Oxford University 0 29 March 1873 Lillie Bridge London Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.) either 3,000 or under 150 1872 1874 The 1873 FA Cup final was an association football match between Wanderers F.C. and Oxford University A.F.C. on 29 March 1873 at the Lillie Bridge Grounds in London. It was the second final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (commonly known in the modern era as the FA Cup). Unusually, the final kicked-off in the morning to avoid a clash with the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race which was held on the same day. The Wanderers reached the final without playing a match, as the original rules of the competition stated that the holders would receive a bye straight to the final and other teams would compete to gain the other place in the final and challenge them for the trophy. Oxford reached the final by a walkover when their semi-final opponents, the Scottish club Queen's Park, withdrew from the competition. Both teams had key players absent for the final, including several who had represented the Wanderers in the 1872 final. According to the press, the best player on the day was Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, who scored the first goal for the Wanderers. Charles Wollaston added a second goal towards the end of the match to give Wanderers a 2–0 victory and a second consecutive FA Cup win. 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, which had first been codified in England in 1863.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, so named because they had no fixed home venue, won the final, defeating the Royal Engineers,Soar Tyler 1983 154 and Alcock himself was the winning captain.Warsop 2004 40 Oxford University did not enter the inaugural competition;Collett 2003 479 the university's football club was not formed until two days before the first FA Cup match took place.Warsop 2004 20 Route to the final thumb|right|alt=View of the Kennington Oval sports ground|Oxford University's first FA Cup match took place at London's Kennington Oval (pictured in 1891). The 1872–73 FA Cup was contested by 16 clubs, 14 of which entered the competition at the first round stage. As the previous year's winning finalists, Wanderers received a bye straight to the final. This was in keeping with the original concept of the competition being a "challenge cup", in which the holders would qualify directly for the following season's final and teams would compete for the other place in the final and the right to challenge them for the trophy.Warsop 2004 41 This was the only time this rule was used; with effect from the following season, the holders joined the competition at the first round stage along with all the other entrants.Soar Tyler 1983 154 In the first round, Oxford University played Crystal Palacecp a in the first of two Cup matches played on 26 October at London's Kennington Oval. Oxford took a three-goal lead and, although their opponents scored twice, held on for a 3–2 victory.Collett 2003 479 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16876920 3 The Observer 19 March 2024 Newspapers.com subscription Football Association Challenge Cup 27 October 1872 1 April 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240401084914/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer/16876920/ live Four weeks later, they played away to Clapham Rovers in the second round and won 3–0.Collett 2003 479 In the third round, the university team were paired with the previous season's losing finalists, the Royal Engineers.Collett 2003 479 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/139253272 The Daily Telegraph 21 January 2024 Newspapers.com limited Football: Wanderers v Royal Engineers 18 March 1872 31 March 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240331210309/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/139253272/ live Oxford won 1–0 and went on to play Maidenhead in the fourth round. Due to other teams receiving byes, this was the only match at this stage of the competition,Soar Tyler 1983 154 and for the third consecutive round Oxford emerged victorious without conceding a goal, winning 4–0.Collett 2003 479 Oxford's opponents in the semi-finals were set to be Scotland's leading club, Queen's Park, who had received a bye straight to the semi-finals to reduce the amount and cost of travelling required to take part in a competition in which all the other entrants were from the south of England.Collett 2003 504 Queen's, however, decided to withdraw from the competition due to a lack of funds, giving Oxford a walkover to the final.Collett 2003 504 Match Summary alt=Footballer Arthur Kinnaird|thumb|upright|Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (1912 caricature) was the star player for Wanderers. As Cup-holders, the Wanderers were permitted to choose the venue at which the match would be played. As the club had no fixed home venue, its officials chose the Lillie Bridge Grounds in West Brompton, London. As with the "challenge" rule, this was the only time that the previous year's winners were allowed to choose the venue for the final.Soar Tyler 1983 154 The match was scheduled for the same day as the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race and the decision was made that the Cup final would kick-off in the morning, thereby allowing the Oxford players and supporters to watch both events.Matthews 2006 86 The match was scheduled to start at 11:00 am but did not in fact begin until half an hour later.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/18730401/077/0003 The Association Challenge Cup: The final tie The Sportsman 1 April 1873 22 March 2024 subscription British Newspaper Archive Modern reference works list the attendance as 3,000, an increase on the first final's reported figure of 2,000,Warsop 2004 41Barnes 2008 134 but a contemporary report in the London Daily Chronicle contends that there were "not more than 150 persons" in attendance. The referee was Alfred Stair of the Upton Park club, who had fulfilled the same role at the previous year's final, and the umpires were J. Clark of Maidenhead and J. Dasent of Gitanos.Warsop 2004 40, 41 Hon. Arthur Kinnaird was the team captain for the Wanderers and Arnold Kirke Smith for the university team.Warsop 2004 41 Both teams were missing key players: Oxford's first-choice goalkeeper, Charles Nepean, was unavailable, as were three of the Wanderers' regular players, Thomas Hooman, William Crake, and Albert Thompson, all of whom had been in the Cup-winning team the year before.Warsop 2004 40 Walpole Vidal, who had also been in the Cup-winning team,Warsop 2004 40 was in the Oxford line-up for the 1873 final, having entered the university later in 1872.Warsop 2004 130 The Wanderers' team included William Kenyon-Slaney, a captain in the Grenadier Guards regiment, who days earlier had become the first player to score a goal for England in an international match now regarded as official.England bWarsop 2004 92 Both teams played with one full-back, one half-back and eight forwards.Warsop 2004 41 The Wanderers lost the coin toss for the choice of ends and kicked off defending the railway end of the ground.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005049/18730403/061/0006 Football contest London Daily Chronicle 3 April 1873 22 March 2024 subscription British Newspaper Archive Oxford dominated the early stages of the game due largely to the strong running of Kirke Smith and kept their opponents on the defensive. A reporter for The Sportsman commented that "the whole [Oxford] eleven work[ed] well together and with great energy" and praised the Wanderers' full-back, Leonard Howell, for his "unwearied defence". After 27 minutes, however, Kinnaird, whom the press rated as the best player of the match due to his dribbling skills, gave his team the lead when he outpaced Oxford's backs and kicked the ball between the goalposts.Warsop 2004 41 Oxford's goalkeeper, Andrew Leach, got his hand to the ball but could not keep it out of the goal. The teams changed ends after the goal, as was the rule at the time.Warsop 2004 29 Around ten minutes later, Kinnaird made another strong run but Frederick Maddison was able to dispossess him of the ball. Shortly afterwards, Wanderers came close to scoring again when Kenyon-Slaney got the ball into the goal, only for the umpires to disallow the goal due to an infringement of the offside rule. Moments later, Kinnaird and Maddison were involved in another tussle. The university team continued to pressure their opponents and also had a goal disallowed. In an attempt to secure an equalising goal, Oxford decided, with what the reporter for The Sportsman deemed "questionable judgment", to dispense with the use of a goalkeeper and moved Leach upfield to play as a forward.Warsop 2004 41 The university team was reduced to ten men when Cuthbert Ottaway was injured and forced to leave the game; he could not be replaced as at the time the concept of substitutes did not exist.https://www.theguardian.com/football/when-saturday-comes-blog/2015/sep/18/fifty-years-substitutions-football-sport Fifty years of substitutions in football: from necessary novelties to tactical tools The Guardian Peter Bateman 18 September 2015 22 October 2023 1 October 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231001105929/https://www.theguardian.com/football/when-saturday-comes-blog/2015/sep/18/fifty-years-substitutions-football-sport live At around the 80-minute mark, Oxford's strategy of playing with no goalkeeper backfired when Charles Wollaston broke through and scored a second goal for the Wanderers. A correspondent for The Field stated that the shot would easily have been saved had there been a player in goal.Warsop 2004 41 Ottaway returned to the game, and Oxford mounted one last attack but failed to get the ball into the goal. The game ended in a 2–0 victory for the Wanderers, who thereby retained the trophy which they had won in its inaugural year.Gibbons 2001 38–39 Details 29 March 1873 11.30 Wanderers 2–0 Oxford University Kinnaird 27Wollaston 80 Lillie Bridge Grounds, London either 3,000 or under 150 Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.) _wanderers FC _wanderers FC _wanderers FC 808080 WanderersWarsop 2004 20 _whitehalf_right _whiteborder ffffff 000066 000066 ffffff ffffff Oxford UniversityWarsop 2004 20 Wanderers:Warsop 2004 41 GK ENG Reginald Courtenay Welch FB ENG Leonard Howell HB IRE 1783 Edward Bowen FW ENG Charles Wollaston FW ENG Robert Kingsford FW ENG Alexander Bonsor FW ENG Capt. William Kenyon-Slaney FW ENG Charles Thompson FW USA Julian Sturgis FW ENG Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (Captain) FW SCO Rev. Henry Holmes StewartOxford University:Warsop 2004 41 GK ENG Andrew Leach FB ENGCharles Mackarness HB ENG Francis Birley FW ENG Charles Longman FW ENG Arnold Kirke Smith (Captain) FW ENG Walpole Vidal FW ENG Frederick Maddison FW ENG Cuthbert Ottaway FW ENG Harold Dixon FW ENG Walter Paton FW ENG John Robert Sumner Post-match As was the norm 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 Oxford's sporting disappointment continued in the afternoon, as the university's crew was defeated by three and a quarter lengths by Cambridge in the Boat Race. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/143359121 4 Manchester Evening News 14 March 2024 Newspapers.com subscription The University Boat Race 31 March 1873 31 March 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240331210127/https://www.newspapers.com/article/manchester-evening-news/143359121/ live Oxford University and the Wanderers met again in the third round of the following season's FA Cup. After a drawn match, Oxford won 1–0 in a replay, the Wanderers' first defeat in the FA Cup.Collett 2003 630 Oxford went on to win the trophy with a 2–0 victory over the Royal Engineers in the final, which would prove to be the only time the university team won the FA Cup. They reached the final again in 1880 but lost to Clapham Rovers; thereafter the university opted not to enter the competition again.Collett 2003 479 The Wanderers lost in the quarter-finals of both the 1873–74 and 1874–75 competitions but won the Cup in each of the subsequent three seasons.Collett 2003 630 The club's fortunes declined rapidly, however, partly because many of the team's leading players opted to play instead for the clubs set up specifically for the former pupils of individual schools. The team last took part in the FA Cup in the 1879–80 season,Collett 2003 19 and by the mid-1880s the Wanderers 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 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.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 The Times 16 April 2022 subscription 16 April 2022 16 April 2022 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 live b. England Kenyon-Slaney scored in what is now regarded as the second official international football match, the first in 1872 having ended 0–0. Five earlier matches had taken place between terms representing England and Scotland, but these are not now regarded as official international matches as the Scotland team was selected only from players with Scottish connections resident in and around London.Soar Tyler 1983 82 References Works cited Stuart Barnes Nationwide Football Annual 2008–2009 SportsBooks Limited 978-1-89980-772-7 2008 The Complete Record of the FA Cup Collett Mike 2003 SportsBooks Limited 1-89980-719-5 Gibbons Philip Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900 2001 Upfront Publishing 1-84426-035-6 Matthews Tony Football Firsts 2006 Capella 1-84193-451-8 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 1873 Final Category:1873 in sport in London Category:Oxford University A.F.C. matches Category:March 1873 in the United Kingdom 1873 Category:Sport in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham