FA Cup 1871-72

The 1871-72 Football Association Challenge Cup was the first organised Association Football competition in the world. Fifteen clubs entered that first competition, although three withdrew without playing a game. In the final held at Kennington Oval on March 16th, 1872, Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by a single goal, scored by Morton Betts under the pseudonym A H Chequer, as he was formerly a member of the Harrow Chequers Club.

Of the 15 original entrants, Queen's Park (from Glasgow) are now members of the Scottish League (Scottish teams entered the FA Cup until 1887). Marlow and Maidenhead (now Maidenhead United) are still around, and each have 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 1871-1872 is not connected to the modern day Crystal Palace. The team from Hitchin in the 1870s reformed to become the modern Hitchin Town in 1928.

There were several occurences in this first competition that would be considered bizzare today. Drawn matches were covered by Rule 8 of the competition which stated that "In the case of a drawn match, the clubs shall be drawn in the next ties or shall compete again, at the discretion of the Committee. In the event of a team refusing to play again or failing to play off the tie in which it has been drawn, within the stipulated time, it shall be adjudged to have lost the match". Queen's Park and Donnington School could not agree a date for their first round match, so both teams were allowed through to the second round where they were drawn together again - this time the School side scratched. Finally, Queen's Park could not afford to travel back to London for a semi-final replay, so their opponents Wanderers were given a walk-over to the final

First Round

*Barnes 2-0 Civil Service
*Hampstead Heathens Bye
*Hitchin 0-0 Crystal Palace (both teams allowed through)
*Maidenhead 2-0 Marlow
*Queen's Park v Donnington School (Could not agree date, both teams allowed through)
*Royal Engineers w/o-scr Reigate Priory
*Upton Park 0-3 Clapham Rovers
*Wanderers Walkover - Scratched Harrow Chequers

Second Round

*Barnes 1-1 Hampstead Heathens
*Crystal Palace 3-0 Maidenhead
*Hitchin 0-5 Royal Engineers
*Queen's Park Walkover - Scratched Donnington School
*Wanderers 3-1 Clapham Rovers

Second Round Replay

*Hampstead Heathens 1-0 Barnes

Quarter Finals

*Queen's Park Bye
*Royal Engineers 3-0 Hampstead Heathens
*Wanderers 0-0 Crystal Palace (Both teams allowed through)

Semi-Finals

*Royal Engineers 0-0 Crystal Palace (at Kennington Oval)
*Wanderers 0-0 Queen's Park (at Kennington Oval)

Semi-Final Replays

*Royal Engineers 3-0 Crystal Palace (at Kennington Oval)
*Wanderers Walkover - Scratched Queen's Park (Queen's Park scratched as they were unable to travel for the replay)

Final

*Wanderers 1-0 Royal Engineers (at Kennington Oval)

See also

*The FA Cup - Main Article
*FA Cup Final Results 1872-

Sources / External links

*Official site; fixtures and results service at TheFA.com
*FA Cup 1871-72 at www.rsssf.com