The Origins Of The FA Cup: The Early Years
Ahead of the Foxes' fifth cup final appearance, Club Historian John Hutchinson recounts the origins of the FA Cup. It is the oldest national football competition in the world. The idea for a national cup competition was proposed in July 1871 by the FA Secretary, Charles Alcock.
At the time, the most influential centres of the game were the public schools. Alcock’s idea for the FA Cup had been inspired by the success of the inter-house knockout competitions at Harrow. The FA Cup competition began in November 1871. Twelve clubs participated.
The great Scottish side Queens Park were excused until the semi-final stage due to cost of travelling from Glasgow. When they drew their semi-final, they could not afford to travel to the replay.
The first ever final, in March 1872, was between Royal Engineers, a strong British Army team and The Wanderers, a team of ex-public school and university players. Alcock was their captain. The venue was Kennington Oval, the home of Surrey County Cricket Club. Alcock was their secretary.
In front of a crowd of 2,000, The Wanderers won 1-0. Their goal was scored by Morton Betts, who played under the assumed name A.H.Chequer. The first FA Cup cost £200. It was stolen from a shop window in Birmingham in 1895, never to be recovered.
It was replaced by an exact replica which was used until 1910. The Wanderers dominated the competition for the rest of the 1870s, winning it three times in a row in 1876, 1877 and 1878. The only other winners that decade were Royal Engineers, Oxford University and the Old Etonians.
Scottish aristocrat Lord Kinnard was the first FA Cup superstar. He played in nine finals between 1873 and 1883. Five of these were for the Old Etonians, one was for The Wanderers and three were for Oxford University.
The first northern side to reach the final was Blackburn Rovers in 1882 and they won the cup two years later. This marked the end the old public school, university and military dominance of the competition. This trend was accelerated when the FA legalised professionalism in 1885.
In the years leading up to the First World War, the venues for the finals were Kennington Oval, until 1892 (with crowds rising to 25,000), and Crystal Palace (with a record crowd of 120,000). Finals were also played at Lillie Bridge (1873), Fallowfield, Manchester (1893) and Anfield (1894).
Replays were held at Burnden Park, Goodison Park, Old Trafford. The FA Cup, though, was still young. One day, it would become the biggest domestic cup in England.