1882 FA Cup Final

The 1882 FA Cup Final was contested by Old Etonians and Blackburn Rovers at the Kennington Oval. Old Etonians won 1–0, the only goal scored, according to most reports, by William Anderson,[1] although another, questionably, gives Reginald 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.

1882 FA Cup Final
Official match programme
Event1881–82 FA Cup
Date25 March 1882
VenueKennington Oval, London
RefereeCharles Clegg
Attendance6,500

Summary

The Kennington Oval (here pictured in 1891) was the match venue

In the final, played at Kennington Oval on 25 March 1882, the Old Etonians met Blackburn Rovers, who were the first team from outside London and the Home counties to appear in an FA Cup Final. Blackburn included England internationals, Fred Hargreaves and his brother, John, and Jimmy Brown.

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 by Dunn, Macaulay steered the ball between the Blackburn goalposts to secure a well-deserved half-time lead".[2] However, a tribute in The 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 and The Times stated it was Anderson, the first two detailing the ball had been successively passed to him by Macaulay and Dunn, while The 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.[3]

Also varied is the time at which the goal was reportedly scored: eight minutes from the start by Bell's Life, ten minutes by The Sportsman, and "a quarter of an hour's play" by The Sporting Life.[4]

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.

Match details

Old Etonians10Blackburn Rovers
Anderson [1][3] Report
Attendance: 6,500
Referee: Charles Clegg
Old Etonians
Blackburn Rovers
GKJohn Rawlinson
DFThomas French
DFPercy de Paravicini
MFHon Arthur Kinnaird
MFCharles Foley
MFPhilip Novelli
FWArthur Dunn
FWReginald Macaulay
FWHarry Goodhart
FWJohn Barrington Chevallier
FWWilliam Anderson
GKRoger Howarth
DFHugh McIntyre
DFFergus Suter
MFFred Hargreaves
MFHarold Sharples
MFJohn Hargreaves
FWGeoffrey Avery
FWJames Brown
FWThomas Strachan
FWJimmy Douglas
FWJohn Duckworth

Aftermath

In May 2013 a programme from the game sold at auction at Sotheby's for £35,250, a world record for a football programme.[5]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1882 match report at FA-Cup finals (archived, 21 May 2008)
  2. Gibbons, Philip (2001). Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. Upfront Publishing. pp. 64–65. ISBN 1-84426-035-6.
  3. Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs, A Who's Who and Match Facts 1872 to 1883. Tony Brown SoccerData. p. 38. ISBN 1-899468-78-1.Warsop, writing later than Gibbons, names Anderson as the definite scorer in the match summary on page 52.
  4. Warsop, Keith. The Early FA Cup Finals. pp. 38, 52.Warsop considers eight minutes the official time in match summary on page 52.
  5. "Antique Blackburn Rovers programme sells for £35,000". Lancashire Telegraph. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
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