Southampton & Sheffield United, 1902

April 19th, 1902.
Sheffield United were to face Southampton at Crystal  Palace and The Sporting Life was jam packed with statistics on the Cup Final teams.

	Age	Weight		Height
Foulke	25	21 st	133 kg	6 ft 2 1/2	1.89
Thickett	28	14 st 7	91 kg	5 ft 8 1/2	1.74
Boyle	25	12 st 7	79 kg	5 ft  9	1.75
Johnson	24	12 st  5	78 kg	5 ft  9	1.75
Wilkinson	22	10 st 9	67 kg	5 ft 5 1/2	1.66
Needham	29	11 st 3	71 kg	5 ft  6	1.67
Bennett	28	13 st 3	84 kg	5 ft  7 1/2	1.71
Common	21	13 st	82 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Hedley	24	12 st 5	78 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Priest	27	12 st 12	81 kg	5 ft  8	1.72
Lipsham	24	11 st 5	72 kg	5 ft  9	1.75

	Age	Weight		Height
Robinson	32	13 st 7	85 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Fry	20	13 st	82 kg	5 ft 10	1.77
Molyneux	23	11 st 13	75 kg	5 ft 10 1/2	1.79
Meston	31	11 st 11	74 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Bowman	30	11 st	69 kg	5 ft 7	1.70
Lee	23	13 st	82 kg	6 ft	1.82
A Turner	25	11 st 11	74 kg	5 ft 9	1.75
Wood	34	13 st 1	83 kg	5 ft 10	1.77
Brown	23	11 st 8	73 kg	5 ft 11	1.80
Chadwick	32	10 st 11	68 kg	5 ft 6	1.67
J Turner	29	11 st 5	72 kg	5 ft 7	1.70

The game finished 1-1, Harry 'The Wolf' Wood (playing in his 5th Cup Final) scoring a controversial equalizer for Southampton in the 88th minute. Wood was in an offside position when the ball came to him, reportedly tying his bootlace. The referee, Mr Kirkham, adjudged that the ball had come off a United player. Then followed the  legendary incident in which a naked Foulke berated Mr Kirkham who had to hide in a cupboard to escape the goalkeeper's attentions.

Finland 1912

Up until 1917 the Grand Duchy of Finland (Великое княжество Финляндское) was a part of the Russian Empire. The Head of State was the Emperor of Russia (Nikolai II), under the title Grand Duke of Finland.  Finland did, however, enjoy a certain amount of autonomy.
In the sporting domain Finland joined FIFA in 1908 (though they didn't play an international until 1911) and Russia joined in 1912.
Finland had played 2 friendlies prior to the 1912 Olympics, both heavy defeats (5-2 and 7-1) to Sweden in October 1911 and June 1912. 
2 days after the defeat to Sweden in Stockholm Finland played their first competitive international. Their opponents were Italy (7 previous internationals and 1 victory). 
Watched by a modest crowd of 600, the match was refereed by Herr Hugo Meisl. 
20 year old Jarl Öhman put the Finns ahead in the 2nd minute. By the 25th minute Italy had taken a 2-1 lead. Eino Soinio, Finland's 17 year old captain, equalized in the 40th minute.There were no goals in the 2nd half. Extra time saw a Bror Wiberg goal (105') secure the win for Finland.
Next up was a 2nd round match with Russia, played the following day (30.06.12) at 10:00 am! Finland made only one change, and even Wickström, who had missed the 2nd half of the Italy game with an injury, played less than 24 hrs later.A crowd of 2-300 saw goals from Wiberg and Öhman give Finland a 2-1 win.
This set up a semi final against Great Britain (England Amateurs)- an unenviable prospect as England Amateurs had only lost 1 game in the previous 6 years and routinely posted double figure scores.
Finland fell behind to a 2nd minute own goal. Bradford City's Harold Walden added a 2nd goal in the 7th minute. Finland then put in a respectable appearance and it wasn't until the 77th minute that Walden scored a 3rd. Inevitably Vivian Woodward got a goal as Great Britain won 4-0. 

Jarl 'Lali' Öhman

 Eino Soinio

This left the Finns with one more game to contest- a play off for the bronze medal against The Netherlands.
Netherlands were coached by England veteran Edgar Chadwick, There was no scoring in the first quarter, but then Netherlands, and Jan Vos in particular, ran riot. It was 4-0 at the break and Netherlands ran out 9-0 winners, with Vos getting 5.

Finland only played one more international before the outbreak of the war in 1914, losing 4-3 to Sweden in Stockholm (24.05.14).

1891 Census- England

Here are the 1891 Census details on the England XI who lined up against Scotland at Ewood Park on 6th April 1891. Only 8 of the players can be positively identified in the Census records.  Interestingly, of those 8, 5 were living with their parents. Whereas only Billy Moon was actually an amateur (and he captained the team on this occasion), only 3 of the other 7 put their occupation down as professional footballer.

		Age	M?	Occupation	Circumstances
GK	(William Robert) Billy Moon (c) (Old Westminsters)	22	S	Solicitor	Moon was living with his widowed mother at  45 Portsdown Road, Paddington. His mother was described as 'living on her means'. Also at home were a 21 yr old brother who was a medical student, 3 teenage sisters, a housemaid and a cook.
RB	Bob Howarth  (Preston North End)	25	M	Solicitor's clerk	Howarth lived at The Cross Keys, Market Place Preston with his wife Elizabeth and their 2 sons aged 4 and 2.
LB	Bob Holmes (Preston North End)	23	S	Professional footballer	Lodging at The Grapes Inn, 42 Church Street Preston.
RH	Albert Smith (Nottingham Forest)	22	S	Clerk	Lived at   45 Hutchinson Street Nottingham with his shoemaker father, his mother (described as a parish visitor) and his 19 yr old sister who was a warehouse girl.
CH	Johnny Holt (Everton)	25	No conclusive evidence found.
LH	Alf Shelton    (Notts County)	23	S	Professional football player	He lived with his widower father and an elderly lodger at Castle Rd in Nottingham.
OR	Billy Bassett (West Bromwich Albion)	22	S	Writing clerk	William Isiah Basset appears in all censuses as William J or William Jas. Bassett. He was living with his parents at 28 Nichols Street West Bromwich. Contrary to what Wikipedia says he had an older brother. Bassett had 4 siblings living at home.
IR	John Goodall  (Derby County)	27	M	Tobacconist	Living with his wife and 3 infants. There was also a servant in the house, 34 Dexter Street in Litchurch, Derby.
CF	Fred Geary  (Everton)	23	absent from the 1891 census
IL	Edgar Chadwick    (Everton)	21	S	Professional footballer	The eldest of 7 children living at home with their baker/grocer parents in Blackburn.
OL	Alf Milward (Everton)	20	absent from the 1891 census