Raich Carter

1937

His wonderful positional sense and beautifully timed passes made him the best forward of his generation.

Charles Buchan

Horatio Stratton Carter made his debut for Sunderland in October 1932. His career went on until 1952. He won the League Championship with Sunderland in 1936 (when he was also top scorer in the League) and the FA Cup the following season. 
He represented England 13 times. 
His father, Robert 'Toddler' Carter had played for Burslem Port Vale, Stockport County, Fulham and Southampton. He tragically died of an head injury when Raich was just 14.
Carter junior had a trial with Leicester at the age of 17, but was told he was too small to make it. He broke into the Sunderland first team as an 18 year old, standing 1.70m and weighing around 59 kg. 

Christmas Day 1888

4 Irish teams entered the FA Cup in the 1888-89 season.
The  2nd qualifying round  included 2 all Irish ties, as Linfild beat Ulster 7-1 and Cliftonville beat Belfast YMCA 5-0. 
In the 3rd qualifying round Cliftonville benefited from a walkover at the expense of Liverpool Stanley, whilst  Linfield recorded  a 4-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers in what was considered the biggest FA Cup upset to date.
In the 4th qualifying round the 2 surviving Irish teams were drawn together, and it took 3 matches to separate them.  Following successive 3-3 draws Linfield won the Christmas Day game 7-0.

This is the only time that an FA Cup tie has been played on Christmas Day .

The Belfast News - Letter  26.12.88

Kinnaird's own goal

The Hon. Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird (Lord Kinnaird from 1887) has a distinguished FA Cup record.
He appeared in 9 finals (he played for Wanderers and Old Etonians), was on the winning side 3 times, playing as a forward, halfback,  back and goalkeeper. He scored twice in Finals.
He also has the distinction of being the first player to score an own goal in a final.
The incident occurred in the 15th minute or thereabouts of the  Wanderers versus Oxford University Cup Final of 1877.
Some contemporary accounts ( I've read the ones in the London Evening Standard, and Sheffield Independent)  credit the goal to Waddington.

There is plenty of evidence for the own goal:
...a long kick by Waddington drove the ball sharply into the centre of the posts and Kinnaird inadvertently stepped back between the posts with the ball in his hands. An immediate appeal was made to the umpires and after some consultation the verdict was given in favour of Oxford- a decision that seemed to be quite correct and fully confirmed by the spectators in the immediate vicinity of the wanderers goal.
Oxford University Herald 31.03.77

Waddington made a splendid kick clear from the centre of the ground, and Kinnaird misjudging it, to the amazement of the spectators, falling back into his goal, the umpires, after a lengthy consultation, properly awarding a goal to Oxford.
Nottinghamshire Guardian 30.03.77

An oft repeated addendum to this story is that Kinnaird later used his influence to have this goal expunged from the records until it was reinstated 'some 50 years after Kinnaird's death'. 
If that was the case football history books, annuals, newspaper reports etc from the first 70 odd years of the 20th century would show the score as being 2-0 in favour of Wanderers, 
Try as I might I have not been able to find any evidence of the score being recorded as 2-0. 

Wembley 1923

Bolton Wanderers		West Ham United
Dick Pym	GK	Ted Hufton
Bob Haworth	FB	Billy Henderson
Alex Finney	FB	Jack Young
Harry Nuttall	HB	Syd Bishop
Jimmy Seddon	HB	George Kay (c)
Billy Jennings	HB	Jack Tresadern
Billy Butler	F	Dick Richards
David Jack	F	Billy Brown
Jack Smith	F	Vic Watson
Joe Smith (c)	F	Billy Moore
Ted Vizard	F	Jimmy Ruffell
Charles Foweraker	M	Syd King

This was one of those iconic events that has had so much written about it that there's not much to add.

It was a game that shouldn't have been played and a result that shouldn't have been allowed to stand. But there was a game of football, of sorts, played at Wembley Stadium on April 28th 1923.
The crowd, it goes without saying, frequently interfered with the play. Bolton's first goal, scored by David Jack, came when a West Ham defender was trying to extricate himself from the crowd. Jack Smith's second half strike was even more controversial. The ball was played to Vizard by a spectator. Vizard centred and Smith shot. The ball cannoned back into the field of play and the referee awarded a goal, despite the protests of the West Ham players that the shot had hit the post.

Some Famous Referees

In the earliest years of the Football Association referees and umpires were drawn from the ranks of current players. Charles Alcock, for example umpired in international matches before participating as a player. In the 1880s Major Marindin bestrode the world of refereeing like a colossus.  As football's mass appeal burgeoned  the referees themselves became celebrities. As the illustration above shows the favoured uniform was tweed plus fours and a deerstalker.


Arthur Kingscott
From Long Eaton, Mr Kingscott refereed in 3 FA Cup Final matches (1900 and 1901, including the replay). He officiated for 14 seasons in the Football League. There was controversy when he made a call on a goal line incident resulting in a Sheffield United goal when he was distant from the action.

Patrick Harrower
Mr Harrower took charge of the 1905 FA Cup Final. He was a Scottish Rugby Union internationalist. He refereed international matches on the continent.

A. J Barker
Hanley's Mr Barker refereed the 1904 FA Cup Final.
On the opening day of the 1906 season Mr Barker (whose moustache is worthy of note) oversaw a game between Manchester City and Woolwich Arsenal in which 5 City players left the pitch due to the effects of the 32C temperature.

John Adams
In charge at the 1903 FA Cup Final.

John Lewis
In his distinguished career the Prince of Referees took charge of 3 FA Cup Finals (1895,1897 & 1898) and 9 internationals, including  2 Olympic Finals (1908 &1920). The 1920 Final was a shambles and the Czechs, having walked off in the 40th minute, were extremely critical of the performance of the 65 year old Mr Lewis.

Tom Kirkham
Mr Kirkham officiated in 3 internationals and the 1902 FA Cup Final (including the replay). This is the referee pursued by William Foulke in the legendary story.

A curious Cup Final goal

Illustrations of Association matches in the 1870s are hard to find, so apologies for relying on these overused images of  England v Scotland matches. Look at the goalposts. Rather flimsy looking constructions held in place by pegs and guy ropes. The tape, rather than a crossbar, was used until 1882. These posts don't look like they would withstand a blow from a rain sodden leather ball or a falling player.
An incident from the 1876 FA Cup Final illustrates this point.
The first match, played at The Oval, ended in a 1-1 draw between The Wanderers and Old Etonians.
The Old Etonians' equalizer, scored in the 50th minute, was awarded when the ball was kicked through the area where the goals had been.
Contemporary reports give us the detail:

The corner kick by A C Thompson produced a bad scrimmage right in front of the Wanderers goal, and though in the melee the posts were overturned altogether the ball was rushed through the space marked and the umpires very properly awarded a goal to the Etonians.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph 13.03.76

  ...after a furious scrimmage in which the posts were torn to the ground a goal was achieved by the Eton forwards.
Sheffield Independent 13.03.76

  ... a general attack was made upon the Wanderers goal, which fell in more senses than one, as owing to the wind and its defenders being forced back upon the posts, they were knocked down, and ball Wanderers and Etonians in a body went through the space between them which the tape should have covered.

Sporting Life 15.03.76

I am not sure where the modern convention of identifying Alexander Bonsor as the scorer arose, as no contemporary publications credit him with the goal.

Vivian Woodward- Southern League, Football League & FA Cup Record

Vivian Woodward's name is forever associated with the remarkable scoring feats of the England Amateur sides of 1906-14 (and their other guise as the double gold medal winning Great Britain Olympic team of 1908 & 1912). He also toured with Football Association squads and featured prominently for various amateur combinations such as English Wanderers and Pilgrims
It is worth recalling that Woodward also scored 29 goals in 23 matches for England between 1903 and 1911.
So what of Vivian Woodward in League and Cup football?
Woodward joined Spurs in March 1901 and made just 1 Southern League appearance that season:

		League			Cup
Season	Club	Games	Goals		Games	Goals
1900-01	Tottenham Hotspur	1	0	5			W
1901-02		2	0	2			R1
1902-03		12	4	4	4	3	R3
1903-04		17	10	2	4	1	R3
1904-05		20	7	5	4	0	R2
1905-06		12	5	5	3	1	R3
1906-07		20	7	6	3	0	R3
1907-08		20	10	7	1	0	R1
1908-09		27	18	2	4	0	R3
1909-10	Chelsea	13	5	19	2	0	R2
1910-11		19	6	3	3	3	SF
1911-12		14	2	2			R2
1912-13		27	10	18	3	1	R2
1913-14		27	4	8	2		R1
1914-15		6	3	19			F

	Games	Goals
Football League Div.1	73	22
Football League Div.2	60	26
Southern League	104	42
FA Cup	33	9

Woodward has the distinction of scoring Tottenham Hotspur's first Football League goal.

Chelsea were prepared to play Woodward in the 1915 FA Cup Final (by then he was Lieutenant Woodward of the 17th Middlesex (1st Football Battalion)). Woodward declined to take the place of the in form  Bobby Thompson.

A gentleman amateur (an architect and farmer) Woodward was also on the board of directors for Tottenham and Chelsea during his time with the clubs, something we'll probably never see in the Premier League.