Morning Advertiser 18.01.1869

The County Ground at Islington (also known as The Cattle Market Ground) was no longer in use for cricket in 1869. 
Some familiar names in the line ups.

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.

Spot The Ball

Spot the Ball competitions used to be very popular, appearing on the back pages of most newspapers, with large cash prizes on offer.  To mark FA Cup Final day here are 4 Cup Final Spot the Balls. Click on the date to reveal the solution.

1882

1904

1909 

1925

Clash of Colours, 1882

When we think of the professional football clubs of the industrialized north that came to dominate the game in the 1880s, it is easy to consider them as being an entirely different entity from the southern clubs of the amateur gentlemen. There was, however, a thread that linked many of the clubs of Lancashire to the public schools from which Association football had developed in the 1860s.
Turton, probably the first Lancashire side, were founded by Old Harrovians (of which more later). The case we will look at here is that of the team that really put the cat among the pigeons by reaching the FA Cup Final in 1882, Blackburn Rovers.

1878:Notice in the picture above how there is inconsistency in the jerseys.

The 'quartered ' shirts and the Maltese Cross motif that Rovers wore in the early days pointed to their (surprising) public school origins. Founder  Arthur Constantine was an Old Salopian (Shewsbury). 

Shrewsbury School, 1912

According to Charles Francis in The History of Blackburn Rovers (1925) several of the 17 present at the  St Leger Hotel On 5th November 1875 were young fellows who had just finished their education at public schools. 
The stipulation in setting out the club livery was that a Maltese cross be worn on the left breast This motif was worn by both the Shrewsbury and Malvern school teams.

Malvern College

Malvern College  provided Rovers with players such as the Greenwood brothers (Thomas, Harry and Doctor) and Fred Hargreaves.

Blackburn Rovers' strip remains one of the most readily recognisable in the world of football, and was much imitated. However, when their first chance of glory came as they reached the FA Cup Final in 1882 they were denied the opportunity of wearing their famous strip.The 11th FA Cup Final was the first to necessitate a change of colours.
John Lewis recalls a letter from Alcock- there is no evidence that a coin was tossed or any lots were drawn in order to decide who changed kit- Rovers were instructed, by letter. Lewis was convinced that this was a bad omen. Rovers also requested assistance with their travelling expenses; the FA declined.

On the day Rovers wore narrow black and white  hoops in the mode of Queen's Park. Old Etonians wore harlequin shirts of light blue and white (a departure from their previous plain light blue). 

Robert Cunliffe Gosling

The best-looking man of my acquaintance - C.B Fry 
The most aristocratic-looking man I ever saw - J.A.H Catton
The richest man who ever played football for England - Sir Frederick Wall

Cunliffe Gosling was an inside forward who  played in 5 matches for England (1892-97) and never finished on the losing side. He represented Cambridge University, Old Etonians and Corinthian FC. 
Gosling confirmed the archetype that in Victorian England  those from a privileged background were more robustly built- he was 1.87m and 83 kg.
Sir Frederick Wall's statement was based on the fact that Gosling came from a wealthy landed family, and that when he died in 1922 his estate was worth the equivalent of £21.2 million in today's money. 

Cads of the most unscrupulous kidney

1891 pitch markings

It is a standing insult to sportsmen to have to play under a rule which assumes that players intend to trip, hack and push their opponents, and to behave like cads of the most unscrupulous kidney. The lines marking a penalty area are a disgrace to the playing fields of a public school.
C B Fry (1907)

 By the beginning of the 20th century the Public Schools' influence on Association Football had declined markedly. Old Etonians had been the last 'Old Boys'' club to reach the FA Cup Final in 1883, Queen's Park (1885) the last amateur club to achieve the feat.
England's international XIs were becoming increasingly professional in make up.
The FA Amateur Cup, a knockout tournament for amateur teams affiliated to the FA, was introduced in 1894, but again teams from industrial, northern areas tended to prevail. In the first 10 seasons of the Amateur Cup Old Carthusians (twice) and Old Malvernians were the only Old Boys' clubs to lift the trophy. The Old Boys' clubs then resorted to instituting a competition exclusively for the Public Schools. This was the Arthur Dunn Cup, named in honour of the Cambridge University, Old Etonians, Corinthian and England player who had first proposed such a competition but had died before any action was taken.

ATB Dunn

The Committee formed at the inaugural meeting features many eminent names from this particular sphere:
President: Lord Kinnaird (Eton).
 Vice-Presidents: R C Guy (Forest), R C Gosling (Eton)
 Committee: R T Squire (Westminster), G O Smith (Charterhouse), W J Oakley (Shrewsbury), C Wreford-Brown (Charterhouse), R E Foster (Malvern), W M Cowan (Brighton), J R Mason (Winchester). 
Hon Secretary: N Malcolmson
The trophy was donated by Cunliffe Gosling, traditionally held to be the richest man to ever play football for England. 

The reactionary nature of these privileged amateurs is illustrated by the fact that a decade after the introduction of the penalty kick the concept caused such an affront to their notion of fair play that, given their own competition to govern, they effectively ignored the penalty kick rule. They also used unregistered referees. These two issues brought the Public Schools into conflict with the FA and led to the Public Schools being granted representation on the Council of the Football Association (in the person of Mr Malcolmson).

Julian Sturgis

The early days of Association Football, when the game was essentially amateur and the preserve of University and Public School students, presented us with players who could boast of far more varied accomplishments.
For example, the libretto of this Romantic Opera was written by Julian Sturgis, who played in 2 FA Cup Finals.
Sturgis joined the Wanderers in 1872, making his first appearance in a 2–0 defeat by the Royal Engineers on 30 November 1872. The FA Cup was originally conceived as a challenge cup, so Wanderers automatically qualified for the 1873 FA Cup Final as the cup holders, having won the inaugural competition the previous year. Although he had made only a handful of appearances during the season, Sturgis was selected for the final.
In 1876 Sturgis  played for Old Etonians against his former club, losing the replay 3-0 following a 1-1 draw. 
Sturgis was born in the United States, and he did not become a British Subject until 1877, so he enjoys the distinction of being the first American to play in an FA Cup Final. 

Arthur Kinnaird

The Hon.Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, later Lord Kinnaird, played in 9 FA Cup Finals (plus two replays).
1873- Wanderers- winner. Played as a forward and scored in a 2-0 win over Oxford University.
1875- Old Etonians- runner up- Played as a back in both the final and the replay, which was won by Royal Engineers.
1876- Old Etonians- runner up-Played as a forward in both the final and the replay, which was won by  Wanderers.
1877- Wanderers- winner- Played in goal in the 2-1 victory over Oxford University, and scored an own goal*.
1878- Wanderers- winner- Played at half back in a 3-1 win over Royal Engineers, scoring 1 goal.**
1879- Old Etonians- winner- Played at half back, Clapham Rovers were beaten 1-0
1881-  Old Etonians- runner up-Played at half back, Old Carthusians ran out 3-0 winners.
1882 - Old Etonians- winner- Played at half back, Blackburn Rovers beaten 1-0.
1883- Old Etonians- runner up-Played at half back, Blackburn Olympic won 3-1


Kinnaird was instantly recognizable by his red beard and long white trousers, (although a Scotland team photograph of 1879 shows him wearing three quarter length knickers), and was known for his robust approach to play.

Kinnaird made his only official appearance for Scotland in the second international- a 4-2 defeat to England at the Oval in 1873. He played in 3 nonofficial 'internationals' for Scotland (against England) between 1870 and 1872.

* Kinnaird caught a high ball and stepped over the goal line in doing so. The goal was allowed  , however, tradition has it that Kinnaird was later able to persuade the FA to expunge the goal from the official record of the game. 
**  Contemporary  sources state that Kinnaird took a free kick from which a 'scrimmage' developed, the ball being carried over the line, and the actual scorer's identity could not be determined from this melee. 

Cuthbert Ottaway (England, 1872 -1874)

His beautiful science exhibited how a ball ought to be taken through a host of foes.

Cuthbert Ottaway was the first ever England captain, in the game against Scotland on 30th November 1872. He also led England to a 2-1 defeat at Partick in the third international on 7th March 1874. These were his only 2 caps.
Ottaway, who was an accomplished cricketer and all round sportsman represented  Old Etonians, Oxford University, Crystal Palace and Marlow.
He played in three successive FA Cup finals from 1873 to 1875, losing 1-2 with Oxford University against Wanderers in 1873, winning 2-0 with Oxford University against Royal Engineers a year later, and then representing Old Etonians against Royal Engineers in 1875. Ottaway sustained an ankle injury in the first half of the drawn 1875 final. He left the field and was not fit for the replay.  In fact there is no evidence that he ever played senior football again after this match.
He died in 1878, aged 27.