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.

Southampton and England

When international football came to Southampton in 1901 the selectors included 3 Saints players in the line up:

Jack Robinson - goalkeeper
Willy Meisl remembered Robinson as being the man who revolutionized goalkeeping in the eyes of Austrian spectators, being the first they had seen to dive to make saves. Robinson played 11 internationals (conceding 11 goals and keeping 5 clean sheets). 

C.B Fry- right back
The legendary all round sportsman joined Southern League Southampton with the express ambition of gaining international honours. He played 25 Southern League and FA Cup matches for The Saints from 1900- 1902. In the old amateur tradition he played when free of other commitments. He was also a member of Corinthian FC and some records overlook his affiliation with Southampton. This was his only international appearance. 

Arthur 'Archie' Turner- outside right 
In this his second and final international appearance Turner went off in the 20th minute with concussion following a heavy challenge from Peter Boyle
He joined Southampton  in  1899, scoring 23 goals in 65 Southern League appearances. he later played for  Derby County , Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.

William Foulke

William Foulke appeared in every history of football that I read when I was a boy. He was a kind of symbolic historical shorthand- look how mad football was in those days! A big fat 20 stoner played for England!  There's even a clip of the 1901 FA Cup Final in which Foulke hitches up his trousers like Big Joe Roberts, the Bad Guy in the Buster Keaton movies...
Accounts of Foulke's career  usually focus on anecdotes about his bulk and fiery temper rather than on his achievements on the field.
Let's have a look...
1894–1905- Sheffield United (FA Cup winners 1899,1902, League Champions 1898) 352 appearances
1905–06 Chelsea 35 appearances (Division 2)
1905-07 Bradford City 24 appearances (Division 2)


Foulke won one England cap,  in a 4-0 win over Wales at Bramall Lane in 1897.

Derby County's Jack Robinson had won his first cap in England's previous game, and was effectively first choice goalkeeper for the national team until 1901.