FA CuP final winners:
the fa cup is upon us once more for 2010. never before has their been a footballing competition that is held in such high regard as the fa cup. The FA Cup originated from a meeting on the 20th July 1871 at the offices of The Sportsman where the honorary secretary at the time, Charles Alcock stated that he wished there to be a challenge cup competition where all clubs that are members of the association could be invited to participate. It did however take 3 months to achieve the final approval from the association.
The FA Cup started in the 1871-72 season with only 15 entrants to the competition. There are now over 700 teams take part each year.
The first ever FA Cup final was staged at the Kennington Oval between Wanderers, a side made up of former public school and university players versus Royal Engineers. Wanderers were the winners in a 1-0 victory over Royal Engineers. The attendance was just 2000 with each spectator paying one shilling.
The first FA Cup final goal and it turned out to be the winning goal for Wanderers was scored by Mr. Morten Betts although he played under the name of ‘A H Chequer’ as he once played for Harrow Chequers.
There have been a number of FA Cup trophies and the original trophy was a lot smaller than the current FA cup trophy and was commissioned to be made by Messrs Martin, Hall & Co. at a cost of £20. This trophy was stolen in 1895 from a window display of football outfitters in Birmingham after Aston Villa had won the FA cup that year and never recovered.
The current FA cup has competed for since 1992 and is the 4th FA Cup since the FA Cup started. It is a direct copy of the 3rd. The 3rd FA cup now belongs to Liverpool FC having won the FA Cup final 2-0 that year against Sunderland AFC.
Manchester United currently holds the record for most FA Cup final wins (11) with Arsenal second (10) then followed by Tottenham Hotspur (8). A total of 42 clubs have had the privilege of being FA Cup Final Winners.
Wembley Stadium was built 1922 and became the home stadium for the England team and also the host for the FA Cup Final. The first ever final at Wembley was between Bolton Wanders and West Ham United, drawing a crown that was way over the capacity of Wembley, with some estimating up to 200,000 spectators. It was only because the crowd was so well behaved and a ceratin PC George Scorey on a white horse that the game went ahead.
The FA Final Cup has been held every year since the start apart from the war years (1915-1920 and 1939-1946) at wembley until 2000 when the final was switched to The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff whilst the new Wembley stadium was being constructed at a cost of a whopping £798 Million.
The New Wembley held its first ever FA Cup Final in 2007 when Chelsea won 1-0 against Manchester United.
Memorable Final Upsets In 1901 Tottenham Hotspur became the first and only non-league team to win the FA Cup. At that time The Spurs were playing in the Southern Division and only achieved the Football League in 1908. Their 3-1 victory on the replay game against First Division’s Sheffield United (the first game finished 2-2) could be compared as to a team from the actual League One beating a team from the Premier League.
In 1927 Cardiff City also became a “one and only” team as the club from Wales became the first one outside England to win the FA Cup after they beat Arsenal 1-0. The Welsh supporters that packed the Wembley Stadium celebrated as the FA Cup Trophy, for the first and only time, was headed outside England.
Sunderland A.F.C. was the protagonist of what is possibly the biggest upset in the FA Cup history. In 1973 the team was playing in the Second Division (compared to today’s Coca Cola Championship) and faced Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. Leeds United were, at that time, in 3rd place in the First Division (today’s Premier League). The underdogs Sunderland AFC won the game 1-0 and took the FA Cup.
In 1976 it was Southampton’s turn to follow Sunderland’s achievement and beat by the same 1-0 score a First Division team to win the FA Cup. The “victim” this time was the powerful Manchester United.
More recently, in 1980, a then modest West Ham United surprised in their only 4th game at the Wembley Stadium ever and became the 99th FA Cup Champions after beating First Division Arsenal by a 1-0 score.
