The captain of the Wanderers was none odier than Charles Alcock himself Alcock had founded the club, which had no ground of its own and played its home matches at Battersea Park. That meant early kick-offs in winter, as the park closed its gates at 4.00 p. m.!
The Wanderers’ opponents in the inaugural Cup Final were die Royal Engineers, the latter being installed as warm favourites. The match took place at Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872 in front of a 2000-strong crowd who had paid a shilling each for the privilege. The Wanderers upset the odds and ran out 1-0 winners. The goal was scored by Matthew Betts, who had been a registered member of the Harrovian Chequer club which had scratched earlier in the competidon. He turned out for the Wanderers under an assumed name, a clear breach of the regulations. The first FA Cup Final thus saw the deciding goal scored by a player who really shouldn’t have been on the pitch. If that weren’t bad enough, die Royal Engineers had been handicapped by the fact that one of their players. Lieutenant Cresswell, was nursing a broken collarbone for most of the match. Nearly a hundred years before die era of substitutes, players had to be made of stern stuff.
Clash with the Boat Race
Wanderers went on to win the Cup four more times in the 1870s, although this was not a feat that could be compared to the modern era. In 1873, for example, the club was given a bye to the Final as cup holders. That match, in which Wanderers beat Oxford University 2-0, took place at 11.00 a. m. to avoid a clash with die Boat Race. For all the strides football had made, the latter remained a much more prestigious event in the sporting calendar.
Of more significance was the fact that gendemen-amateurs, the leisured classes, dominated the competition in the early years. The Wanderers had the cream of the players from the public school and university systems. Old Etonians appeared in five Finals in that first decade, finally winning the trophy in 1879. Oxford University beat Royal Engineers to lift the Cup in 1874 and were also beaten finalists in 1873 and 1877. Clearly football in the ehte educational institutions was still strong enough to get the better of the teams from the industrial Midlands and North. One of the stars of the day was Arthur Kinnaird, who was said to have been a dynamic, skilful performer in any position on the field. He appeared in nine FA Cup Finals, picking up winners’ medals with Old Etonians in 1879 and 1882, and adding three more victories to his tally with Wanderers in 1873, 1877 and 1878.
'Blackburn Rovers
In the late 19th century football teams sprang up all over the country. Some of these, such as Bolton, Southampton, Wolves and Everton, originally called St Domingo's, were established by churches. Others, like Spurs and the two Sheffield sides, were offshoots from cricket clubs. Newton Heath, later re-named Manchester United, began life as a works team started by employees of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company.
World History
