In 1914-15 Chelsea finished second from bottom in the league but reached their first Cup Final. They failed to reproduce their best form, however, and went down 3-0 to Sheffield United. The Yorkshire club hoisted a brand-new trophy aloft, the third in the competition’s history. The design of the previous cup had been copied by a regional competition, and the FA decided to present it to Lord Kinnaird for his services to the game and have a new one made.
The Chelsea-Sheffield United match was dubbed “The Khaki Final” because of the number of uniformed spectators present. Football had come in for a lot of criticism for completing the 1914-15 programme, hostilities having broken out the previous August. Questions had been asked in the House of Commons over the issue, but the game did serve as an effective recruiting sergeant. Rousing speeches were made at matches, and both players and supporters enlisted in droves, long before conscription was introduced. At the end of the Khaki Final Lord Derby gave a speech, saying: “You have played with one another and against one another for the Cup. Play with one anotlier for England now”.
Brief moment in the limelight
The period immediately prior to World war One saw some unheralded clubs enjoy a brief moment in the spotlight. Apart from Oldham’s agonising experience in the 1914-15 championship race, Bradford City and Barnsley a, lso tasted success. In 1910-11 Bradford finished 5th in the league and beat Newcastle in the Cup Final. Division Two side Barnsley made it to two Fina. ls in three seasons, losing to Newcastle in 1910 and beating West Brom in 1912. Between those two appearances the club had finished 19 th in Division Two and been forced to apply for re-election.
Both of Barnsley’s Cup appearances and Bradford’s 1911 victory had gone to replays, prompting the FA to institute extra time from 1913. It wasn’t
Needed that year - a 1-0 win forViUa over Sunderland - or the next, when Burnley ran out 1-0 winners over Liverpool. That 1914 Final marked the first time that a reigning monarch attended football’s showpiece. King George V handed Burnley’s skipper Tommy Boyle the Cup and at the same time rang doAvn the curtain on die Crystal Palace as a final venue.
Tottenham Hotspur, winners of the FA Cup 1901, the only non-league side to win the trophy since the league was founded in 1888. In the first years of the new century the northern clubs still dominated league and Cup football. The *great eight" comprised Everton, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle, Sunderland, Liverpool, Aston Villa and both Manchester clubs. Arsenal was the first southern side to be admitted to the First Division in the 1903-4 season with Chelsea following on in 1907.
World History
