THE FA CUP

THEFA CUP The FA Cup, or Football Association Challenge Cup to give it its correct title, is the oldest football competition in the world. It was started in 1871, when it was proposed that "a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association". Only eight teams were entered for the first round which was played on the 11 November 1871. The final was played at the Oval on 16 March, 1872 and was won by Wanderers who beat Royal Engineers by the only goal of the game.

Not only is the FA Cup the oldest association football competition in the world but it is also one of the largest. It is open to teams who play in most levels of the English football league system and during the 2009 2010 season 762 teams entered the competition.

Becauseit is the one competition that mixes teams of all levels of playing ability it does allow for the occasional “upset” when a “minnow” from a lower league defeats one of the more fancied upper echelon sides. While at least one such giant killing act will occur in any given season, no non-league club has actually won the tournament since Tottenham Hotspur won the trophy in 1901 while playing in the old Southern League. For some reason certain clubs seem to gain a reputation as giant killers and Yeovil Town hold the current record for most wins against teams playing in the league.

There are a number of sporting records associated with the FA Cup, some of them standing for a considerable period of time . One name associated with many early records is that of Lord Kinnaird. He played in the second final in 1873 and then played in a further eight, thus establishing a record which still stands to this day of playing in nine finals. He played on the winning team no fewer than five times, another record which is still intact. However he is also credited with a less fortunate record, that of scoring the first “own goal” in cup history in 1877. He was playing in goal and inadvertently stepped back over his own goal line.

In 1886 Blackburn Rovers became the second club to win three consecutive finals, and in at are the only club still in existence who can claim this feat as the first club to do so, Wanderers, went out of existence in 1883.

The record for the largest win in F A cup history is held by Preston North End who in 1887 defeated Hyde 26-0.

One of the longest standing sporting records was finally broken in 2009 Everton’s Louis Sahawhose 25 second goal beat that of the 30 second goal scored by Bob Chatt of Aston villa in 1895 . A record which had stood for 115 years!

After a period of seven years when the Cup final was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt The Cup Final has returned to its traditional home at Wembley where it has been played since 1923 when the famous “White Horse” took place between Bolton and West Ham. This match also holds the record for crowd attendance when an estimated 200,000fans crammed in.

Owen Jones,the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with London Olympics 2012 venues. Click a link if you are interested in the 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.