This series, ‘Up for the Cup’, will focus on the 17 London clubs who currently play in the top 5 tiers of English football and their histories in the FA Cup.
This episode will centre on the cup final venues of London before we release separate episodes on each of the clubs.
#facup #footballhistory #englishfootball
Welcome back and thank you for tuning in to Stadium Hotdog, your comments and feedback from the previous series have been much appreciated. This series, ‘Up for the Cup’, will focus on the 17 London clubs who currently play in the top 5 tiers of English
Football and their histories in the FA Cup. This episode will centre on the cup final venues of London before we release separate episodes on each of the clubs. Before we go further, here’s a quick overview of the competition. The Football Association Challenge Cup more
Widely known as the FA Cup was first played in the 1871-72 season. The FA Cup is the oldest national football competition in the world. The competition is open to all eligible football clubs down the 9th tier of English football with tier 10 clubs acting as stand-ins in the event of
Non-entries. Entrants are not seeded, although a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds – the minimum number of games needed to win, depending on which round a team enters the competition, ranges from six to fourteen.
The first six rounds are the Qualifying rounds contested by clubs in the National League, levels 5 to 10 of the English football system, more commonly called non-league. 32 of these teams’ progress to the first round of the Competition Proper, meeting the first of the
48 professional teams from Leagues One and Two. The last entrants are the 20 Premier League and 24 Championship clubs, who enter the draw for the third round proper. Winners receive the FA Cup trophy: there have been two designs and five actual cups. The latest is a
2014 replica of the second design, introduced in 1911. Winners also qualify for the UEFA Europa League and a place in the upcoming FA Community Shield. Arsenal is the most successful club with fourteen titles after their victory in 2020: there will be more on this in the next episode.
Onto the London cup final venues. The first FA Cup final was held at the Kennington Oval, the home of Surrey County Cricket Club. In front of a crowd of 2,000 the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by 1-0: Martin Betts the first goal scorer in an FA Cup final.
The Wanderers Football Club formed in 1859 as Forest Football Club. They played their home games at Forest Place on Leyton Flats: a part of Epping Forest between Snaresbrook and Leytonstone. Then became known as the Wanderers as they didn’t have a home ground and played
At a variety of grounds throughout London. The Wanderers won the FA Cup 5 times between 1872 and 1878, the club wound up in 1887. Their tally of cup final victories was finally surpassed in 1920 when Aston Villa beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 after extra time: this final was also the
First since the outbreak of the First World War. The last final at the Kennington Oval was in 1892: West Bromwich Albion beating their midland rivals Aston Villa by 3-0. The Lillie Bridge Grounds were located on the Fulham side of West Brompton. The ground
Opened in 1866, along with the opening of the West Brompton railway station. It was named after the local landowner, Sir John Scott Lillie (1790–1868) and the Lillie bridge over the West London Line, that links Old Brompton Road with Lillie Road. The grounds were also close by the
Present-day Stamford Bridge. The Wanderers, after winning the first FA Cup final in 1872, were allowed to defend the cup in the second final of 1873 with a choice of venue. Not having a ground of their own, they chose Lillie Bridge and Oxford
University were defeated 2–0. The attendance was over 1,000 higher than the previous final. The London Athletic Club, founded in 1866, moved into the Lillie Bridge Grounds and were ever present until 1876 when the club moved into Stamford Bridge. After the London Athletic Club’s exit the Grounds began hosting other sports such as:
Bicycle racing, football, cricket and wrestling. The Grounds were neglected after a riot on 18 September 1888. The incident involved a cancellation of an athletics meeting at where 6,000 to 7,000 people had paid to watch and placed their bets. The subsequent riot ruined the track and grandstand, leading to closure the following year.
The Crystal Palace Stadium hosted the FA Cup final from 1895 to 1914. The first Cup Final at the ground was a midlands derby between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion. Over 42,000 fans were in attendance to witness Bob Chatt scoring the then
Fastest goal in an FA Cup final after 30 seconds. The first London side to play in an FA Cup final at the ground were Tottenham Hotspur in 1901. 110,802 fans would see Spurs and Sheffield United draw 2-2. Spurs would become the one and only non-league side to win the Cup after beating the
Blades at Burnden Park in Bolton in the replay. Staggeringly Spurs were the only London club to make an FA Cup final appearance at Crystal Palace Stadium. The 20 FA Cup finals at the venue were dominated by teams from the North and Midlands. Aston Villa won the cup on four
Occasions at the ground whilst Newcastle United made 5 Cup final appearances in this period without lifting the trophy during this time. The then record FA Cup final attendance was set at Crystal Palace. 120,028, watched the penultimate final at the ground in 1913:
Aston Villa beating Sunderland by 1-0. The last FA Cup final at the venue was in 1914: Burnley beating Liverpool by 1-0 in front of over 72,000 fans. The current Athletics stadium is located on the same land as the original football ground. Crystal
Palace Football Club played there from 1905 until they had to vacate in 1915 due to the First World War. It’s still there for now and let’s hope that remains the case: even better if the much-needed funding is acquired to give the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre a new lease of life.
Stamford Bridge hosted the FA Cup Final from 1920 to 1922, before Wembley Stadium became the venue in 1923. The inaugural Cup Final at the Bridge was between Aston Villa and Huddersfield Town: Villa winning 1-0 to secure a then record of 6 FA Cup trophies.
The only London club to feature at the venue were Tottenham Hotspur who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers by 1-0. Jimmy Dimmock scoring the solitary goal with over 72,000 in attendance. This was Spurs’ second FA Cup and set the foundations of a sequence winning a trophy when the year
Ended in one. I’ll get in there quick being a Spurs fan, now that hasn’t happened in a while. The third and final FA Cup final to be played at Stamford Bridge was in 1922 when Huddersfield Town beat Preston North End by 1-0 in front of 53,000 fans.
There is more on Stamford Bridge in a separate series, Archie’s Football Grounds of London: most definitely worth a watch. Originally known as the Empire Stadium, Wembley Stadium became the permanent FA Cup Final venue for 72 years. Brazilian footballer Pelé stated that: “Wembley is the cathedral of football. It is the capital
Of football, and it is the heart of football”. The first Wembley FA Cup final was in 1923 and was also the inaugural event at the venue going down in history as the White Horse Final. The ground was ready four days prior to kick off and took 300 days to complete construction costing
£750,000 (in today’s money over £40 million). Wembley was described before a ball was kicked as being the world’s greatest sporting arena. The FA had not considered admission inside the ground by ticket, totally misjudging the number of fans who flocked to the 104 gates
On match day. However, after this, every event apart from the 1982 replay would be ticketed. The first FA Cup final held at Wembley between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United is known as the White Horse Final. The fans eagerly anticipated this historic day and crowds
Spilled over onto the pitch as terraces were full. The estimates on the attendance figures were understandably hard to gather, however, the range was from 240,000 and exceeding 300,000. It was staggering that the match went ahead especially with the number of
Spectators inside the stadium that were on the pitch. Mounted police which included Police Constable George Scorey and his white horse, Billy, gradually forced the crowds back to the sides of the field of play. The kick off was only delayed by 45 minutes. In honour of Billy,
The footbridge outside the new Wembley Stadium has been named the White Horse Bridge. The official attendance is often quoted as 126,047. The match saw a 2–0 victory for Bolton Wanderers, with David Jack scoring the first ever goal at Wembley. The first London side to win at the original
Wembley Stadium was Arsenal when they beat Huddersfield Town by 2-0 in front of over 92,000 fans. Alexander James scoring after 16 minutes and John Lambert sealing the win in the 88th minute. There will be more in separate episodes on each of the featured London club’s
FA Cup records and achievements. The old Wembley hosted its last FA Cup in the year 2000 not as eventful as the White Horse Final, however, Dennis Wise’s Chelsea lifted their third FA Cup trophy after beating Aston Villa by 1-0. Italian
Roberto Di Matteo scored in the 73rd minute. We are focusing on the cup final venues in London, however, London teams dominated FA Cup final days from 2001 until 2006 which were held at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. There was a London team in every final, Arsenal were regular
Attendees they lost in the first final to be held in Cardiff, 2-1 to Liverpool, however, lifted the trophy on three occasions in 2002 in a London derby vs Chelsea, 2003 vs Southampton and 2005 vs Man Utd. Millwall were runners up in 2004 after losing 3-0 to Man
Utd and West Ham runners up in 2006 after a heartbreaking penalty shootout to Liverpool: perhaps one of the greatest finals to be played with game ending 3-3 after extra time: the Steven Gerrard final. The new Wembley Stadium opened in 2007 on
The site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. During excavation, mechanical diggers unearthed the concrete foundations of Watkin’s Tower, a failed attempt to construct a rival to the Eiffel Tower in London. Only the base of the
Tower was ever built before being abandoned and demolished in 1907; the site was later used as the location for the first Wembley Stadium. At the time of construction there were numerous delays which sparked quite a bit of controversy to put it diplomatically.
The Sports Minister in 2005 remarked that “They say the Cup Final will be there, barring six feet of snow or something like that”. All set for a 2006 final, well not quite, snow would’ve been a more pleasant substance for a delay. Instead, the sewers beneath the stadium
Buckled due to ground movement in the Spring of 2006: we would have to wait another year. Finally, the stadium was officially opened on Saturday 19 May, with the staging of the 2007 FA Cup Final. Eight days before that on Friday 11 May, the statue of Bobby Moore had been unveiled
By his former England team-mate Sir Bobby Charlton outside the stadium entrance, as the “finishing touch” to the completion of the stadium. The twice life-size bronze statue, sculpted by Philip Jackson, depicts England’s 1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, looking down Wembley Way.
The inaugural FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium was between Chelsea and Manchester United. Chelsea won 1-0 after extra time after a Didier Drogba goal. Chelsea would make history being the last team to win at the old Wembley and the first to win at the new Wembley. Incidentally
This was Chelsea’s 4th FA Cup trophy. Since the opening of new Wembley to the present day, Chelsea have been regular attendees with 9 FA Cup final appearances winning on five occasions bringing their FA Cup trophy haul up to 8 (joint with Spurs and Liverpool) Arsenal have
Won 4 FA Cups at the new stadium and are also the record holders in the competition overall with 14 FA Cups. Other than Arsenal and Chelsea, Crystal Palace are the only other London club to make an
FA Cup final appearance at the new Wembley when they lost 2-1 to Man Utd after extra time in 2016. Thank you for watching Stadium Hotdog, there will be more to come in this series, Up for the Cup with separate episodes for each of the current 17 London clubs
In the top five tiers of English Football. Please like share and subscribe. Mention your experiences in the comments. Stay well and safe: see you next time.
5 Comments
As a Spurs fan, I feel our pain. Cue the responses 😒
The FA Cup Final sure did move around a lot in the early days. The average fan would think it's always been played at Wembley.
I thought I would give you the heads up, I recently got demonetised by Youtube for apparently posting "re-used content". Me and you do very similar videos so I thought I would tell you in advance that maybe one day you could potentially be demonitised for no reason. I have appealed and they came back with "We cannot determine whether the videos you post are your own work or have been re-uploaded using someone else's videos".
I know you are not monetised as you don't have 1000 subs but it's something to have in the back of your mind going into the future.
Even though I am from Liverpool, this is a great audio/visual documentary
Great Video