The forgotten story of ... the first ever FA Cup winners
The Wanderers, who won the FA Cup fives times in the 1870s, are back – for a good cause and a new beginning
The Wanderers, first winners of the world's oldest football knockout competition, will be remembered at a special game in Oxford on Saturday. Photograph: David Sillitoe
After what can only be described as a sustained break of a little over a hundred years, the first FA Cup winners return to action this Saturday. That's right, the Wanderers are coming out to play again, lining up against Oxford University Old Boys this Saturday at 2.30pm at Iffley Rd (Free entry!) in order to raise funds for Unicef.
During the 1870s the Wanderers dominated the FA Cup, winning it five times. Their successful run started in 1872, the season the competition was founded. Without wishing to minimise the Wanderers' achievement, their route to the final might have been harder. Drawn against Harrow Chequers in the first round, they progressed with ease when their opponents scratched. A routine 3-1 victory over Clapham Rovers followed.
Then after their quarter-final against Crystal Palace finished 0-0 they were both put into the hat for the semi-finals under the controversial rule 8. This stated: "In the case of a drawn match, the clubs shall be drawn in the next ties or shall compete again, at the discretion of the Committee. In the event of a team refusing to play again or failing to play off the tie in which it has been drawn, within the stipulated time, it shall be adjudged to have lost the match." Which clarifies nothing.
In those semis Wanderers drew 0-0 with Queen's Park and then, once again, they benefited from opponents, based in Glasgow, having to scratch due to not being able to afford the long trip to London twice in short order. During football's infancy, when it was played primarily by public school dilettantes, getting an XI out was the core skill. The great managers of the day were renowned not for anything as new-fangled as being able to turn the hairdryer treatment on and off like a tap, but for driving a hansom cab around the more stylish parts of London and picking up the team from the coming out parties (debutantes not dilettantes) which were the spine of the social season. Spotting a potential footballer as he flounced out of a party dressed in white tie and tails was one thing, convincing him to cross the river and come to south London for a game of association quite another. The most successful managers possessed not only an eye for talent but a terrific gift of the gab.
The final itself (played without crossbars, nets, free-kicks or penalties at Kennington Oval) was a minor classic. The mighty Wanderers took an early lead against a team from the Royal Engineers on the quarter-hour through MP Betts, playing under the pseudonym AH Chequer. Captain Alcock had a goal disallowed after Wollaston was "adjudged" to have handled. And they hit a post. Little wonder the Field's correspondent felt moved to write: "It was the fastest and hardest match that has ever been seen at The Oval ... some of the best play on their [the Wanderers] part, individually and collectively, that has ever been shown in an Association game."
The man of the match, had such absurdities been in place in the 19th century, would almost certainly have been the Rev RWS Vidal (Westminster), who was nicknamed "the prince of dribblers" after once scoring three successive goals from the kick-off without his opponents so much as touching the ball. It was he who, after a trademark mazy run, produced the killer ball for Betts/Chequer to latch on and score from a tight angle. Furthermore, being a reverend he had developed the happy habit of turning up on time when required. In the age of scratching, this made him invaluable.
The other hero was, of course, Captain Alcock. Described as "a man of fine and commanding presence who had a happy knack of persuading people to his way", he used these talents to convince a group of seven gathered at the Sportsman's offices that an FA Cup competition would offer as good a way of passing the time as any other. And the FA Cup was born.
Next year the Wanderers' path to the final was, if anything, even easier as under the controversial rule 9 ("The holder of the Cup shall be liable to play only the winner of the trial matches") they were awarded a bye straight into it. Despite the far from onerous schedule, the half-backs, AC Thompson and FH Wilson, and the forwards, WP Crake and TC Hooman failed to show up (even thought they were not even required to cross the river!) at the Amateur Athletic Grounds, Lillie Bridge, West Brompton, for the earlier than usual 11.30am start which had been so scheduled to enable everyone to watch the Boat Race. Priorities, priorities.
Strangely the Rev Vidal was not selected, his place going to the Rev HH Stewart. The dribbling duties fell upon the Hon AF Kinnaird, who opened the scoring approaching the half-hour. Boldly, with five minutes to go before half-time, Oxford decided to push their goalkeeper upfield on a permanent basis. A decision which was blamed for the Wanderers doubling their lead through CHR Wollaston in the 80th minute. The fact it took so long for the Wanderers to score against a team playing in a Cup final with a permanently rushing goalie suggests the mighty Wanderers were not quite as mighty as once feared.
This was confirmed with blips following in the next two years against Oxford, who twice beat them in the third round. But they rallied strongly to win the Cup in 1876, '77 and '78 beating, respectively, the Old Etonians, Oxford University and the Royal Engineer. Such was their dominance that Capt Alcock was moved to comment: "The success of the Wanderers is so closely identified with the success of Association football in its earlier days that it is impossible to dissever the Club from any attempt to follow closely the various stages which have marked the growth of the game."
It couldn't last. In 1879, CHR Wollaston was appointed club secretary and shortly thereafter the Wanderers were trounced 6-2 by Clapham in the days when no one let in six against Clapham. The following year, in a Brownian moment, they were knocked out of the Cup by a bunch of Old Etonians. And indignity upon indignity, drawn against Rangers (London) in the first round they failed to round up a team and suffered a walk-over defeat. How are the scratchers scratched.
In 1881 they failed to show up for another first-round match. And by 1882 they were reduced to playing against Harrow. In 1883, sensibly given their reduced circumstances, they folded.
Nevertheless, with five victories to their name, they remain within the top 10 most successful FA Cup sides. And on Saturday they are taking the first fledgling steps to adding to that number.
- guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
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