James W. Bancroft - The Early Years of the FA Cup: How the British Army Helped Establish the Worlds First Football Tournament

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE FA CUP

HOW THE BRITISH ARMY HELPED ESTABLISH THE WORLDS FIRST FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

James W. Bancroft

First published in Great Britain in 2021

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Copyright James W. Bancroft, 2021

The right of James W. Bancroft to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 978-1-39909-991-2

ePUB ISBN: 978-1-39909-992-9

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T he 202122 football season marks the 150th anniversary of the Football Association Challenge Cup competition, the oldest football tournament in the world. Members of the British Army took a prominent part in its formation and establishment, and they helped to put the sport on the road to national and international status.

My first introduction to football was a sad one. On the late afternoon of 6 February 1958, news came of the Munich Air Disaster, as a result of which many people associated with Manchester United lost their lives, including several of the immortal Busby Babes. These included Geoff Bent and Eddie Colman from my own city of Salford. I remember crowds of people lining the streets to watch the funeral processions of the two local victims, and the tragedy left a dark cloud of grief over the district for many months afterwards. As time went by I witnessed what passion the game of football itself can stir up, while watching Best, Law and Charlton at Old Trafford, and Lee, Bell and Summerbee at Maine Road; and especially during that one match of the year known as the FA Cup final. Little did I realise the proud history that competition has, and how cup fever would fascinate me for most of my life. As a domestic competition it has not and will never be rivalled anywhere in the world.

At the same time as I began watching football and getting to know the game, another event stirred something inside me. Because of films like The Alamo with John Wayne and The Magnificent Seven with Steve McQueen, I was coming to the conclusion that all heroes were American. However, in 1964 I saw a film called Zulu with Stanley Baker and Michael Caine, which depicts the battle at Rorkes Drift during the Zulu War of 1879, when a company of British soldiers held off ferocious attacks by as many as 3,000 warriors. They fought with such bravery that the Zulus gave up and retreated, and fifteen gallantry medals were awarded to the survivors. I was in awe!

As my interest in British military history and the history of British football has developed, particularly during the reign of Queen Victoria, I have spent more than forty years learning about the subjects and collecting information to build up quite a comprehensive archive. Using this information I wrote Rorkes Drift: The Zulu War, 1879 , which has been reprinted seven times, and I am told inspired other people to become interested in the subject. Its success prompted me to write further on aspects concerning the history of Victorian Britain, and this project has allowed me to use my combined knowledge of the two subjects I have the most interest in the military and football; and this work brings together the heroes of both.

I have produced biographical tributes to three Royal Engineer officers who I believe played some part in the 1872 FA Cup final but have not previously been given recognition, and the reasons for doing so are explained in the text.

Most of the military men who took part in the early FA Cup competitions went on to have distinguished military careers and saw active service in most of the campaigns throughout the British Empire. One was recommended for the Victoria Cross for valour in Afghanistan, and some of them gave their lives in famous battles such as Tofrek in the Sudan, on Spion Kop in South Africa and on the Western Front during the Great War.

The narratives of the Royal Engineers Cup finals are my interpretation of the reports written by the Engineers secretary in their old Club Book, which I have enhanced by including one newspaper report for each Royal Engineers game. A list of publications and institutions I used for further information or to cross-reference with my archive is provided in the Bibliography, and I have presented the biographical tributes in a chronological narrative form as much as possible, as opposed to lists of facts and figures.

It was an amateur game officially and most grounds were not enclosed. At a time when there has been talk of a financially motivated breakaway European Super League, imagine going to Hackney Marshes in London or Hough End playing fields in Manchester, or any such area in the country, and having the choice of watching three FA Cup ties completely free; and what if two of the games included former winners of the trophy? That was possible at the Great Lines at Chatham on 31 October 1885. On that day the Royal Engineers (winners in 1875) played Old Foresters; Chatham FC played Old Carthusians (winners in 1881); and Rochester played Reading.

This publication gives the opportunity to look back at a time when football was played for the sport itself.

James W. Bancroft

P eople continue to discuss, even argue, about the laws of the game, and there was disagreement over the laws between football and rugby soon after the establishment of the Football Association in 1863. Blackheath representatives favoured the retention of hacking, tripping and catching the ball, while the Cambridge University people championed the dribbling game and forbade most of the dangerous play. The Blackheath set eventually resigned from the Association and took up the handling code as played at Rugby School. The Football Association adopted the Cambridge rules, football and rugby went their separate ways, and modern organised soccer began.

The move that did most to broaden and strengthen the influence of the FA came on Thursday, 20 July 1871. A young officer of the Royal Engineers by the name of Francis Marindin joined another six members of the Football Association at a special meeting at the Sportsman office in London, requested by the secretary, Sunderland-born Charles William Alcock (18421907), of the Wanderers FC, one of the early leading lights of football. Also at the meeting was the honorary treasurer to the Football Association Committee, Alfred Stair (18451914) of Upton Park; John Hardinge Giffard (18471903) of the Civil Service Club; Douglas Allport of Crystal Palace FC; Morton Peto Betts (18471914) of Harrow School; and Charles William Stephenson (18531924) of Westminster School.