1877 FA Cup final
Event | 1876–77 FA Cup | ||||||
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| |||||||
After Great Marlow F.C.) | |||||||
Attendance | 3,000 | ||||||
The 1877 FA Cup final was a
Oxford took the lead in the final when
Route to the final
In the third round, Wanderers beat Pilgrims 3–0 and Oxford again progressed without playing when their scheduled opponents, the leading Scottish club Queen's Park, withdrew. Wanderers themselves progressed through the quarter-finals on a bye as an uneven number of teams remained in the competition. Oxford were held to a goalless draw by Upton Park, but emerged victorious after a replay two weeks later. In the semi-finals Oxford received a bye, progressing straight to the final, and Wanderers beat the other of the great universities, Cambridge University, 1–0.[2]
Match
Summary
Both teams chose to play with two
The Wanderers players began the game in relative disarray, which the correspondent from The Sportsman reported was not an uncommon feature of their matches.[6] After fifteen minutes Oxford were awarded a corner kick, which Evelyn Waddington kicked high towards the goal. Kinnaird caught the ball, but in doing so stepped behind the goal-line. The Oxford players immediately appealed for a goal to be awarded, and after a consultation the officials did so, giving the University team the lead.[6] Some time later, Charles Wollaston was injured and swapped positions with Kinnaird.[3] At the time the concept of substitution had not been introduced to the sport, so injured players were obliged to remain in the game unless they were completely unable to play on, but it was common for an injured player to "retire into goal", where it was felt he would be less of a liability.[7]
As Wanderers pressed for an equaliser,
Details
Wanderers | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Oxford University |
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Kenrick 86' Lindsay 97' |
Kinnaird 15' (o.g.) |
Wanderers
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Oxford Univ.
|
|
|
Match rules:
- 90 minutes normal time.
- 30 minutes extra-time if scores are level, at captains' discretion.
- Replay if scores still level.
- No substitutes.
Post-match
Some time after the match, Kinnaird informed the council of the Football Association (FA), of which he was a member, that in his opinion he had not carried the ball over the line for Oxford's goal.[3] Despite the fact that the referee had awarded the goal and multiple newspaper reports stated that the ball had clearly gone over the line,[8] Kinnaird's fellow council members took his word for it, and struck the goal from the records, changing the official score to 2–0 (although if Oxford had not scored, there would have been no reason for the game to go to extra time, so by rights they should have annulled Wanderers' second goal as well).[3] For the next century, all sources reported the score of the match as 2–0.[3] In the 1980s, after fresh research into contemporary reports of the game by football historians, the FA reinstated the Oxford goal, and now regard the official final score of the 1877 final as 2–1.[9]
References
- General
- Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. SoccerData. ISBN 1-899468-78-1.
- Specific
- ^ a b "England FA Challenge Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 12 June 2009. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
- ^ a b "England FA Challenge Cup 1876–77". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 27 January 2001. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Warsop, p. 47
- ^ Warsop, p. 93
- ^ Warsop, p. 55
- ^ a b c d Warsop, p. 34
- ^ Warsop, p. 10
- ^ Warsop, p. 35
- ^ "Cup Final Statistics". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009.