The most prestigious cup competition in English football, the Football Association (FA) Challenge Cup was inugurated in 1871 and the first final was staged at Kennington Oval – better known as the home of Surrey County Cricket Club – in Lambeth, South London on March 16, 1872. Indeed, in the early days of the competition, long before the completion of the original Wembley Stadium, or ‘British Empire Exhibition Stadium’, as it was originally known, in 1923, all bar two of the first 21 FA Cup finals were played at Kennington Oval.
In fact, it was during one of these preliminary FA Cup finals, contested by Blackburn Rovers, of the Football League, and Sheffield Wednesday, of the doomed Football Alliance, on March 29, 1890, that Rovers’ outside left William Townley became the first player to score a hat-trick. Townley’s three goals were supplemented by three more, by forwards John ‘Jack’ Southworth, Joseph ‘Joe’ Lofthouse, and Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Walton, as the Riversiders hammered Wednesday 6-1 to win the FA Cup for the fourth time in their history.
Wednesday defender Albert Mumford scored what turned out to be just a consolation goal in what is still, jointly, the highest scoring FA Cup final in history; Black pool beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 in the so-called ‘Matthews Final’ at Wembley Stadium in 1953 to equal the record. Coincidentally, in that latter match, Blackpool centre forward Stanley ‘Stan’ Mortensen became the first and, so far, only player to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. Likewise, Blackburn Rovers still, jointly, hold the record for the most goals scored in an FA Cup Final; Bury routed Derby County 6-0 in 1903 and, much more recently, Manchester City treated Watford with similar contempt in 2019.
According to Guinness World Records, the oldest football ground is Sandygate, a small, 1,000-capacity stadium situated in the suburb of Crosspool, to the west of Sheffield city centre. The ground was originally built in 1804, but has been the home of Hallam Football Club, which currently in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, since its foundation in 1860.
Sandygate may be the oldest football ground in the world, but Hallam FC is not, in fact, the oldest football club in the world. According to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), that honour belongs to nearby Sheffield Football Club, who currently play in the Northern Premier League Division One East. Sheffield FC was founded in 1857, three years before Hallam FC, but encouraged the formation of the latter club, leading to a challenge match between the two, at Sandygate, on December 26, 1860.
The ‘Rules Derby’ – so-called because it originally played under a code of rules drawn up by Sheffield FC in 1858, prior to the formation of the Football Association (FA) in 1863 – is no longer a regular fixture, not least because Sheffield FC currently compete in the tier above their neighbours. However, the teams routinely meet in pre-season friendly matches, both at Sandygate and at the aptly-named Home of Football Stadium in the town of Dronfield, seven miles or so down the A61 from Sheffield city centre, where Sheffield FC is based. Richard Tims, Chairman of Sheffield FC for over 25 years, said of the fixture, ‘It’s a great derby and a great tradition, one which has forever been based on football’s original values of integrity, respect and community.’
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, was proposed by Charles Alcock, the Honorary Secretary of the Football Association, in July, 1871. The first ever final was contested by Wanderers and Royal Engineers, not at the original Wembley Stadium, which wasn’t completed until 1923, but at Kennington Oval in Lambeth, South London, on March 16, 1872. On that occasion, just 2,000 spectators, each paying what ‘Bell’s Life’ described as an ‘exorbitant’ 1/- for the privilege, watched Wanderers win 1-0, courtesy of a goal by full-back Morton Betts.
Fast forward 52 years and the first FA Cup Final to be played at Wembley Stadium, the so-called ‘White Horse Final’, on April 28, 1923, was an altogether more congested affair. The official attendance figure for the match was 126,047, but various estimates suggest the actual figure was more like 200,000, or even 300,000. The gates opened at 11.30am, fully three and a half hours before the scheduled 3.00pm kick-off, but closed again at 1.45pm. Nevertheless, thousands of disappointed fans jumped over, or broke through, the turnstiles, overwhelmed police and stewards and spilled onto the pitch.
Kick-off was delayed by 45 minutes and, with postponement looking increasing likely, ten mounted policeman, assisted by others on foot, managed to manoeuvre spectators back beyond the touchlines. Constable George Scorey and his ‘white’ horse, Billie – who was actually grey, but nonetheless stood out on black-and-white photographs and newsreel footage of the day – were singled out for special praise, hence the ‘White Horse Final’.
Once underway, the match, between First Division Bolton Wanderers and Second Division West Ham, was largely unsatisfactory, due to the state of the pitch and the proximity of the crowd. After two minutes, West Ham left-back was temporarily trapped in the crowd, allowing Bolton inside forward David Jack to score the opening goal. Further controversy followed earlier in the second half, when Bolton centre forward Jack Smith scored a disputed goal, which West Ham claimed had rebounded off a goalpost, rather than a spectator behind the goal, which was the view of the referee. In any event, Bolton Wanderers won 2-0 to become the inaugural winners of the FA Cup.
According to Guiness World Records, the oldest professional footballer to play in an official match was Egyptian Ezzeldin Mohamed Ali Bahader. Born on November 3, 1945, Bahader made his debut for 6 October Club, Cairo agaist Genius Football Club in the Egyptian Third Division on March 6, 2020, at the age of 74 years and 125 days. Despite carrying hamstring and knee injuries, the grandfather-of-six completed the full 90 minutes and, in a truly fairytale ending, scored a late goal from the penalty spot to tie the scores at 1-1.
Bahader said afterwards, ‘I’ve always longed to play for a big club, but it remained just a dream.’ However, inspired by the exploits of Japanese striker Kazuyoshi ‘King Kazu’ Miura – who was just 50 years and 14 days old when he became the oldest professional player to score in an official match, in 2017 – he set himself a new target and starting applying to join clubs.
Of course, the ambitious septuagenarian hit the target, figuratively and literally, at the first time of asking, but he also became, officially, the oldest active professional footballer, beating the previous record set by Israeli goalkeeper Isaak Hiyak. Hiyak was 73 years and 357 days old when he turned out for his club, Maccabi Ironi Or Yehuda, in the Israeli Fourth Division, on April 5, 2019. Reflecting on his achievenments, Bahader said, philosophically, ‘Nothing is easy, but nothing is impossible.’
An association football, or ‘soccer’ ball, essentially consists of an inflatable bag, or bladder, surrounded by a lining and covered with synthetic leather. A synthetic rubber, known as butyl rubber, or just butyl, is impermeable to air and, as such, is the material of choice for bladders in high-quality footballs. Likewise, polyester, a synthetic fabric, has replaced cotton as the material of choice for linings in state-of-the-art footballs, principally because its fibres degrade slower than the natural alternative. Several layers of lining are laminated together and placed between the bladder and the cover to provide shape, strength and consistent bounce characteristics.
The outer cover of high-end footballs typically consists of panels of polyurethane (PU) leather, which is not waterproof, but water-resistant, so does not become waterlogged like old-fashioned full grain leather. Most footballs consists of 32 panels, 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal, arranged to form a figure that mathematicians call a truncated icosahedron. Once assembled and inflated, the faces of the football bulge due to the internal air pressure to create a perfect sphere, as required by the Laws of the Game.
Upmarket footballs are usually tightly hand-stitched, with thick, waxed polyester or nylon cord, by turning the ball completely inside out. Hand-stitching is highly labour-intensive and even an experienced stitcher can take three or four hours to complete a single football from start to finish. Neverless, the process creates deep, strong seams that are water- and wear-resistant. By contrast, thermally bonded, or moulded, footballs are not stitched at all. Instead, adhesive is applied to the edges of the component panels, which are assembled in a mould and heated, under pressure, to join them together. This process is obviously less labour-intensive, and cheaper, than hand-stitching the panels together, but the finish is inferior.