1902 FA Cup final
The 1902 FA Cup final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Southampton on Saturday, 19 April 1902 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1901–02 FA Cup, the 31st edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup.
Sheffield United were appearing in their third final and Southampton in their second – Sheffield United won the cup in 1899 and were runners-up in 1901; Southampton were runners-up in 1900. Both teams joined the competition in the first round proper and progressed through four rounds to the final. As a member of the Football League First Division, Sheffield United were exempt from the competition's qualifying phase. Southampton, as a member of the Southern League would normally have been required to pre-qualify but, as champions of the Southern League in 1900–01, they were given byes through the qualifying phase to the first round.
The final was watched by a crowd of 74,479 and ended in a 1–1 draw. The goalscorers were Alf Common for Sheffield United and, in controversial circumstances, Harry Wood for Southampton. A replay was held a week later on 26 April, also at the Crystal Palace stadium, but before a much-reduced crowd of 33,068. Sheffield United won 2–1 with goals by George Hedley and Billy Barnes against one by Albert Brown for Southampton. Sheffield United won the cup again in 1915 and 1925. Southampton, whose appearance in the 1902 final was the last by a team from outside The Football League, won the cup in 1976.
Background
The FA Cup, known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic English football. The competition was first proposed on 20 July 1871 by C. W. Alcock at a meeting of The Football Association committee. The tournament was first played in the 1871–72 season and is the world's oldest association football competition. The 1902 match between Sheffield United and Southampton at Crystal Palace was the 31st final and the second of the 20th century. Sheffield United were appearing in the final for the third time, having defeated Derby County 4–1 in 1899 and lost 1–3 to Tottenham Hotspur in the 1901 replay. Southampton were making their second appearance after losing 0–4 to Bury in 1900.Sheffield United were members of the Football League First Division and, in the 1901–02 league championship, amassed 33 points to finish in 10th position, only three points clear of the relegation placings. Southampton were the reigning Southern League champions, but they slipped to third place in the 1901–02 championship, five points behind new champions Portsmouth. Southern League teams normally had to qualify for the first round proper of the FA Cup but, as champions, Southampton were exempted from pre-qualification and were given byes to the first round.
Sheffield United's team between 1889 and 1932 was selected by a committee but with the club secretary in charge of the team on match days. In 1902, this was John Nicholson. Southampton's club secretary Ernest Arnfield took charge of their team on match days.
Route to the final
Sheffield United
Sheffield United entered the competition in the first round proper and played seven matches, including three replays, en route to the final. They played against three teams from the First Division and one from the Southern League.Early rounds
In the first round, they were drawn away on Saturday, 25 January to the Southern League's Northampton Town, and won 2–0. The goals were scored by Walter Bennett and Alf Common.Sheffield were drawn at home in the second round against First Division Bolton Wanderers. The match was played at Bramall Lane on Saturday, 8 February and Sheffield won 2–1. The Sheffield goalscorers were Bennett and Fred Priest. James McKee scored for Bolton.
Sheffield faced First Division opposition again in the third round having been drawn away to Newcastle United. This tie went to a replay after a 1–1 draw at St James' Park on Saturday, 22 February. In its report of the third round matches, The Times mentioned that Newcastle had beaten the league-leaders Sunderland and so were confident of success against Sheffield. However, as the report says, Sheffield United had a "reputation as keen fighters in cup ties". Sheffield led 1–0 at half-time and The Times says "Newcastle only managed to draw the match after a great struggle". Sheffield's goal was scored by Priest. The Newcastle equaliser was scored by Willie Stewart.
Five days later, Sheffield won 2–1 in the replay at Bramall Lane. Their goalscorers were Ernest Needham and Common. R. S. McColl scored for Newcastle.
Semi-final
The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues on Saturday, 15 March, and Sheffield United were drawn to play Derby County at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich. The result was a 1–1 draw before a crowd of 33,603. The Times report says that Derby were the better team and "deserved to win". After Derby took an early lead through Ben Warren, Sheffield's second-half equaliser was scored against the run of play by George Hedley after a mistake by the Derby goalkeeper, Jack Fryer, and The Times says this cost Derby a victory.The replay was arranged for Thursday, 20 March at Molineux in Wolverhampton and this also ended 1–1, watched by 13,284. In a brief report, The Times mentioned that the weather was "squally" and conditions were therefore difficult. The match went to extra time and the goalscorers were Priest for Sheffield and Dick Wombwell for Derby.
A second replay was necessary and was played a week later on Thursday, 27 March, at the City Ground in Nottingham. The crowd figure was about 15,000. This time the deadlock was broken. Priest scored the only goal of the game after Derby had missed a penalty and Sheffield United won 1–0 to reach their third final in four seasons.
Southampton
Like Sheffield United, Southampton entered the competition in the first round proper and played six matches, including two replays, en route to the final. They played against three teams from the First Division and one from the Southern League.Early rounds
In the first round, Southampton were drawn away to their Southern League rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who were the FA Cup-holders. The match was played at White Hart Lane on Saturday, 25 January before a crowd of 20,000 and ended in a 1–1 draw. The goals were scored by David Copeland for Tottenham and Tommy Bowman for Southampton.The replay at The Dell was played on Wednesday, 29 January. The crowd was 10,000 and the match ended in another draw, this time 2–2. Extra time was played but without any change in the score and a second replay was necessary. The Tottenham goals were both scored by Ted Hughes and Southampton's scorers were Edgar Chadwick and Joe Turner.
The second replay was played on a neutral venue at Elm Park, the home of Reading FC, on Monday, 3 February, in front of a crowd of only 6,000. The pitch was icy and covered in snow, so much so that the touchlines had to be painted blue, and the match kicked off with snow still falling. As in their first two meetings, the teams were very evenly matched and the tie was eventually decided by a mistake. The score at half-time was 0–0 but then Tottenham took the lead with a goal by Jack Kirwan. Southampton equalised very quickly with a goal by Archie Turner and then, when it looked as if the match would end in another draw, Tottenham's Sandy Tait made a poor backpass to his goalkeeper Fred Griffiths. It was intercepted by Albert Brown who rounded Griffiths to score the winning goal.
In the second round on Saturday, 8 February, Southampton were drawn at home against the reigning Football League champions Liverpool, who had dropped into a mid-table position in the First Division. According to the Southampton trainer Bill Dawson, the match was "the finest exhibition of football put up by ". Southampton won 4–1 with goals from Archie Turner, Joe Turner and Bert Lee. Liverpool's goal was scored by George Fleming.
Southampton then faced First Division Bury at Gigg Lane in the third round on Saturday, 22 February. Bury had outplayed Southampton in the 1900 FA Cup Final, winning 4–0, so Southampton wanted to redress the balance somewhat. In a match that Collett, Chalk and Holley have described as a "real thriller", Southampton took a measure of revenge by winning 3–2. As described in Chalk and Holley's account, the match was all square at 2–2 with goals by Harry Wood and Joe Turner matching those by George Ross and Charlie Sagar for the home side. Injuries to the two Southampton goalscorers had reduced them to nine players and the team were defending "desperately" to hang on for a replay. After a spell of seven successive corners for Bury, Albert Brown broke up the pitch with most of the Bury players in the Southampton half. After sprinting the full length of the pitch, Brown unleashed a shot that hit the crossbar and rebounded over his head. Edgar Chadwick was following up and trapped the ball, feinted to go past the goalkeeper and, as the match report says, "coolly slotted the ball in the other corner" to secure victory.
Semi-final
In the semi-final on Saturday, 15 March, Southampton returned to White Hart Lane, this time a neutral venue, to play First Division Nottingham Forest and won 3–1 after extra time. The score was 1–1 at the end of normal time after goals by Chadwick for Southampton and John Calvey for Forest. In extra time, Albert Brown scored twice, once from the penalty spot and then, in the final minute, with what the match report called "a wonderful goal with a screw shot from an oblique angle".Southampton were now in the final for the second time in three years and it was the third season in succession that a Southern League team had reached the final. Meanwhile, with Sheffield United needing two replays to settle their semi-final against Derby County, Southampton sought an advantage by sending Harry Wood to the City Ground in Nottingham so that he could "spy" on them in their second replay.