Champion Old Etonians F.C. Venue The Oval Attendance 6,000 | Dates 25 Mar 1882 – 25 Mar 1982 Referee John Charles Clegg Event 1881–82 FA Cup | |
Similar 1873 FA Cup Final, 1888 FA Cup Final, 1898 FA Cup Final, 1893 FA Cup Final, 1909 FA Cup Final | ||
The 1882 FA Cup Final was contested by Old Etonians and Blackburn Rovers at the Kennington Oval. Old Etonians won 1–0, the only goal scored, according to most reports, by William Anderson, although another, questionably, gives Reginald Macaulay. It was the last final to be won by one of the Southern "gentleman amateur" teams who had dominated the first decade of the competition.
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Final
In the final, played at Kennington Oval on 25 March 1882, the Old Etonians met Blackburn Rovers, who were the first team from outside London and the Home counties to appear in an FA Cup Final. Blackburn included England internationals, Fred Hargreaves and his brother, John, and Jimmy Brown.
The Old Boys dominated the early stages of the match but Rovers defended well until, according to the match report in Gibbons' "Association Football in Victorian England", "following an expert through ball by Dunn, Macaulay steered the ball between the Blackburn goalposts to secure a well-deserved half-time lead". However, a tribute in The Times (1937) states Macaulay was fond of recalling he outpaced the Blackburn players and helped towards the goal, without claiming to have scored it. Other reports identify the scorer differently: Bell's Life in London, The Field and The Times stated it was Anderson, the first two detailing the ball had been successively passed to him by Macaulay and Dunn, while The Sporting Life states the ball was centred "to the front of the posts" by Novelli before it was kicked "out of a brief and loose bully" (i.e. a scrimmage) by an unnamed player.
Also varied is the time at which the goal was reportedly scored: eight minutes from the start by Bell's Life, ten minutes by The Sportsman, and "a quarter of an hour's play" by The Sporting Life.
The Old Etonians were able to prevent Blackburn from scoring in the second half, thus claiming the cup for the second time in three years.
Programme
In May 2013 a programme from the game sold at auction at Sotheby's for £35,250, a world record for a football programme.