FA Cup Facts And Trivia

The Cup Final

Final Coverage
Cup Final Tickets
Recent Finals
Previous Finals
Cup Final Traditions
Cup Final Venues
Lower Division Finalists
Relegated Finalists
Non-English Finalists

Final Coverage

The 1999 Cup Final, the 53rd post war final and 118th overall, takes place on Saturday 21st May 1999, kick-off 3pm BST (1400 GMT). In the UK it will be shown live in full on ITV and Sky TV. ITV coverage usually starts around noon, Sky TV's coverage last season commenced at 9am.

Live radio commentary in the UK is usually provided by Radio 5 Live (693/909kHz) and worldwide by the BBC World Service (6.195/9.410 MHz).

Cup Final Tickets

Cup final tickets are notoriously difficult to obtain. The two finalists each receive around 25000 tickets to distribute amongst their supporters. The remaining 30000 or so tickets are distributed to the County FAs, member clubs, corporate sponsors etc.

With both finalists average crowds being well above the number of tickets they will receive there obviously won't enough to go around. Most clubs which reach the final seems to run a voucher scheme - vouchers are distributed at home games throughout the season and supporters must collect a certain number of vouchers to be eligible to buy tickets.

In spite of the FA's attempts and government legislation, many tickets inevitably end up in the hands of ticket touts who charge well over the face value for them. For most people this is the only way to acquire a ticket, although recent government legislation has made it an offence to buy or sell tickets for more than their face value.

Recent Finals

1998  Arsenal                   2  Newcastle United          0
1997  Chelsea                   2  Middlesbrough             0
1996  Manchester United         1  Liverpool                 0
1995  Everton                   1  Manchester United         0
1994  Manchester United         4  Chelsea                   0
1993  Arsenal                 1:2  Sheffield Wednesday     1:1*
--- FA Carling Premiership formed ---
1992  Liverpool                 2  Sunderland                0
1991  Tottenham Hotspur         2  Nottingham Forest         1*
1990  Manchester United       3:1  Crystal Palace          3:0
1989  Liverpool                 3  Everton                   2*
1988  Wimbledon                 1  Liverpool                 0
1987  Coventry City             3  Tottenham Hotspur         2*
1986  Liverpool                 3  Everton                   1
1985  Manchester United         1  Everton                   0*
1984  Everton                   2  Watford                   0
1983  Manchester United       2:4  Brighton & Hove Albion  2:0
1982  Tottenham Hotspur       1:1  Queen's Park Rangers    1:0
1981  Tottenham Hotspur       1:3  Manchester City         1:2
1980  West Ham United           1  Arsenal                   0
* after extra time

Cup Final Traditions

Ribbons: The tradition of putting ribbons in the colours of the winners is believed to be started by Tottenham Hotspur at their post-match celebration in 1901. Every year before the final both sets of ribbons are attached to the Cup and the losers are removed before the presentation.
Abide With Me: An innovation at the 1927 Cup Final was the singing of the hymn Abide With Me before the game, a tradition which has continued ever since.
Dressing Rooms: Traditionally the finalists are allocated dressing rooms on an alphabetical basis with the first-lettered team always going in the North dressing room (except in 1964 when Preston and West Ham were mistakenly allocated the wrong rooms). The South dressing room is considered the luckier as 70% of winners since the war have emerged from it.

Cup Final Venues

1872       Kennington Oval, London
1873       Lillie Bridge, London
1874-1892  Kennington Oval
1886 rep   The Racecouse, Derby
1893       Fallowfield, Manchester
1894       Goodison Park, Liverpool
1895-1914  Crystal Palace, London
1901 rep   Burnden Park, Bolton
1910 rep   Goodison Park, Liverpool
1911 rep   Old Trafford, Manchester
1912 rep   Bramall Lane, Sheffield
1915       Old Trafford, Manchester
1920-22    Stamford Bridge, London
1923-date  Wembley Stadium, London
1970 rep   Old Trafford

Lower Division Finalists

The following clubs from outside the top Division have reached the FA Cup Final. Cup winners are marked by an asterisk.

1890   The Wednesday (1st, Football Alliance)
1894  *Notts County (3rd, Div 2)
1900   Southampton (3rd, Southern League)
1901  *Tottenham Hostpur (5th, Southern League)
1902   Southampton (3rd, Southern League)
1904   Bolton Wanderers (7th, Div 2)
1908  *Wolverhampton Wanderers (9th, Div 2)
1910   Barnsley (9th, Div 2)
1912  *Barnsley (6th, Div 2)
1920   Huddersfield Town (2nd, Div 2)
1921   Wolverhampton Wanderers (15th, Div 2)
1923   West Ham United (2nd, Div 2)
1931  *West Bromwich Albion (2nd, Div 2)
1936   Sheffield United (3rd, Div 2)
1947   Burnley (2nd, Div 2)
1949   Leicester City (19th, Div 2)
1964   Preston North End (3rd, Div 2)
1973  *Sunderland (6th, Div 2)
1975   Fulham (9th, Div 2)
1976  *Southampton (6th, Div 2)
1980  *West Ham United (7th, Div 2)
1982   Queen's Park Rangers (5th, Div 2)
1992   Sunderland (19th, Div 2)

In 1890, The Football Alliance was second in importance only to the Football League.
The Southern League was a prestigious competition for professional clubs in the South until the 3rd Division of the Football League was formed in 1920. In the early 1900s its leading clubs were of an equal standard to Football League Division Two clubs, and occasionally were a match even for Division One clubs. It still exists today, forming part of Level 6 of the Pyramid, and is now know as the Dr. Marten's League.

Relegated Finalists

Four clubs have reached the FA Cup Final and been relegated from the top Division in the same season. All lost the Cup Final.

1926  Manchester City
1969  Leicester City
1983  Brighton & Hove Albion
1997  Middlesbrough

Middlesbourgh were relegated in 1997 in controversial circumstances. They were penalised three points for failing to fulfill a fixture at Blackburn on 21st December 1996, having claimed injuries and sickness would have prevented them fielding a full-strength side, and finished the season two points adrift of safety.

Non-English Finalists

Three Finals have involved a club from outside of England as follows

1884  Queen's Park (Scotland), lost 1-2 to Blackburn Rovers
1885  Queen's Park (Scotland), lost 0-2 to Blackburn Rovers
1927  Cardiff City (Wales), won 1-0 against Arsenal

The 1884 and 1885 Finals are the only consecutive Finals to have involved the same two clubs.

The Final of 1927 brought together Arsenal and Cardiff City. At that time Arsenal had yet to win a major honour. Neither had Cardiff, although they had come close, a missed penalty in their final league game of 1924 had cost them the title and they had been at Wembley in 1925, losing 1-0 to Sheffield United. A goal 17 minutes from time, fumbled into the net by Arsenal's Welsh keeper, Dan Lewis, took the Cup out of England for the first and only time. Arsenal went on to become the most successful side of the 1930s whilst Cardiff City slipped down the divisions and had to seek re-election just 7 years later.

Before 1887 a number of Scottish clubs competed in the FA Cup. Queen's Park of Glasgow reached the Final in 1884 and 1885 but were beaten both times by Blackburn Rovers. The Scottish FA banned their members from joining any other national associations in 1887 because they were afraid the status of their own cup was being threatened.

About this document

Prepared and maintained by James M. Ross
Originally converted to HTML by Chris King

Author: James M. Ross

Last updated: 28 Jul 1998

Copyright © 1995,1998 James M. Ross
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