The 1876–77

Birmingham Senior Cup The Birmingham Senior Cup is a football competition for Birmingham County FA club teams, organised by the Birmingham County Football Association. It began in 1876 and is the oldest county cup competition still active. The Birmingham Senior Cup is ...

was the first edition of the first football tournament played to Football Association laws, other than the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, and therefore the first local senior tournament.

Background

The Birmingham Football Association was founded in 1875 and took a subscription of £3 from its member clubs in order to commission a trophy for a member tournament, the trophy costing £50 and made by Mr R Williams of Wednesbury. Not all of the clubs could afford the £3 subscription - the Harold club for instance only contributing 15s and Wednesbury Old Park 10s 6d. The bulk of the shortfall was met by the wealthy Calthorpe club, which contributed £7 7s, and Wednesbury Town and West Bromwich contributed £5 5s each. By 1876, the association had 16 members, with 500-600 members all told, and all clubs entered the competition. Until 1877, the Association laws did not specify the number of players per side, and it was agreed that the matches would be with 12 players per side. There was also some local leeway with regard to the laws of the game; in particular, the Birmingham local rules stipulated that "corner" kicks should be taken 20 yards from the goalposts, rather than the corner flag.

Participating teams

Format

The competition was organized as a straight knockout tournament, with replays to a conclusion.

Results

All results as given in History of the Birmingham Senior Cup by Steve Carr unless otherwise stated.

First round

Replays

Second round

Semi-finals

Final

The final was played at Calthorpe's ground on the Bristol Road. A special train left

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

at 2.05pm, calling at

Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of 3 ...

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

, and

Hockley Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 189 ...

, to allow the team members and their friends to travel to the final. The Roadsters took a two goal lead in the first half-an-hour of the match, both scored by Crump, but Page shot just under the bar for a goal back shortly before half-time. Holmes scored two quick goals in the second half, which were enough to secure the trophy for the Old Uns.

Aftermath

Following the formal trophy presentation that evening, the local FA resolved to abolish the "hazardous custom" of charging in local matches, on the basis that it was too dangerous.

References

Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands 1876–77 in English football {{DEFAULTSORT:1876-77 Birmingham Senior Cup