The 1902–03 FA Cup was the 32nd season of the world's oldest

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as 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 ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

won the competition for the second and (as of 2022) final time, beating Derby County 6–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

at Crystal Palace. This scoreline stood as a record victory in an FA Cup final until

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

equalled it by beating

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

6–0 on 18 May 2019. Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held at neutral venues until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

would be played.

Calendar

The format of the FA Cup for the season had a preliminary round, five qualifying rounds, an intermediate round, three proper rounds, and the semi-finals and final.

Intermediate Round

The Intermediate Round featured ten games, played between the ten winners of the Fifth Qualifying Round, and ten teams given byes. First Division

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, along with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, Woolwich Arsenal,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

and Lincoln City from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

were entered automatically into this round, as were non-league

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, Bristol Rovers, West Ham United and Millwall Athletic. The other Second Division sides had to gain entry to this round through the earlier qualifying rounds. Burton United,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and Stockport County were entered at the First Qualifying Round, while the others,

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, Doncaster Rovers,

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

, Leicester Fosse and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, were entered in the Third Qualifying Round. Of these, only Manchester United, Glossop and Burton United reached the Intermediate Round. They were joined by seven other non-league sides. The ten matches were played on 13 December 1902. Three matches went to replays, with one of these going to a second replay (held at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

First round proper

The First Round Proper contained 16 ties between 32 teams. 17 of the 18 First Division sides were given a bye to this round, as were

and Small Heath from the

, and Southern League teams

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. They joined the ten teams who won in the intermediate round. The matches were played on Saturday, 7 February 1903. Four matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek. One of these, the Notts County v Southampton match, went to a second replay, which Notts County won at Small Heath's St Andrew's ground.

Second Round Proper

The eight Second Round matches were played on Saturday, 21 February 1903. There was one replay, between Nottingham Forest and Stoke City, played in the following midweek.

Third round proper

The four Third Round matches were played on Saturday 7 March 1903. There were no replays.

Semi-Finals

The semi-final matches were played at neutral venues on Saturday 21 March 1903. Bury and Derby County won and went on to meet each other in the final. ----

Final

The Final was contested by

and Derby County at Crystal Palace. Bury won 6–0, with goals from George Ross,

Charlie Sagar Charles Sagar (28 March 1878 – 4 December 1919) was an English footballer. Born in Edgworth, Lancashire, he played in The Football League for Bury and Manchester United at the turn of the 20th century. He also played twice for the England nat ...

Joe Leeming Joseph Leeming (22 September 1876 – 30 April 1962) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bury and in the Southern League for Brighton & Hove Albion. He also represented an England league team and was on the winning ...

(2),

William Wood William Wood may refer to: Politicians * William Wood (MP for Berkshire), Member of Parliament (MP) for Berkshire, 1395 * William Wood (15th century MP), MP for Winchester, 1413 * William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801–1881), British statesma ...

and Jack Plant. The scoreline was a record for the biggest winning margin in the FA Cup final until Manchester City equalled it in 2019.

Match details

References

;General
Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com
1902-03 FA Cup at soccerbase.com
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Fa Cup 1902-03 1902-03