The 1947–48 FA Cup was the 67th staging of the world's oldest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly 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 ...

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 ...

won the competition for only the second time, beating

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 ...

4–2 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 ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. 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. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. 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 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

First round proper

At this stage 41 clubs from the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

joined 25

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

clubs who had advanced through the qualifying rounds.

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, as the strongest non-promoted Third Division finishers in the previous season, were given a bye to the third round, along with Swansea Town. To make the number of matches up, non-league

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, the previous season's F. A. Amateur Cup winners and runners-up respectively, were given byes to this round. 34 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 29 November 1947. Six were drawn and went to replays.

Second round proper

The matches were played on Saturday, 13 December 1947. Seven matches were drawn, with replays taking place the following Saturday. One of these then went to a second replay.

Third round proper

The 44

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

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 ...

clubs entered the competition at this stage, along with

and Swansea Town. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 10 January 1948. Two matches were drawn and went to replays on the following Saturday.

Fourth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 24 January 1948. One game was drawn and went to a replay, which was played on the following Saturday.

Fifth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 7 February 1948. There was one replay, taking place the following Saturday.

Sixth round proper

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 28 February 1948. There was one replay, in the QPR–Derby County match.

Semifinals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 13 March 1948. Manchester United and Blackpool won their ties to meet in the final at Wembley. The gate receipts for the tie at Villa Park were £18,817 a record at the time for that ground. ----

Final

The 1948 FA Cup final was contested by

and

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 24 April 1948. Both teams played in a changed strip, Blackpool in white shirts and blue shorts and Manchester United in unfamiliar blue shirts and white shorts.

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

was playing his first season for Blackpool and they led the favourites 2-1 only to lose to United, who hadn't appeared in an

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

for 39 years, won 4–2, with two goals from

Jack Rowley John Frederick Rowley (7 October 1918 – 28 June 1998) was an English footballer who played as a forward from the 1930s to the 1950s, mainly remembered for a 17-year spell with Manchester United. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his p ...

and one apiece from

Stan Pearson Stanley Clare Pearson (11 January 1919 – 20 February 1997) was an English footballer. Born in Salford, Lancashire, Pearson was signed by Manchester United as an amateur in December 1935 and turned professional in May 1937. His first senior ga ...

and

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

Eddie Shimwell Edmund Shimwell (27 February 1920 – 30 September 1988) was an English professional footballer. Playing career Born in Birchover,Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...

scored Blackpool's goals. With his goal, Shimwell became the first full-back to score at Wembley whilst

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...

maintained his record of scoring in every round. The cup had gone to United in a game that many critics still rate as the best footballing final ever seen at Wembley Stadium. One reporter David Pole, commented; "If United's display was as close to perfection as any team could hope to go, Blackpool's was not far behind."

Match details

References

;General
Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com
1947-48 FA Cup at soccerbase.com
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1947-48 FA Cup FA Cup seasons