The 1899 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Derby County and Sheffield United on Saturday, 15 April 1899 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the

1898–99 FA Cup The 1898–99 FA Cup was the 28th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by Sheffield United, who defeated Derby County 4&ndash ...

, the 28th edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary

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, better known as the FA Cup. Sheffield United were appearing in their first final and Derby County, who had been the 1898 runners-up, in their second. As members of the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, they were both exempt from the competition's qualifying phase and joined it in the first round proper, progressing through four rounds to the final. The final was watched by a crowd of 73,833 and Sheffield United, after being 0–1 down at half-time, dominated the second half of the match to win 4–1 with goals by Walter Bennett,

Billy Beer Billy Beer is a brand of beer first made in the United States in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, whose older brother Jimmy was then the President of the United States. In October 1978, Falls City an ...

Jack Almond John Almond (born 6 November 1876) was an English footballer who played as a forward. Born in Darlington, County Durham, he spent the majority of his career in and around the Yorkshire area with spells at Leeds City, Bradford City, Doncaster Rov ...

and Fred Priest after John Boag had scored a first-half opener for Derby. Sheffield United have won the cup four times in all, their next victory being in

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

. Derby County have won it once, in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

Background

The FA Cup, known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

association football competition in men's domestic English football. The competition was first proposed on 20 July 1871 by

C. W. Alcock Charles William Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of ...

at a meeting of The Football Association committee. The tournament was first played in the 1871–72 season and is the world's oldest association football competition. The 1899 match between Derby County and Sheffield United at Crystal Palace was the 28th final and the penultimate one of the 19th century. Derby County had been runners-up in the previous season's competition while Sheffield United were appearing in the final for the first time. Derby County and Sheffield United were both members of the

. In the 1898–99 league championship, Derby amassed 35 points to finish in ninth place, ten points behind champions

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Sheffield United had won the league title in 1897–98 but had struggled in 1898–99 and finished in 16th place with 29 points, just above the relegation placings. Both teams were selected by a committee with the club secretary in charge on match days. Derby's secretary was

Harry Newbould Henry J. Newbould (1861 – April 1928, born in Liverpool, Lancashire) was an English football player and manager who managed Derby County and Manchester City. Before becoming a manager, Newbould combined a job at an iron foundry with playing fo ...

who, in 1900, became their first formally appointed

team manager A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...

. Sheffield United retained the policy of selection by committee until 1932. In 1899, their secretary was John Nicholson, who was newly appointed.

Route to the final

Derby County

Derby County entered the competition in the first round proper and played four matches en route to the final. Two of their opponents were in the First Division, one was in the Second Division and one was in the Southern League.

Early rounds

In the first round on Saturday, 28 January, Derby were away to Second Division Woolwich Arsenal at the Manor Ground in

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic counties of England, historic county of Kent and the detail of mu ...

. They won 6–0 with goals by Steve Bloomer (2), John Boag (2), Billy MacDonald and Harry Allen. Derby were at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the second round. This match was played on Saturday, 11 February, at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 19 ...

and ended in a 2–1 win for Derby with a goal apiece by Allen and MacDonald. The Wolverhampton scorer was Billy Beats. In the third round, Derby faced the Southern League champions Southampton at The Dell. The match was played on Saturday, 25 February, and Derby won 2–1 with goals by Bloomer and MacDonald. Southampton's goal was scored by

Tom Nicol Thomas Nicol (24 February 1870 – 10 June 1915) was a Scottish footballer who played for Burnley first as a centre forward and then as a full back in the 1890s, before later becoming a bowls champion in Southampton. Football career Burnley ...

Semi-final

The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues on Saturday, 18 March, and Derby were drawn to play First Division Stoke FC at Molineux in Wolverhampton. Steve Bloomer scored all three goals in a 3–1 win which took Derby through to a second successive cup final. The Stoke goal was scored by William Maxwell.

Sheffield United

Sheffield United entered the competition in the first round proper and played nine matches, including five replays, en route to the final. Their four opponents were all other teams in the First Division.

Early rounds

In the first round on Saturday, 28 January, Sheffield were away to Burnley at Turf Moor.

Semi-final

The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues on Saturday, 18 March, and Sheffield were drawn against Liverpool at Burnden Park in Bolton. This ended in a 2–2 draw and three replays were needed to settle the tie. The second replay was at the former

Fallowfield Stadium Fallowfield Stadium was an athletics stadium and velodrome in Fallowfield, Manchester, England. It opened in May 1892 as the home of Manchester Athletics Club after it was forced to move from its home next to Old Trafford Cricket Ground. Fallowfi ...

in Manchester. This match had to be abandoned at half-time because of a crush in the crowd.

Match details

Post-match

The crowd of 73,883 was a world record, though it would be beaten only two years later. Derby had lost the final two years in succession and talk began of a gypsy curse on the club, said to have originated after gypsies were forced to leave the land that became the Baseball Ground.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fa Cup Final 1899

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

1898–99 in English football Derby County F.C. matches Sheffield United F.C. matches April 1899 sports events 1899 sports events in London