The 1911–12 FA Cup was the 41st 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

won the competition for the first time, beating

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

1–0 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 only if the game is required t ...

in the replay of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, through a goal from Harry Tufnell. The first match, held at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, was a 0–0 draw. 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

would be played.

Calendar

The format of the FA Cup for the season had two preliminary rounds, five qualifying rounds, four proper rounds, and the semi-finals and final.

Qualifying rounds

The

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

restructured the preliminary rounds of this year's Cup competition to even out the number of clubs entering the tournament at these stages. The extra preliminary round contained more than 100 teams (112) for the first time, while a further 114 clubs joined the 56 winners at the preliminary stage. Crook Town became the first club to progress from the extra preliminary round to the fifth qualifying round, defeating Seaham Villa, Seaham Harbour, Stanley United, West Stanley, Wingate Albion Comrades and Newcastle City along the way before bowing out to Lincoln City. The 12 winners from the fifth qualifying round were

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

from the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

along with non-league sides

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

, Lincoln City, Southport Central, Croydon Common,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and Sutton Junction (who were appearing in the main draw for the first time and who had realised this accomplishment more than 20 years before their fierce crosstown rivals Sutton Town).

First round proper

37 of the 40 clubs from the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

divisions joined the 12 clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. The other three sides (Gainsborough, Stockport and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

) were entered in the fourth qualifying round. Grimsby lost their one and only match, also to Lincoln City. Fifteen Southern League sides also received byes to the first round to bring the total number of teams up to 64. These were: 32 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 13 January 1912. Eight matches were drawn and went to replays on various dates between 16-25 January. One of these matches went to a second replay, which was also played on 25 January.

Second round proper

The sixteen second-round matches were played on Saturday, 3 February 1912. Five matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek fixture.

Third round proper

The eight third-round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 24 February 1912. There were two replays, played in the following midweek fixture.

Fourth round proper

The four quarter final matches were scheduled for Saturday, 9 March 1912. There were two replays, played in the following midweek fixture. One of these went to a second replay the following week, and this then went to a third replay three days after that.

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 30 March 1912. Both matches went to replays, which West Bromwich Albion and Barnsley won, going on to meet each other in the final. ;Replay ---- ;Replay

Final

The Final was contested by

and

. It took two matches to determine a winner. The first took place at

on 20 April 1912 and the second on 24 April at

. Barnsley won the replay 1–0 after

, through a single goal from Harry Tufnell.

Match details

Replay

References

;General
Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com
1911-12 FA Cup at soccerbase.com
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:FA Cup 1911–12 1911–12 1911–12 in English football cups