The 1927–28 FA Cup was the 53rd staging of the world's oldest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

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

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

won the competition for the sixth and (as of 2024) final time, beating

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

3–1 in the final at

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 the London Borou ...

. 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 (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 ...

would be played.

Calendar

Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

entered the competition in the qualifying rounds. For this tournament, they were joined by

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 from a higher division allocated t ...

side Barrow, who were entered in the fourth qualifying round after the FA reduced the size of the first round proper from 38 matches to 34. The fourth qualifying round remained unchanged at 25 matches, and this season's winners were Stockton, Spennymoor United, Crook Town,

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

(who defeated Barrow 3-1 at Lonsdale Park to gain their place in the main draw),

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

, Oswestry Town, Denaby United,

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 ...

Shirebrook Shirebrook is a town and civil parish in the Bolsover District of Derbyshire, England.OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): It had a population of 13,300 at the 2021 Census. The town is on the B6407 road and close to the A632 road ...

, Peterborough & Fletton United, Wellington Town, Kettering Town,

Southall Southall () is a large suburban town in West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

, Botwell Mission, Clapton,

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

, Chatham,

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. The ...

, London Caledonians,

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

and Bath City. Those featuring at this stage for the first time were Spennymoor United, Denaby United, Shirebrook, Peterborough & Fletton United, Botwell Mission (who would change their name to ''Hayes'' midway through the following season), Dartford and Aldershot, while Oswestry Town had not appeared in the main competition since 1887-88. Bath City also became the first club in the competition's history to progress from the extra preliminary round to the second round proper (although

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

and Thornycrofts (Woolston) had played more matches in reaching the first round proper in 1919-20). Bath defeated

Melksham Melksham () is a town and civil parish on the Bristol Avon, River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. The parish population was 18,113 at the 2021 census. History Early history Excavations in ...

, Spencer Moulton, the team from the

5th Royal Tank Regiment 5th Royal Tank Regiment (5 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army in existence for 52 years, from 1917 until 1969. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. It originally saw action as E Battalio ...

, Swindon Corinthians, Welton Rovers, Lovell's Athletic and Southall before going out to London Caledonians. Spennymoor United progressed from the extra preliminary round to the main draw as well, but lost to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in the first round proper.

First round proper

At this stage 40 clubs from the

and

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

joined the 25

non-league Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

clubs who came through the qualifying rounds.

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

and

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 ...

were given byes to the third round while

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

did not enter the competition this season. To make the number of matches up, non-league sides Northfleet United, Aberdare Athletic and

Leyton Leyton ( ) is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Ri ...

were given byes to this round, with Leyton having won the previous season's

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footb ...

and Aberdare Athletic having only recently been voted out of the Football League (in favour of Torquay). 34 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 26 November 1927. Six matches were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture.

Second round proper

The matches were played on Saturday, 10 December 1927. Two matches were drawn, with replays taking place in the following midweek fixture.

Third round proper

The 44

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 Division clubs, entered the competition at this stage, along with Third Division

and

and amateur side Corinthian. London Caledonians and Peterborough & Fletton United were the last qualifying clubs remaining in the draw. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 14 January 1928. Three matches were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture.

Fourth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 28 January 1928. Three games were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture.

Fifth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 18 February 1928. There was one replay, played in the next midweek fixture.

Sixth round proper

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 3 March 1928. There were no replays.

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 24 March 1928. The Huddersfield Town–Sheffield United local derby tie went to two replays before it was settled in Huddersfield's favour. Huddersfield went on to meet Blackburn Rovers in the final at Wembley. ---- ;Replay ;Replay

Final

The 1928 FA Cup Final was contested by

and

. Blackburn won 3–1, with goals from Jack Roscamp (2) and

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dundee United. E ...

. Alex Jackson scored Huddersfield's goal, making this the first final in 18 years where both teams scored.

Match details

External links

Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com
1927-28 FA Cup at soccerbase.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1927–28 FA Cup FA Cup seasons