1905 in sports

Alf Common: football's first £1,000 player

1905 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

American football [edit]

College championship

College football national championship – Chicago Maroons and Yale Bulldogs (shared)

Professional championships

Events

The college football season is blighted by a spate of serious injuries, some fatal, and U S President Theodore Roosevelt calls upon the game's authorities to reform it.
6 October — Night-time football is played west of the Mississippi for the first time (see 1905 Cooper vs. Fairmount football game)^[1]
December 25 — An experimental game using new rules is played in Wichita, Kansas under the supervision of John H. Outland. Proposed rules changes include the addition of the forward pass.^[2]

Association football [edit]

England

The Football League – Newcastle United 48 points, Everton 47, Manchester City 46, Aston Villa 42, Sunderland 40, Sheffield United 40
FA Cup final – Aston Villa 2–0 Newcastle United at Crystal Palace, London.
14 March — foundation of Chelsea FC
Alf Common becomes the first player ever to be transferred for £1,000 when he moves from Sunderland to Middlesbrough
The First and Second Divisions are expanded from eighteen to twenty teams each ahead of the 1905-06 season, bringing the total number of League clubs to 40. New clubs elected to the league include Chelsea, Hull City and Leeds City.

Germany

National Championship – Union Berlin 2–0 Karlsruher FV at Köln-Merheim

Scotland

Scottish Football League – Celtic
Scottish Cup final – Third Lanark 3–1 Rangers at Hampden Park (replay, following 0–0 draw at Hampden Park)

Turkey

Galatasaray founded in Istanbul

Athletics [edit]

Frederick Lorz wins the ninth running of the Boston Marathon.^[3]

Australian rules football [edit]

VFL Premiership

Fitzroy wins the 9th VFL Premiership: Fitzroy 4.6 (30) d Collingwood 2.5 (17) at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Baseball [edit]

World Series

9–14 October — New York Giants (NL) defeats Philadelphia Athletics (AL) by 4 games to 1 in the 1905 World Series, which is the first organised by the modern National and American Leagues.

Boxing [edit]

Events

13 May — James J. Jeffries announces his retirement from boxing and relinquishes the World Heavyweight Championship title
3 July — Jeffries referees the Marvin Hart v. Jack Root fight at Reno and "awards" his title to Hart, who has won by a 12th round knockout. Besides winning this bout, Hart has earlier in the year defeated Jack Johnson over 20 rounds at San Francisco. Hart holds the title until 1906.
9 September — Battling Nelson defeats Jimmy Britt by an eighteenth-round knockout to win the World Lightweight Championship.
20 December — Bob Fitzsimmons loses his World Light Heavyweight Championship to Philadelphia Jack O'Brien on a 13th round technical knockout in San Francisco. O'Brien effectively relinquishes the title soon afterwards and it remains vacant until 1914.

Lineal world champions^[4]

World Heavyweight Championship – James J. Jeffries → vacant → Marvin Hart
World Light Heavyweight Championship – Bob Fitzsimmons → Philadelphia Jack O'Brien → vacant
World Middleweight Championship – Tommy Ryan
World Welterweight Championship – Barbados Joe Walcott
World Lightweight Championship – Jimmy Britt → Battling Nelson
World Featherweight Championship – Abe Attell
World Bantamweight Championship – Joe Bowker → vacant → Jimmy Walsh

Cricket [edit]

England

County Championship – Yorkshire
Minor Counties Championship – Norfolk
Most runs – C B Fry 2801 @ 70.02 (HS 233)
Most wickets – Walter Lees 193 @ 18.01 (BB 9–81)
Wisden Cricketers of the Year – David Denton, Walter Lees, George Thompson, Joe Vine, Levi Wright

Australia

Sheffield Shield – New South Wales
Most runs – Warwick Armstrong 460 @ 57.50 (HS 200)
Most wickets – Frederick Collins 27 @ 23.37 (BB 6–64)

India

Bombay Presidency – Parsees

South Africa

Currie Cup – Transvaal

West Indies

Inter-Colonial Tournament – not contested

Cycling [edit]

Tour de France

Louis Trousselier (France) wins the 3rd Tour de France

Figure skating [edit]

World Figure Skating Championships

World Men's Champion – Ulrich Salchow (Sweden)

Golf [edit]

Major tournaments

British Open – James Braid
US Open – Willie Anderson

Other tournaments

British Amateur – Arthur Barry
US Amateur – Chandler Egan

Horse racing [edit]

England

Grand National – Kirkland
1,000 Guineas Stakes – Cherry Lass
2,000 Guineas Stakes – Vedas
Epsom Derby – Cicero
Epsom Oaks – Cherry Lass
St. Leger Stakes – Challacombe

Australia

Melbourne Cup – Blue Spec

Canada

Queen's Plate – Inferno

Ireland

Irish Grand National – Red Lad
Irish Derby Stakes – Flax Park

USA

Kentucky Derby – Agile
Preakness Stakes – Cairngorm
Belmont Stakes – Tanya

Ice hockey [edit]

Stanley Cup

Ottawa Hockey Club wins a challenge series against the Dawson City Nuggets of Dawson City, Yukon two games to nil. The Dawson club has travelled over 4,000 miles by dog sled, boat and train to play the Silver Seven but are outmatched. Frank McGee, incensed by comments from the Dawson squad, scores 14 goals as Ottawa wins the second game 23–2.
Ottawa wins the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) championship to defend the Stanley Cup.
Ottawa defeats Rat Portage Thistles 2 games to nil in a Stanley Cup challenge.

Events

9 December — Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) is formed from teams in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) and the FAHL. Stanley Cup champion Ottawa and Montreal Wanderers join from FAHL and Montreal, Montreal Shamrocks, Montreal Victorias and Quebec Bulldogs join from the CAHL.

Lacrosse [edit]

Events

The Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (ILA) is replaced by the Intercollegiate Lacrosse League, which will be renamed the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) in 1929.

Motor racing [edit]

Gordon Bennett Cup

Sixth and final running of the Gordon Bennett Cup takes place in France on the Charade Circuit, then known as the Circuit d'Auvergne, at Clermont-Ferrand. As road racing has been banned in France, this is the first time the trophy is contested on a circuit. The winner for the second successive year is Léon Théry (France) driving a Richard-Brasier.

Ardennes Circuit

The fourth Circuit des Ardennes is run on 7 August over 591.255 km (118.251 km x 5 laps) in the vicinity of Bastogne. The winner is Victor Hémery (France) driving a Darracq 80 hp in a time of 5:58:32.

Vanderbilt Cup

The second Vanderbilt Cup is run on 14 October over 455.430 km (45.543 km x 10 laps) on Long Island. The winner is Victor Hémery (France) driving a Darracq 80 hp in a time of 4:36:08.

Rowing [edit]

The Boat Race

1 April — Oxford wins the 62nd Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

Rugby league [edit]

England

Championship – Oldham
Challenge Cup final – Warrington 6–0 Hull Kingston Rovers at Headingley Stadium, Leeds
Lancashire League Championship – not contested
Yorkshire League Championship – not contested
County cup competitions introduced in both Lancashire and Yorkshire ahead of the 1905–06 season. These are knockout competitions in the same format as the Challenge Cup except for their regional character.