1898 FA Cup final

1898 FA Cup Final
	Nottingham Forest posing with the trophy
Event	1897–98 FA Cup
Date	16 April 1898
Venue	Crystal Palace, London
Referee	John Lewis; (Market Drayton, Shropshire)
Attendance	62,017
	← 1897 1899 →

The 1898 FA Cup final was an association football match between Derby County and Nottingham Forest on Saturday, 16 April 1898 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1897–98 FA Cup, the 27th edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup.

Derby County and Nottingham Forest were both appearing in their first final. As members of the Football League First Division, they were exempt from the competition's qualifying phase and each joined the competition in the first round proper, progressing through four rounds to the final.

The final was watched by a crowd of 62,017 and Forest, leading 2–1 at half-time, won the match 3–1 with goals by Arthur Capes (2) and John McPherson. Steve Bloomer scored for Derby. Forest won the cup again in 1959. Derby reached the final again in 1899 but were defeated by Sheffield United; they won the cup in 1946.

Background

The FA Cup, known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic English football. The competition was first proposed on 20 July 1871 by C. W. Alcock 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.^[1] The 1898 match between Derby County and Nottingham Forest at Crystal Palace was the 27th final. Both teams were appearing in the final for the first time.^[2]

Derby County and Nottingham Forest were both members of the Football League First Division. In the 1897–98 league championship, Forest amassed 31 points to finish in eighth place, eleven points behind champions Sheffield United. Derby finished in tenth place, three points behind Forest.^[3]

Both teams were selected by a committee with the club secretary in charge on match days. Derby's secretary was Harry Newbould who, in 1900, became their first formally appointed team manager.^[4] Nottingham Forest retained the policy of selection by committee until 1936.^[5] In 1898, their secretary was Harry Hallam.^[6]

Route to the final

Derby County

Round	Opposition	Score
First	Aston Villa (h)	1–0
Second	Wolverhampton Wanderers (a)	1–0
Third	Liverpool (h)	1–1
Third (replay)	Liverpool (a)	5–1
Semi-final	Everton (n)	3–1
Key: (h) = home venue; (a) = away venue; (n) = neutral venue. Source: ^[7]

Derby County entered the competition in the first round proper and played five matches, including one replay, en route to the final. All four of their opponents were other teams in the First Division.^[7]

Early rounds

In the first round on Saturday, 29 January, Derby were at home to Aston Villa

Semi-final

The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues on Saturday, 19 March. Derby faced Liverpool's Merseyside neighbours Everton at Molineux, where Derby had won their second round tie in February.^[7]

Nottingham Forest

Round	Opposition	Score
First	Grimsby Town (h)	4–0
Second	Gainsborough Trinity (h)	4–0
Third	West Bromwich Albion (a)	3–2
Semi-final	Southampton (n)	1–1
Semi-final (replay)	Southampton (n)	2–0
Key: (h) = home venue; (a) = away venue; (n) = neutral venue. Source: ^[8]

Nottingham Forest entered the competition in the first round proper and played five matches, including one replay, en route to the final. One of their opponents was in the First Division, two were in the Second Division and one was in the Southern League.^[8]

Early rounds

In the first round on Saturday, 29 January, Forest were at home to Second Division Grimsby Town.

Semi-final

The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues on Saturday, 19 March, and Forest were drawn to play Southern League champions Southampton at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.^[8]

Match

Forest took the lead with a goal by Capes which Bloomer equalised. After 42 minutes, Richards tried to lob from a McInnes cross. Fryer was reached it first but he dropped the ball at the feet of Capes, who turned it into the empty goal.

In the second half, McPherson scored Forest's third goal four minutes from time.^[4]

Details

16 April 1898
15:30 GMT

Derby County	1–3	Nottingham Forest
Bloomer 31'		Capes 19' 42' McPherson 86'

Crystal Palace, London

Attendance: 62,017

Referee: John Lewis (Market Drayton)

Derby County

Nottingham Forest



GK	Jack Fryer
RB	Jimmy Methven
LB	Joe Leiper
RH	John D. Cox
CH	Archie Goodall
LH	Jimmy Turner
RW	John Goodall
IR	Steve Bloomer
CF	John Boag
IL	Jimmy Stevenson
LW	Hugh McQueen
Club secretary:
Harry Newbould



GK	Dan Allsopp
RB	Archie Ritchie
LB	Adam Scott
RH	Frank Forman (c)
CH	John McPherson
LH	Willie Wragg
RW	Tom McInnes
IR	Charlie Richards
CF	Len Benbow
IL	Arthur Capes
LW	Alf Spouncer
Club secretary:
Harry Hallam

Match rules

90 minutes duration (two halves of 45 minutes each; teams change ends at half-time).^[a]
No extra time if scores level at end of normal time.^[b] Result to be settled by replay at a later date.^[c]
No substitutes allowed.^[d]

Notes

Players are listed above according to their positions on the field. There was no shirt numbering in 1898.^[e]

Post-match

Presentation details and post-match events to follow

Notes

^ The duration of a football match has been 90 minutes since an agreement in 1866 for the match between London and Sheffield.^[9]
^ The FA introduced the option of extra time into its rules in 1897.^[10]
^ The 1875 final was the first in which a replay took place;^[11] this method of deciding the winners continued until 1999.^[12] The 2005 final was the first to be settled by penalty shoot-out.^[2]
^ Although there were isolated instances of substitution in earlier times, it was not until the beginning of the 1965–66 season that substitutes were first allowed in English top-class matches, and then only for replacement of injured players.^[13]
^ The first known instance of shirt numbering in English football was in March 1914.^[14] It was not until the 1939–40 season that a numbering system was formally introduced.^[15]

References

^ Collett 2003, pp. 16–17.
^ ^a ^b "FA Cup Finals". London: The Football Association. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
^ "England 1897–98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 1 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b Rippon, Anton (2013). Derby County: The Story of a Football Club (PDF). Derby: North Bridge Publishing. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-09-92677-90-9.
^ Goldstein, Dan (2000). Rough Guide to English Football. London: Rough Guides Ltd. p. 381. ISBN 978-18-58285-57-3.
^ Collett 2003, p. 800.
^ ^a ^b ^c Collett 2003, p. 268.
^ ^a ^b ^c Collett 2003, p. 453.
^ Young, Percy M. (1981) [1962]. Football in Sheffield. Sheffield: Dark Peak. p. 22. ISBN 978-09-50627-24-3.
^ Murray, Andrew (24 June 2016). "A brief history of (extra) time: is the format right for the modern game?". FourFourTwo. Bath: Future plc. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
^ Collett 2003, p. 19.
^ McNulty, Phil (4 February 2005). "FA Cup in danger of losing lustre". London: BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
^ Ingle, Sean (25 July 2001). "Whatever happened to Len Shackleton's old club?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
^ Cavallini, Rob (2007). Play Up Corinth: A History of The Corinthian Football Club. Stadia. p. 114. ISBN 978-07-52444-79-6.
^ "27. Gunners wear numbered shirts". Arsenal History. London: The Arsenal Football Club plc. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2020.

Bibliography

Collett, Mike (2003). The Complete Record of the FA Cup. Cheltenham: SportsBooks Ltd. ISBN 978-18-99807-19-2.

[10] The duration of a football match has been 90 minutes since an agreement in 1866 for the match between London and Sheffield.^[9]

[12] The FA introduced the option of extra time into its rules in 1897.^[10]

[15] The 1875 final was the first in which a replay took place;^[11] this method of deciding the winners continued until 1999.^[12] The 2005 final was the first to be settled by penalty shoot-out.^[2]

[17] Although there were isolated instances of substitution in earlier times, it was not until the beginning of the 1965–66 season that substitutes were first allowed in English top-class matches, and then only for replacement of injured players.^[13]

[20] The first known instance of shirt numbering in English football was in March 1914.^[14] It was not until the 1939–40 season that a numbering system was formally introduced.^[15]

[FOOTNOTECollett200316–17-1] Collett 2003, pp. 16–17.

[FACF-2] "FA Cup Finals". London: The Football Association. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

[FLA-3] "England 1897–98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 1 November 2020.

[NBP-4] Rippon, Anton (2013). Derby County: The Story of a Football Club (PDF). Derby: North Bridge Publishing. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-09-92677-90-9.

[5] Goldstein, Dan (2000). Rough Guide to English Football. London: Rough Guides Ltd. p. 381. ISBN 978-18-58285-57-3.

[FOOTNOTECollett2003800-6] Collett 2003, p. 800.

[FOOTNOTECollett2003268-7] Collett 2003, p. 268.

[FOOTNOTECollett2003453-8] Collett 2003, p. 453.

[9] Young, Percy M. (1981) [1962]. Football in Sheffield. Sheffield: Dark Peak. p. 22. ISBN 978-09-50627-24-3.

[11] Murray, Andrew (24 June 2016). "A brief history of (extra) time: is the format right for the modern game?". FourFourTwo. Bath: Future plc. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

[FOOTNOTECollett200319-13] Collett 2003, p. 19.

[14] McNulty, Phil (4 February 2005). "FA Cup in danger of losing lustre". London: BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

[16] Ingle, Sean (25 July 2001). "Whatever happened to Len Shackleton's old club?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

[18] Cavallini, Rob (2007). Play Up Corinth: A History of The Corinthian Football Club. Stadia. p. 114. ISBN 978-07-52444-79-6.

[19] "27. Gunners wear numbered shirts". Arsenal History. London: The Arsenal Football Club plc. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2020.

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v t e FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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History List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

v t e Derby County F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1898 1899 1903 1946
FA Charity Shield	1975
Football League play-off Finals	1994 First Division 2007 Championship 2014 Championship 2019 Championship
Other matches	Game of three halves (1894)