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1885 F A CUP FINAL
BLACKBURN ROVERS 2
VS
QUEENS PARK 0
SCORERS- FORREST {14}, BROWN {58}
4th APRIL-KENNINGTON OVAL-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-12,500
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In the 1884/85 season the Football Associaition bowed to the inevitable and finally legalised professionalism in the North. It was the death knell for those clubs who had dominated the first decade of the cup as teams like Old Etonians, Old Carthusians, Clapham Rovers, Oxford University and Royal Engineers faded into the history books just as the Wanderers had done after the emergence of the old boys teams a few years earlier. For many small towns in the North it would also spell the end for many teams as most towns had five or more clubs battling for supremacy when there was barely room for two.
Blackburn was one such town and Rover's cup win the previous year had placed them at the top of the seven clubs in the town at the time. Now they had to remain at the top and started in round one with 110 other clubs bidding to take the cup from them. Rossendale were given the task of stopping them at this early stage but Fecitt scored four and Barton three in Rover's 11-0 victory. Queens Park had mauled their English opponents right through their cup run last year before losing the highly contentious final and this year they seemed to strike so much fear into Stoke in round one that the potteries club scratched rather than travel to Glasgow. Blackburn Olympic were still among the Nation's top teams and they started their cup run in even better fashion than local rivals Rovers with a 12-0 win over hapless Oswaldtwistle Rovers with four goals for Parker and a hat-trick for Whitehead and there were also easy victories for Birmingham St George's, Walsall Town, West Brom, Nottingham Forest, Darwen, Druids, Macclesfield Town, Lincoln, Newark, Old Carthusians, Great Marlow, Old Forresters, Hendon and Old Westminsters.
Blackburn was buzzing in round two when the two local giants were drawn to play each other. With home advantage, Rovers beat Olympic in a tight game 3-2 with a brace from fecitt and a third from Joe Sowerbutts. Queens Park were having difficulty getting a full ninety minutes as their game with Crewe was abandoned three minutes into the second half. The Scots were 2-1 up at the time and the result was allowed to stand. Darwen Old Wanderers defeated Bolton Association 7-2 and Old Westminsters beat Henley 7-0. Welsh representatives Druids continued on into round three as did Old Carthusians and the once great Old Etonians after convincing wins.
Witton were Blackburn's next victims in round three with a 5-1 win as Fecitt and Sowerbutts kept up their run of scoring in every round. Queens Park again found life tough in defeating Leek Town 3-2. Darwen Old Wanderers came unstuck against local rivals Lower Darwen 4-2 and Old Westminsters also bowed out after losing at the third attempt to Swifts. Church were the headline makers though with a comfortable 10-0 victory over Upton Park while Notts County also progressed with ease.
Blackburn were looking unbeatable by round four and an 8-0 win over Romford with Fecitt and Sowerbutts again scoring two apiece just confirming that belief. Queens Park were also getting into their stride with a 7-0 run out against Old Wykhamists but Lower Darwen exited at Chatham. Swifts exertions had taken their toll as they went down at Nottingham Forest but Church were still on song when defeating Darwen.
Round five was one of the strangest ever as seven teams were given a bye into the quarter finals. the lucky seven were Blackburn, Old Etonians, Nottingham Forest, Queens Park, West Brom, Notts County and Church. Old Carthusians completed the line up by winning the round's only tie 3-0 against Chatham.
The cup holders were drawn at home to West Bromwich Albion in the last eight and even though Albion managed to halt the goalscoring of Fecitt and Sowerbutts they still could not prevent a 2-0 defeat. Nottingham Forest saw off Old Etonians 2-0 and Old Carthusians came by Church with a solitary goal. Queens Park were in trouble after being held 2-2 in Glasgow by Notts County and the latter had all to play for in the replay having been kept apart from Nottingham Forest in the draw. An all Nottingham final dream died with a 2-1 replay win for the Scots.
The prospect of a repeat of last years final was on and Blackburn made light work in their semi against Old Carthusians at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Jimmy Brown and Joe Sowerbutts doubles were added to by Joe Lofthouse in an easy 5-1 win.
Queens Park travelled to Derby Cricket ground to face Nottingham Forest and had Danks to thank for earning them a replay after the tie ended 1-1. The replay made history as it was played in the grounds of Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. They made no mistake second time around as William Sellar scored twice to put them two up before Sam Weller Widdowson settled the tie by putting through his own net to seal a 3-0 scoreline.
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THE FINAL
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The town of Blackburn was now enjoying unparrallelled success in the F A cup as a team from the town came to the final for the fourth consecutive year. Rovers returned with eight of the team that had won the cup last year. Queens Park were also back in the first and so far only occasion that the same two clubs have returned twelve months on to meet again in the final. The Scots returned with seven of their beaten team from last year but one of their semi final heroes, Danks was to be dissappointed. Despite scoring the goal in the drawn semi final with Forest he was not selected for the big one.
Anticipation of the England vs Scotland clash attracted a huge crowd of 12,500 to the Oval to see if the Scots could gain revenge and this time the hoards of Lancashire folk were joined by a massed tartan army, bagpipes and all at the Oval.
The Scots may have been forgiven for being a little aprehensive at the decision to allow Francis Marindin to once again referee the game but as no one would dare suggest bias from the referee last year, the F A saw nothing wrong in his appointment this year.
This time round though the Scots had little to complain about in the manner of their defeat. The game was a tight contest between two evenly matched teams early on but after 14 minutes James Forrest got the better of his marker Charles Campbell and was able to fire Rovers in front from close range. The first half was an excellent game with Rovers creating several chances to build on their lead while Queens Park came close to equalising just as often.
In the second half some of the sparkle seemed to fade from the Scots teams game and Blackburn began to assert themselves. The match was settled in the 58th minute when Jimmy Brown doubled the cup holder's advantage and from then on it was one way traffic as Rovers sought to kill the tie off. As it turned out a third goal wasn't needed despite some glaringly wayward finishing from their usually potent forwards.
Rovers had ensured that the cup would spend a third year in Blackburn and had all but killed off any threat to their supremacy in the town in the process. Queens Park meanwhile stayed true to their amateur traditions and returned to Scotland where they continued to dominate for the next few years. they had two further cracks at the English cup before the Scottish F A banned its members from entering. Soon enough professionalism caught up with Queens Park in their native land as well and the Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic took over, leaving Queens park as a poor relation in Glasgow, playing today in the lower reaches of the Scottish league.
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THE TEAMS
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BLACKBURN ROVERS
HERBIE ARTHUR
R G TURNER
FERGUS SUTER
G HAWORTH
HUGH MCINTYRE
JAMES FORREST
JOE SOWERBUTTS
JOE LOFTHOUSE
JAMES DOUGLAS
JIMMY BROWN {CAPTAIN}
H E FECITT
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QUEENS PARK
JOHN GILLESPIE
W ARNOTT
W MACLEOD
J MCDONALD
{CAPTAIN} CHARLES CAMPBELL
WILLIAM SELLAR
WILLIAM ANDERSON
N MCWHANNEL
A HAMILTON
D S ALLAN
W GRAY
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