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1886 F A CUP FINAL
BLACKBURN ROVERS 0
VS
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0
3rd APRIL-KENNINGTON OVAL-LONDON
ATTENDANCE-12,000
REPLAY
BLACKBURN ROVERS 2
VS
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0
SCORERS-SOWERBUTTS, BROWN
10TH APRIL-RACECOURSE GROUND-DERBY
ATTENDANCE-15,000
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One hundred and thirty clubs put their names forward to contest the F A cup in 1886 but the vast majority of them would become casualties of the new professionalism sweeping the Nation. Unable to attract the best players would mean being unable to compete with more illustrious local rivals and ultimately would lead to extinction. 1886 though was the first time that two clubs who would go on to remain in existance into the 21st Century met in the final.
The early rounds witnessed the usual clutch of heavily one sided ties, walk overs and a new feature created by professionalism, disqualification for fielding an inelligable player. The cup holders Blackburn Rovers marched through with victories over Clitheroe {2-0}, Oswaldtwistle Rovers {1-0} and Darwen Old Wanderers {6-1} before gaining a bye in round four. Queens Park would not be making a third consecutive trip to the Oval though. After easily beating their fellow Countrymen Partick Thistle 6-1 in the first round, they withdrew from the competition before their trip to South Shore in round two.
Despite allowing fourteen of the eighteen fourth round teams a bye to ensure there would be a round sixteen sides in the fifth round, the F A still could not get eight ties to be played. Bolton Wanderers were disqualified for a breach of the new professionalism rules and gifted Old Westminsters a quarter final place. Bolton had earlier benefitted from the same scenario as Rawtenstall were disqualified after gaining a 3-3 draw at Bolton and Preston had beaten Wanderers 3-2 in the next round before going the same way.
Burslem Port Vale played and won their fifth round tie at Brentwood but were also found to be in breach of the rules and they too were expelled in favour of the team they had beaten. The other six ties were settled without dispute as the holders racked up a comfortable 7-1 win over Satveley but the favourites to win the cup, Notts County suffered a shock 2-1 reverse at South Shore. Swifts made light of their fifth round tie with Church which they won 6-2 while West Bromwich Albion, Redcar and Small Heath Alliance made up the octet.
By quarter final day there was the prospect of an all Birmingham and an all London final but the latter died for another year as Brentwood bowed out to Blackburn 3-1. Old Westminsters stood in the way of an All Birmingham final but found West Bromwich Albion too hot to handle in a 6-0 rout. This was the first time Albion had won a quarter final and had made it with wins of 4-1 over Aston Unity, 3-2 over Wednesbury Old Athletic, a bye, 3-1 over Wolves and 1-0 against Old Carthusians. Westminster's defeat left only Swifts from the capital and they kept London hopes alive with a 2-1 win over South Shore. Small Heath kept the all Birmingham final hopes alive as they won the other quarter final 2-0 against Redcar.
Not for the last time the draw would be unkind to Birmingham as West Brom and Small Heath were paired together in the semi finals. The obvious venue was Aston Villa's Aston Lower Grounds and sadly it proved a very one sided contest as Loach and George Woodhall each scored a brace in a 4-0 win for Albion. it would be forty-five years before Small Heath would go as close again under their new name of Birmingham. A week later at Derby Cricket ground the fans enjoyed a much tighter contest as Swifts made one last defiant bid for the amateurs of the South against Blackburn. Swifts scored but it wasn't enough as strikes from Nat Walton and Strachan took Rovers to their third successive final.
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THE FINAL
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Fans of West Bromwich Albion had seen how Blackburn fans had reacted to both it's clubs reaching the final and were in no mood to be outdone as The City of Birmingham travelled to London for it's first and by no means last cup final.
The Throstle had been adopted as the symbol for Albion and fans of the Birmingham club were easily recognisable among the cup final crowd sporting huge card throstles in their navy & white striped hats. To Blackburn fans the cup final had by now become an expected feature of their season as Rovers had become only the second ever team to reach three in succession.
The final clashed with the boat race as it had done back in 1873 but this time it could rival the Oxford vs Cambridge clash in terms of prestige. The kick off time was not moved to accomodate fans who did not share the same interest in both events as their counterparts thirteen years earlier. Blackburn Rovers' players were interested in the boat race though and it very nerly cost them the cup. The players watched the race in very cold conditions but by doing so left themselves very little time in which to have lunch and make it to the final. While Albion prepared at their leisure the The Blackburn team were presented with a hastily prepared and equally hastily eaten lunch before making a mad dash for the Oval. The sight of the teams arrival could not have instilled much confidence in any Blackburn fan who witnessed it. the players were seen running for the dressing room barely fifteen minutes before kick off undressing as they went.
The hasty preparation showed in a Blackburn side who were overwhelming favourites on the day. Brown, Douglas, Mcintyre and Suter were all appearing in their fourth final for the club and only Heyes was appearing for the first time. By contrast Jem Bayliss was captaining an Albion side with no previous cup final experience. After such a prelude it was not surprising that Albion were the better side but Blackburn still had enough ability to keep the underdogs at bay and it was probably a relief to their players that Jem Bayliss agreed not to play extra time. Both captains had reason not to take the game further as Bayliss felt that his side had already done remarkably well to hold the game at 0-0 for ninety minutes and didn't fancy trying to keep out Rovers for a further thirty. Jimmy Brown though knew what Bayliss did not, that his team were out on their feet and incapable of playing on.
The replay was set for the following Saturday but the F A knew that it would be unfair to ask a Midlands and Northern club to travel back to London. The result was that for the first time a cup final would be played away from London. The chosen venue was another cricket ground, that of Derbyshire CCC and not surprisingly it attracted a record cup final crowd. Again the Albion fans sported the throstles in their hats and arrived with shouts of up the throstles! but this time there was no boat race to help their cause. Blackburn arrived in good time for this fixture but faced being beaten not by Albion but by the weather. It had snowed for a couple of days in Derby prior to the replay and Major Marindin, the referee was faced with the daunting prospect of postponing the match. A lunchtime pitch inspection was taken after an overnight thaw and the major gave the game the go ahead. Blackburn made one change from the previous week as semi final hero Nat Walton, who had missed the first game through injury was recalled in place of Heyes. Albion were unchanged but this time they were also outclassed as Blackburn rediscovered their form to put in a classic display. Joe Sowerbutts added to his goal in the '85 final by scoring the first before Jimmy Brown, who had scored in the '86 final quickly added a second. Blackburn could and really should have scored considerably more but were constantly denied by a heroic display of keeping by Roberts.
At the final whistle Major Marindin approached Rovers captain Jimmy Brown and enquired "This is your third in succession is it not." Brown replied "Tis Sir but the lads know we won't be allowed to keep the trophy." The major then spoke on behalf of the Association when he said "You may not keep the trophy for more than the time you are holders but I shall ensure that some form of reward is presented to mark the feat." Sure enough in June that year the F A presented Blackburn with a shield to honour their triple victory. The cup that both The Wanderers in 1878 and Rovers this year had won outright was eventually stolen and never recovered but when it's replacement was retired in 1911 the Blackburn club almost got the cup to keep for eternity but lost out to the record breaking finalist Arthur Kinnaird.
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THE TEAMS
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BLACKBURN ROVERS
HERBIE ARTHUR
R G TURNER
FERGUS SUTER
JAMES DOUGLAS
JAMES FORREST
HUGH MCINTYRE
J HEYES
T STRACHAN
JIMMY BROWN {CAPTAIN}
H E FECITT
JOE SOWERBUTTS
REPLAY
NAT WALTON REPLACED J HEYES
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WEST BROMWICH ALBION
BOB ROBERTS
H GREEN
HARRY BELL
CHARLES PERRY
EZRA HORTON
TIMMINS
GEORGE WODDHALL
T GREEN
JEM BAYLISS
LOACH
GEORGE BELL
REPLAY UNCHANGED
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