BLADES, CLEGG, CUP, CRICKET

March 22nd 1889. I admit I have used this historic date before, but how can we ignore such an important date in the history of the World's greatest cup competition. Not to mention the foration of the oldest club......

Sheffield United Football Club was formed at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield, by the President of the Sheffield Cricket Club, Sir Charles Clegg. Just six days before the club's formation, the Bramall Lane ground hosted an FA Cup semi-final between Preston and West Bromwich Albion, when a crowd of 22,688 paid gate receipts of £558. The cricket club saw that regular football at the ground would provide an important additional source of income. In future years football became the main sport at the ground with Yorkshire playing their last match there in August 1973. The picture shows clearly the change of use of Bramall Lane with a new football stand taking the place of the old cricket pavilion.

F.A. Cup
1888/89  Results
* denotes non-league club
Some unusual and spectacular club names here!
For the first time there were qualifying rounds in the FA Cup with round of entry being decided on previous FA Cup performance and not League membership. Four of the twelve Football League clubs were included in the qualifiers with Stoke becoming the first League side to be knocked out by a non-league team. The results of qualifying round matches played by League sides were.....
1st Qualifying Round
Sat	Oct	6		Notts County		4	-	1		Eckington Works*
Sat	Oct	6		Hurst*		0	-	0		Bolton Wanderers
					(Hurst withdrew from the FA Cup before the replayed was played)
Sat	Oct	6		Stoke		1	-	2		Warwick County*
				Ulster*  (walk-over)						Everton  (scratched)
2nd Qualifying Round
Sat	Oct	27		Notts County		4	-	2		Beeston St John's*
Sat	Oct	27		West Manchester*		1	-	0		Bolton Wanderers
					(The FA ordered that the match be replayed - match void)
Wed	Oct	31			Bolton Wanderers	9	-	0			West Manchester*
3rd Qualifying Round
Sat	Nov	17		Notts County		2	-	1		Derby Midland*
Sat	Nov	17		Linfield Athletic*		4	-	0		Bolton Wanderers
4th Qualifying Round
Sat	Dec	8		Staveley*		1	-	3		Notts County
First Round
Sat	Feb	2		Accrington		1	-	1		Blackburn Rovers
Sat	Feb	9			Blackburn Rovers	5	-	0			Accrington
Sat	Feb	2		Aston Villa		3	-	2		Witton*
Sat	Feb	2		Birmingham St George's*		3	-	2		Long Eaton Rangers*
Sat	Feb	2		Bootle*		0	-	3		Preston North End
Sat	Feb	2		Burnley		4	-	3		Old Westminsters*
Sat	Feb	2		Chatham*		2	-	1		South Shore*
Sat	Feb	2		Derby County		1	-	0		Derby Junction*
Sat	Feb	2		Grimsby Town*		3	-	1		Sunderland Albion*
Sat	Feb	2		Halliwell*		2	-	2		Crewe Alexandra*
Sat	Feb	9			Crewe Alexandra*	1	-	5			Halliwell*
Sat	Feb	2		Nottingham Forest*		2	-	2		Linfield Athletic*
					Nottingham F.* (walk-over)						Linfield Athletic* (scratched)
Sat	Feb	2		Notts County		2	-	0		Old Brightonians*
Sat	Feb	2		Notts Rangers*		1	-	1		Sheffield Wednesday*
Sat	Feb	9			Sheffield Wednesday*	3	-	0			Notts Rangers*
Sat	Feb	2		Small Heath*		2	-	3		West Bromwich Albion* (holders)
Sat	Feb	2		Swifts*		3	-	1		Wrexham*
Sat	Feb	2		Walsall Town Swifts*		5	-	1		Sheffield Heeley*
Sat	Feb	2		Wolverhampton Wanderers		4	-	3		Old Carthusians*
Second Round
Sat	Feb	16		Aston Villa		5	-	3		Derby County
				Blackburn Rovers  (walk-over)						Swifts  (scratched)
Sat	Feb	16		Chatham*		1	-	1		Nottingham Forest*
Sat	Feb	23			Nottingham Forest*	2	-	2			Chatham*
Thur	Feb	28			Chatham*	3	-	2			Nottingham Forest*
					(the match was played at the Kennington Oval)
Sat	Feb	16		Grimsby Town*		0	-	2		Preston North End
Sat	Feb	16		Halliwell*		2	-	3		Birmingham St George's*
Sat	Feb	16		Sheffield Wednesday*		3	-	2		Notts County
Sat	Feb	16		West Bromwich A.*  (holders)		5	-	1		Burnley
Sat	Feb	16		Wolverhampton Wanderers		6	-	1		Walsall Town Swifts*
Third Round
Sat	Mar	2		Blackburn Rovers		8	-	1		Aston Villa
Sat	Mar	2		Chatham*		1	-	10		West Bromwich Albion (holders)
Sat	Mar	2		Preston North End		2	-	0		Birmingham St George's*
Sat	Mar	2		Wolverhampton Wanderers		3	-	0		Sheffield Wednesday*
Semi-Finals
Sat	Mar	16		Wolverhampton Wanderers		1	-	1		Blackburn Rovers
					(played at Alexandra Road, Crewe)
Sat	Mar	23			Wolverhampton W.	3	-	1			Blackburn Rovers
					(played at Alexandra Road, Crewe)
Sat	Mar	16		Preston North End		1	-	0		West Bromwich Albion* (holders)
					(played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield)
Final (at the Oval)
Sat	Mar	30		Preston North End		3	-	0		Wolverhampton Wanderers

Bramall Lane

It would be common to add 'Sheffield United FC' to 'Bramall Lane' as the venue for the Preston v WBA semi-final but to do so would not, strictly speaking, be correct. Explanation below:

Originally Bramall Lane was the home of Sheffield Cricket Club (below)who were formed in 1854 with Yorkshire County Cricket Club playing their first match there a year later. The first football match to be played on the ground was between Sheffield FC (the oldest club in the world) and Hallam on December 29th 1862; the game was played to raise money for the Lancashire Distress Fund during the cotton famine, the match ended 0–0. Later Sheffield Wednesday (then The Wednesday) played a few of their more important fixtures there.

History was made on Monday October 14th 1878 when the ground hosted the first recorded floodlit fixture. Two representative sides from Sheffield provided the opposition and a crowd of around 20,000 - which was massive for the times -  witnessed the spectacle which was considered a great success.

In March 1883 England entertained Scotland in the first international match at Bramall Lane but still there was no regular football at the ground. That was to change just six days after the Preston v WBA semi in 1889. Such was the success of the match - with nearly £600 in receipts being taken -  the cricket club were convinced it would be a good move to form their own football club, and so Sheffield United were born as a direct result of that semi-final. Three years later they were elected to the Football League and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sheffield United became independent of the cricket club and bought the ground but Bramall Lane still hosted both sports for many years until the cricket club were finally given their marching orders. The last County cricket match played at Bramall Lane was in August 1973 which at the time left Northampton's County Ground as the only one which staged both first-class cricket and League football. When that particular relationship ended it was to be the football club who had to move on, to the Sixfields Stadium.

DO YOU KNOW THE OTHER "GROUND" THAT HAS HOSTED BOTH FA CUP FINALS AND TEST CRICKET?