THE LITTLE TIN IDOL

The FA Cup was first played for in 1872 and the trophy was made by Martin, Hall and Co. It was 18" high, held a "quart" and stolen on September 11th 1895, in Birmingham.

Aston Villa were fined £25 by the FA for their lack of security after the club "lent" the cup to their shoe shop owner to put on show. It was never recovered.

In the early days the cup was presented at a reception, indeed the first winners, the Wanderers, received the trophy four weeks later at a dinner held at the Pall Mall restaurant, Charing Cross. Whereas in 1882 the presentation ceremony was first held immediately after the game.

The FA Cup, known as "The little Tin Idol", worth £20 was stolen from William Shillcock's Boot and Shoe shop 73 Newtown Row, in Birmingham, where it was on display after Aston Villa's Cup Final win on April 20th at the Crystal Palace. Villa beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0. Shillcock was a friend of William McGregor, the founder of the Football League (first competed for in 1888).
 
A hole on a lean to roof (18" x 12") and a set of size 5 footprints was all that was left by who ever carried out the robbery. A £10 reward bore no affect and it was assumed the cup would have been melted down to make silver coins.

The second cup was used until 1910, when it was presented to Lord Kinnaird, the FA's long serving president. He died in 1923 (same year as the move to Wembley Stadium) and the cup was eventually auctioned in 2005 for £420,000. This was bought by David Gold who placed the cup in the National Football Museum in 2006.

The reason for the change in 1910 was Manchester United's fault. The club were not happy with the trophy that they won in 1909, so they had their own made! (apparently other copies were made in Manchester too). The FA noticed that they did not hold copyright to the original trophy and so had a new cup made by Fattorini and Sons, an Italian migrant family living in Harrogate and owning a factory in Bradford. Needless to say Bradford City won the first final in 1911 and carried away the 24 inch high cup.

A smaller replica of this cup was played for in the North Wales Coast FA Cup competition.

The tradition of tying ribbons to the cup handles was first started in 1901...yep, when Spurs won it from the lowly Southern League. The wife of the club's director brought navy and white ribbons with her to the final!

The Fattorini trophy served until 1991. The old cup was battered by use and replaced but the FA provided a heavier version in 2014 made by Thomas Lyte and weighing in at 14 pounds.