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The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72, and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The FA Cup involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament, although lower division teams rarely reach the final.
The present FA Cup trophy is the fourth. The first, the 'little tin idol', was used from the inception of the Cup in 1871–2. In 1895, Aston Villa won the competition for the second time, beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0. That November, during an FA committee meeting, the club had to report that the cup had been stolen from the shop window of William Shillcock, a football and boot manufacturer in Birmingham, which had been proudly displaying the trophy. Although a £10 reward was offered to anyone who could recover the cup, it was never seen again. Instead, Aston Villa FC were fined £25 which covered the cost of a replacement trophy.
The second trophy was a replica of the first, and was last used in 1910 before being presented to the FA's long-serving president Lord Kinnaird to commemorate his 21st anniversary as president of the Football Association.
A new, larger, trophy was bought by the FA in 1911 designed and manufactured by Fattorini's of Bradford and won by Bradford City in its first outing. This trophy still exists but is now too fragile to be used, so an exact replica was made by Toye, Kenning and Spencer and has been in use since the 1992 final. A "backup" trophy was made alongside the existing trophy in 1992, but it has not been used so far, and will only be used if the current trophy is lost, damaged or destroyed.
HAMMERS F.A. CUP RECORD
1900-01
3rd Qualifying Round: Olympic (H) 1-0
4th Qualifying Round: New Brompton (A) 1-1 ~ Replay (H) 4-1
Final Qualifying Round: Clapton Orient (H) 1-1 ~ Replay (A) 3-2
Supplementary Round: Liverpool (H) 0-1
1901-02
Qualifying Round: Leyton (A) 1-0
Qualifying Round: Grays (H) 1-2
1902-03
Intermediate Round: Lincoln City (A) 0-2
1903-04
Qualifying Round: Brighton & Hove (H) 4-0
Qualifying Round: Clapton Orient (A) 3-0
Qualifying Round: Chatham (A) 5-0
Qualifying Round: Fulham (H) 0-1
1910-11
1st Rd: Nottingham Forst (H) 2-1
2nd Rd: Preston North End (H) 3-0
3rd Rd: Manchester United (H) 2-1
4th Rd: Blackburn Rovers (H) 2-3
Souvenir: Second Round English Cup Tie
1908-09 Leeds City v. West Ham United
1910-11 was a "giant killers" season for Hammers !
The two Postcards above were each given away with the West Ham programme on the occasion of the F.A. Cup ties at Upton Park in February and March 1911.
The Hammers were of course, in the Southern League at the time, and it was a real event to be hosts to a First Division club. All four opposing clubs were in the First Division that season. United ended by winning the Championship, but Forest were relegated. Preston finished fourteenth of 20 clubs and Rovers twelfth.
1912-13
1st Rd: West Bromwich Albion (A) The Hawthorns 1-1
Replay: West Bromwich Albion (H) Upton Park 2-2
2nd Replay: West Bromwich Albion (N) 3-0
3rd Rd: Aston Villa (A) Villa Park 0-5
