The Football Association was established in October, 1863. The aim of the FA was to establish a single unifying code for football. The first meeting took place at the Freeman's Tavern in London. The clubs represented at the meeting included Barnes, Blackheath, Perceval House, Kensington School, the War Office, Crystal Palace, Forest (later known as the Wanderers), the Crusaders and No Names of Kilburn. Charterhouse also sent an observer to the meeting.

Percy Young, has pointed out, that the FA was a group of men from the upper echelons of British society: "Men of prejudice, seeing themselves as patricians, heirs to the doctrine of leadership and so law-givers by at least semi-divine right."

The FA insisted that football should remain a sport for amateurs. As Richard Holt and Dave Russell pointed out in the Encyclopedia of British Football: "They wished to create a new sporting elite where an upper-class code of honour could be combined with the middle-class virtues of exertion and competitiveness. Amateurs advocated participation over spectating and adopted an ethical code of sportsmanship, stressing respect for opponents and referees."

Neil Wigglesworth argues in his book The Evolution of English Sport (1996) that the notion of amateurism was nurtured by members of the upper-class who "dabbled nonchalantly in the arts with no aim towards achieving excellence." Brian Belton, the author of Founded on Iron: Thames Ironworks and Origins of West Ham United (2003), put forward the theory that: "Within the public school structure, sport was employed to promote the whole system of class distinction, emphasising lines of demarcation and symbolising the fantasy of moral, cultural and even spiritual superiority."

In 1871, Charles W. Alcock, the Secretary of the Football Association, announced the introduction of the Football Association Challenge Cup. It was the first knockout competition of its type in the world. Only 12 clubs took part in the competition: Wanderers, Royal Engineers, Hitchin, Queens Park, Barnes, Civil Service, Crystal Palace, Hampstead Heathens, Great Marlow, Upton Park, Maidenhead and Clapham Rovers.

Many clubs did not enter for financial reasons. All ties had to be played in London. Clubs based in places such as Nottingham and Sheffield found it difficult to find the money to travel to the capital. Each club also had to contribute one guinea towards the cost of the £20 silver trophy.

The Wanderers won the 1872 final. They also won it the following season with with Arthur Kinnaird getting one of the goals. Other winners of the competition included Oxford University (1874), Royal Engineers (1875), Old Etonians (1879 and 1882) and Old Carthusians (1881).

New clubs in the textile towns of Lancashire such as Blackburn Olympic, Blackburn Rovers, Darwen and Preston North End began to attract quite large crowds. This enabled them to unofficially pay their players small sums of money to cover their costs of appearing on a Saturday afternoon.

Blackburn Olympic was funded by Sidney Yates, the owner of a local iron foundry. The club entered the FA Cup for the first time in the 1882-83 season. Coached by former England player, Jack Hunter, Blackburn beat Lower Darwen 9-1 in the second round of the competition. This was followed by victories against Darwen Ramblers (8-0), Church (2-0) and Druids (4-0). Hunter, who also played at centre-half for Olympic, led his team to a 4-0 victory over Old Carthusians in the semi-final of the competition.

Over 8,000 people arrived at the Oval to watch Blackburn Olympic play Old Etonians in the final. Blackburn selected the following team: Thomas Hacking (dental assistant), James Ward (cotton machine operator), Albert Warburton (master plumber and pub landlord), Thomas Gibson (iron foundry worker), William Astley (weaver), John Hunter (pub landlord), Thomas Dewhurst (weaver), Arthur Matthews (picture framer), George Wilson (clerk), Jimmy Costley (spinner) and John Yates (weaver).

Old Etonians were appearing in their third successive FA Cup Final. Their captain, Arthur Kinnaird, was playing in his ninth final and his side were hot favourites to win. Goodhart gave the public school side a 1-0 lead at half-time. The fitter Blackburn Olympic began to take control of the game in the second-half and Arthur Matthews scored a well-deserved equalizer. Despite being the much better team Olympic was unable to score a winning goal during normal time. After 17 minutes of extra time, Thomas Dewhurst ran at the defence, centred the ball to Jimmy Costley, who volleyed the ball past the goalkeeper.

Blackburn Olympic had become the first northern team to win the FA Cup. Unlike previous winners, they were not really an amateur team. It was later revealed that Sidney Yates was paying the players £1 appearance money. No amateur club was to win the FA Cup again.

The first international game had taken place between England and Scotland on the 30th November, 1872. Over the next few years Wales and Ireland also began playing internationals and in 1882 the British International Championship was established. Each country met the other three over the course of the season.

Only amateurs could play in these games. James Forrest of Blackburn Rovers won his first international cap for England against Wales on 17th March, 1884. The following year he was selected to play against Scotland. Scottish officials complained as they argued that Forrest was a professional. At the time he was receiving £1 a week from Blackburn Rovers. Forrest was eventually allowed to play but he had to wear a different jersey from the rest of the team.

Arnold Hills, the chairman of West Ham United, raised doubts about the wisdom of employing highly paid professionals. At the end of the 1898-99 season he wrote: "The committees of several of our clubs, eager for immediate success, are inclined to reinforce their ranks with mercenaries. In our bands and in our football clubs, I find an increasing number of professionals who do not belong to our community but are paid to represent us in their several capacities... Now this is a very simple and effective method of producing popular triumphs. It is only a matter of how we are willing to pay and the weight of our purses can be made the measure of our glory. I have however, not the smallest intention of entering upon a competition of this kind: I desire that our clubs should be spontaneous and cultivated expressions of our internal activity."

Dave Russell attempted to explain why the upper-classes disliked this development in his book Football and the English: A Social History of Association Football in England (1997): "Professionalism, it was believed, would encourage gambling, partisanship and the will to win at all costs; turn what should be a source of pleasure and moral virtue into a mere job of work and, by leaving the professional sportsman with too much time on his hands, render him a highly unsuitable role model for the young working classes."

After the selection of James Forrest, international sides contained more and more professional players. It was another sign of the decline in amateur football. However, one of England's greatest players, G.O. Smith, was an amateur. Smith won his first international cap on 25th February, 1893. England beat Ireland 6-1 and Smith, who played centre-forward, scored two of the goals. Smith was 5 feet 11 inches tall but was of slight build and was extremely reluctant to head the ball. However, he had a good shot and made a lot of goals for his fellow attackers with his accurate passing.

James Catton pointed out: "Anyone could knock him off the ball if he could get into contact with him. But he was difficult to find, so elusive was he. His value consisted chiefly of wonderfully accurate passes to either wing; either to the inside or the outside man. And his body balance and swerve were such that when he left the arena not a hair of his head was out of place." During his time playing for Corinthians (1898-1901) he scored 113 goals in 131 games. He also had a good record for England scoring 11 goals in 20 games. Smith played his last game for England on 30th March 1901.

His replacement in the England team, Vivian Woodward, was also an amateur player. He won his first full international cap for England against Ireland on 14th February, 1903. He scored two goals in England's 4-0 victory. The following day the Times reported that Woodward "certainly added to the reputation he is making as a centre-forward." Another journalist described Woodward as: "The human chain of lightning, the footballer with magic in his boots."

The 1908 Olympic Games took place in London. Woodward was captain of the England team that beat Sweden (12-1) and Holland (4-0) to reach the final against Denmark. England won the gold medal by beating Denmark 2-0 on 24th October, 1908. Also in the team was Harry Stapley of West Ham United.

The England team that won the 1908 Olympic Games gold medal. Vivian Woodward
is in the centre of the front row. Harry Stapley is sitting to Woodward's right.

Vivian Woodward played his final game for England in 1911 scoring two goals in the 6-1 victory over Wales. Over an eight year period he had scored 29 goals in 23 games (13 as captain). A record that stood until Tom Finney beat it in 1958. However, Finney played in 72 games for his 30 goals.

The 1912 Olympic Games took place in Stockholm, Sweden. Vivian Woodward was once again captain of the England team that beat Hungary (7-0) and Finland (4-0) to reach the final against Denmark. Woodward won his second goal medal when England beat Denmark 4-2 on 4th July, 1912. He continued to captain the England amateur team playing his last game against Sweden on 12th June 1914. In 44 amateur internationals, Woodward scored an amazing 57 goals in 44 games.

Leigh Roose playing for Stoke City

Another famous amateur player during this period was . He was a doctor by profession but played in goal for several clubs including Stoke City, Everton, Sunderland, Celtic, Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa and Arsenal.

When he moved from Everton to Sunderland rumours began to circulate that his new club were making illegal payments in order to gain his services. As an amateur he was only allowed to be paid expenses. The Football Association asked Roose to compile a list of each individual expense claim made in the 1907-8 season. Roose made a joke of the situation by including "Pistol to ward off opposition - 4d. Coat and gloves to keep warm when not occupied - 3d. Using the toilet (twice) - 2d." Sunderland insisted that they only paid Roose his travel expenses. Unable to prove otherwise, the FA dropped its case against the club.

The English international, Evelyn Lintott, came from a wealthy family and therefore played as an amateur. In 1907 Lintott joined Queens Park Rangers. In 1909 QPR was in serious financial difficulty. In order to help QPR he became a professional and was sold to Bradford City in the First Division of the Football League for over £1,000. Lintott, like Leigh Roose, was killed in the First World War.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk