Wanderers was a team mostly composed of former students from the leading English public schools, and were one of the most dominant teams during the early years of the F.A. Cup, winning the competition five times including a victory in the very first F.A. Cup final in 1872. They went on to win the cup three times in succession, in 1876, 1877 and 1878. They then won the cup a fifth time.

 

Before the F.A. Cup came about, the club only played friendly matches under the various sets of rules that were in effect at the time. Some rules allowed players to use their hands, some had a different number of players per team, and some had different methods of scoring goals. They continued to play under other rules even after the formation of the Football Association, however they became one of the strongest teams when playing under the F.A.’s rules. The Wanderers did not have an official home ground of their own, rather they “wandered” around London, playing their home games in a number of locations, hence the name. Some grounds the club used included Snaresbrook (near Epping Forest) on a field adjacent to the Infant Orphan Asylum, Battersea Park and Lillie Bridge Grounds. The reason they did this was to save money on hiring a permanent home ground. They eventually made the famous Kennington Oval their semi-permanent home and played 151 games there. The Wanderers did well initially, only losing 1 match out of 16 in the 1865-66 season, but it eventually got to a point where the players started losing interest, and their captain Charles Alcock found it increasingly difficult to field a full team as often, some of the 11 players required for a match wouldn’t turn up. Consequently, they sometimes had to borrow players from their opponents. In fact, back in those days, the best managers were not determined by their technical knowledge but by their willingness and ability to cruise around the posh parts of London in their horse-drawn cabs, picking players up for games.

 

They lifted their game in the 1870-71 season when the FA announced the creation of the FA Cup (then called the Football Association Challenge Cup), a knockout tournament available to all member clubs. Strangely, Wanderers only won one game in four rounds to get to the final, due to a rule whereby both teams would progress in the event of a draw. The final itself was played without fancy luxuries such as crossbars, nets, penalties or free kicks. There, in the first ever FA Cup final, they defeated the Royal Engineers, Morton Betts (under the pseudonym A.H. Chequer), scoring the only goal. They retained the cup a year later by defeating Oxford University in the final. In October 1875, they travelled to Scotland where they played Queens Park, but they were thrashed 5-0. The Wanderers gained revenge four months later, when Queens Park travelled to London for a rematch and lost 2-0. This was the first match that Queens Park had ever lost. Wanderers completed an unprecedented hat-trick of FA Cup wins in 1872 and were offered to keep the trophy permanently under the rules that were in place at the time. Kinnaird, however, returned the trophy to the FA on the proviso that the rule be removed. Only one other team has won the FA Cup three times in a row since then, and that was also in the 19th century.

 

Some of the eras greatest sportsmen represented the Wanderers, including Charles Alcock, the creator of the F.A. Cup and the man who many regard as the “Father of Modern Sport”, who was, interestingly enough, the first player to ever be ruled offside, and Arthur Kinnaird, possibly the best footballer of the Victorian era. The Wanderers fortunes eventually declined again, and they were reduced to only playing an annual match against Harrow School. The team was reformed in 2009, and continues to play in the Surrey South Eastern Combination.

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Achievements: FA Cup – Winners x5

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Star player: Arthur Kinnaird – DoB 16 February 1847, London, England

 

Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird, holds the incredible record of appearing in 9 FA Cup finals, winning 5 of them. During his football career, he played in every position on the pitch, including goalkeeper. While playing in this position, he unfortunately scored the first own-goal in history. Although born in London, Kinnaird played for Scotland in the second international match ever played. He was known as the toughest tackler in the game. The story goes that one day his wife lamented that he would come home with a broken leg, to which a friend responded, “You must not worry, madam. If he does, it won’t be his own.” Reports say that Kinnaird enjoyed hacking, or deliberately kicking his opponents. In this essence, he was one of football’s first ever “hard men”. Legend says that Kinnaird loved football so much, that he played four or five games a week. He also excelled at other sports such as tennis, canoe racing, swimming and foot races. Kinnaird was Francis Marindin’s replacement as FA president in 1890, and served as Director of Barclays Bank until his death.