A Hundred Years in the FA Cup
This month marks the centenary of Dulwich Hamlet’s very
first appearance in the FA Cup, the world’s oldest and most illustrious
football challenge cup competition. It coincides with the most important cup tie
of the last twenty years when Dulwich entertain Carlisle United of the English
Football League for a place in the second round.
At present both clubs are struggling in their respective
divisions. Dulwich in fifteenth position in the National League South have played
15 and gained 17 points. Carlisle have played 17 games and gained 18 points and
sit nineteenth in League Two. The game could go either way.
The 1919/20 season is rightly regarded as the greatest in
the club’s history. For ever afterwards it has been known as the ‘Victory
Season.’ That campaign saw Dulwich Hamlet triumph in the Isthmian League, the
Surrey Senior Cup and the FA Amateur Cup, making them the top amateur side in
the country. The London Charity Bowl was also won. In the other competitions
Dulwich entered – the London Challenge Cup and the London Senior Cup – they
were knocked out by Arsenal and Leytonstone respectively. The latter was at the
semi-final stage.
In the FA Cup Dulwich Hamlet entered at the fourth qualifying
round stage. Their opponents were local rivals Nunhead, also of the
Isthmian League. Situated only a mile apart the two clubs had enjoyed a healthy
rivalry for the previous two decades.
The tie was played at a fast pace at Champion Hill on Saturday
22 November 1919. The ground was then located on the site of the all-weather
pitch adjacent to Dulwich Hamlet’s present stadium. It is hoped, planning
permission granted, that the club move back there in the not too distant
future.
Bill Davis and Sid Nicol
Inside left Sid Nicol scored the only goal of the game to
take the club through to the next round. The match proved to be a dress
rehearsal for the upcoming London Charity Cup Final which Dulwich won by the
same score, Bill Davis on target in the final. On the four occasions the two clubs
met that season Dulwich won three and drew one.
For the fifth qualifying round of the FA Cup Dulwich
received Thorneycrofts, a shipbuilding works team from Southampton. The home
side were expected to win comfortably but the cup often throws up some strange
results. The match, played on Saturday 6 December 1919, was the Hamlet’s
seventh home fixture in succession! The previous game saw Dulwich put eight
past the Casuals in an Isthmian League match and perhaps they had become a little
bit too complacent.
Thirty minutes into the tie the visitors went one nil up
after bombarding the home box, then went further ahead in the second half.
Shipway (fittingly) reduced the arrears but a late penalty saw Thorneycrofts
progress to the sixth qualifying round. They eventually lost to Burnley at Turf Moor in a first round replay following their draw at The Dell.
No other side scored three goals past Dulwich that season.
By contrast in ten of their matches Dulwich registered five goals or more.
Redhill were overcome 8-2 in the Surrey Cup and Wimbledon crushed 9-2 in the
Amateur Cup.
The FA Cup has seen countless memorable cup ties. One of the
most dramatic took place at Champion Hill in November 1922 when Saint Albans City
lost 8-7 in a replay. The Hamlet front three were in fine form, the legendary Edgar
Kail and Bill Davis recorded hat-tricks and Sid Nicol a brace. One must feel
for Wilfred Minter the Saints’ centre forward who chalked up all seven of his
team’s goals. His record for scoring the most goals in a match and still
finishing on the losing side remains intact almost a century later.
I doubt the game on Friday 8 November 2019 will be as
extraordinary as that match. All I’m hoping for is a win. I’ll take a scrappy game and a Carlisle
United own goal any day if it means Dulwich Hamlet progress to the furthest
they have ever been in the this greatest of competitions. All the very best to
the boys in Pink and Blue. Come on the Hamlet, let’s make history.
Jack McInroy
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