Kennington’s collection of football firsts

First football club, first International game and the first FA Cup final

Kennington has had a long association with Cricket. In fact, Kennington common was one of the earliest London cricket venues (long before the nearby Oval was built) and is known to have been used for major cricket matches from 1724 (London v Dartford). What perhaps is not so well know is the significance of Kennington with the history of football.

The Gymnastic Society – possibly the world’s first football club

Kennington Common was also one of the most important centres of footballing activity in London in the eighteenth century, outside of the English public school football games.

According to Adrian Harvey’s book “Football: the First Hundred Years: The Untold Story” The Gymnastic Society met regularly at Kennington Common during the second half of the eighteenth century to play football.

The Gymnastic Society consisted of London-based natives of Cumberland and Westmoreland, They met up to pursue two sports, wrestling and football. The centre for Wrestling was at the Belvedere Tavern in Pentonville, and football was played on Kennington Common.

Regular football games were played at Kennington common for small and large sums throughout the course of each year.

However by 1789 most of the gymnastics Society members were about to retire from business and return north and consequently, it was decided to reduce the club’s activities by way of a grand final in 1789. This took place in the summer of 1789 when “twenty-two gentlemen of Westmoreland were backed against twenty-two gentlemen of Cumberland for one thousand guineas”

Football did not cease entirely after this, the club’s remaining members continue to meet two or three times a year, before the activity was reduced to the annual match on Good Friday. Occasionally other matches would occur including a match recorded on 4 April 1796, although by 1800 it would appear that the fixtures ended.

An attempt to formalise the rules was undertaken by the Surrey Football Club in 1849, which was based upon those of the original Gymnastic Society, as the founder William Denison (see below) referred to the Society in his speech at the inauguration of the club.

The Origins of International football

The Oval was the venue for the first-ever international football match. This took place on 5 March 1870, between England against Scotland, organised by The Football Association. The game resulted in a 1–1 draw. A further 4 international matches between England and Scotland also took place at The Oval with the last being held on 21st February 1872.

*Football in the late 19th Century was a chaotic affair as this illustration of an early England v Scotland game at the Oval shows*

The matches, which were organised by Charles W. Alcock, are the precursors to modern international football. They were not recognised, however, as full internationals by FIFA as the players competing in the Scotland team were drawn only from London-based Scottish players.

The First officially FIFA recognised International game was played in 1872 in Glasgow, again between Scotland and England.

Although the first recognised International on English soil was played at the Oval on 8 March 1873, when England national team beat Scotland 4–2. The Oval would continue to be the home of the England football team until 1889.

The First FA Cup Final

The FA Cup is the oldest existing football competition. It is the oldest among all tournaments as well as all leagues that still exist today. And the first-ever final was held at the Oval in the 1871-1872 season.

On 20 July 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, the FA Secretary Charles W. Alcock, proposed to the FA committee that “it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete”.

Teams changed ends every time a goal was scored; when the ball went out of play, the first team to get hold of it took the throw-in; and in the earlier rounds of the competition, a draw meant both teams progressed to the next round. With so few teams, there were just four rounds.

*As this letter from July 1871 shows, an FA committee established the first FA Cup.*

After thirteen games in all, Wanderers were crowned the winners in the final, on 16 March 1872. Wanderers retained the trophy the following year. The modern cup was beginning to be established by the 1888–89 season when qualifying rounds were introduced

The game was witnessed by 2,000 spectators turned up to the Kennington Oval to watch the first-ever final.

Wanderers lined up with eight upfront – a not particularly remarkable line-up for the time. The Royal Engineers preferred a more defensive 1-2-7 formation.

Despite the Engineers’ use of the radical new “combination game” which included the novel tactic of passing as well as dribbling, none of their seven forwards could manage to get the ball across the line.

After 15 minutes, Wanderers took the lead when full-back “AH Chequers” scored. Chequers was, in fact, Morton Betts playing under a pseudonym. Betts usually played for Harrow Chequers, who Wanderers were supposed to meet in the first round. As it turned out, Harrow withdrew, and Wanderers went through. (Betts also played cricket for Essex, Middlesex and Kent. And in his one appearance for England’s national football team, he played in goal.)

The next year, as holders, Wanderers went straight into the final. They would eventually win it five times – three of them in consecutive years, a feat which has only been matched by Blackburn Rovers.