Football returns to
the people
Until t
he 1880s the FA Cup was dominated by
teams from the public schools, the universities and
the army. It was not until 1882 that a club from the
north of England, Blackburn Rovers, reached the Cup
Final, losing 1-0 to Old Etonians.
In the following year Rovers’ local rivals Blackburn
Olympic also reached the Final. Again they played Old
Etonians, but this time the Northern team won. This result
was very important because the FA Cup was to stay in the
North and Midlands for the next twenty years. It was also
the last time that a team of ‘Old Boys’ from a public
school reached the Final.
Training
Like the Wanderers, Blackburn
Olympic did not join the Football League. They soon
disappeared but introduced another important new
development in football: training. Before the 1883 Final
the team went to Blackpool on the coast and trained on the
beach. Today every football team trains before matches.
By the 1880s new clubs were emerging in the cities of the
North and Midlands of England . In places like
Wolverhampton, Blackburn and Preston most people worked in
factories, making things: clothes, metal, machines. They
worked long hours in dirty, dangerous conditions, and lived
in small houses.
Professional
The early footballers played
for fun. Men like Lord Kinnaird did not have to worry about
money, and they never saw football as a profession.
For the new working class players the situation was very
different. They often worked in boring and dangerous jobs,
but they needed money the money these jobs game them. They
could only play football when they were not working.
'We need a new competition,' they said. ' A competition
that lasts the whole season and involves all the best teams
in the