 An illustration of the FA Cup trophy awarded in 1873 | |||||||
| Event | 1872–73 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 29 March 1873 | ||||||
| Venue | Lillie Bridge, London | ||||||
| Referee | Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.) | ||||||
| Attendance | either 3,000 or under 150 | ||||||
The 1873 FA Cup final was an association football match between Wanderers F.C. and Oxford University A.F.C. on 29 March 1873 at the Lillie Bridge Grounds in London. It was the second final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (commonly known in the modern era as the FA Cup). Unusually, the final kicked-off in the morning to avoid a clash with the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race which was held on the same day. The Wanderers reached the final without playing a match, as the original rules of the competition stated that the holders would receive a bye straight to the final and other teams would compete to gain the other place in the final and challenge them for the trophy. Oxford reached the final by a walkover when their semi-final opponents, the Scottish club Queen's Park, withdrew from the competition.
Both teams had key players absent for the final, including several who had represented the Wanderers in the 1872 final. According to the press, the best player on the day was Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, who scored the first goal for the Wanderers. Charles Wollaston added a second goal towards the end of the match to give Wanderers a 2–0 victory and a second consecutive FA Cup win.