On this Day: Two facts of history relating to The Football Association:
1871 - The English Football Association Challenge Cup Competition was formed, to become better known as the FA Cup. The first final saw the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by one goal to nil, watched by a crowd of 2,000.
The competition began on 11 November 1871 when four matches were played. Fifteen clubs had entered but three of those withdrew so there were just twelve actual participants. They included the leading Scottish club, Queen's Park of Glasgow who reached the semi-final in which they drew 0–0 with the eventual winners Wanderers. A replay was required but Queen's Park could not afford the travel costs and withdrew. The other semi-final between Royal Engineers and the original Crystal Palace was also drawn and the Engineers won the replay 3–0. The first-ever final was won by Wanderers who defeated Royal Engineers 1–0 at Kennington Oval in south London. The goal was scored by Morton Betts after 15 minutes' play. Under the original rules of the competition, Wanderers automatically qualified for the next season's final to defend their trophy.
1885 - During the summer of 1885, there was pressure put on the Football Association to accept professionalism in English football, culminating in a special meeting on 20 July, after which it was announced that it was "in the interests of association football, to legalise the employment of professional football players, but only under certain restrictions". Clubs were allowed to pay players provided that they had either been born or had lived for two years within a six-mile radius of the ground. There were also rules preventing professional players from playing for more than one club in a season, without obtaining special permission, and all professional players had to be registered with the F.A.
Fergus Suter (21 November 1857 – 31 July 1916) was a Scottish stonemason and footballer in the early days of the game. Arguably the first recognised professional footballer, Suter was a native of Glasgow and played for Partick before moving to England to play for Darwen and Blackburn Rovers F.C. (See Netflix series 'The English Game' (2020)
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Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), EFL (English Football League),
