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. 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 when their semi-final opponents, the Scottish club Queen's Park, withdrew from the competition.
An illustration of the FA Cup trophy awarded in 1873
Oxford University's first FA Cup match took place at London's Kennington Oval (pictured in 1891).
Hon. Arthur Kinnaird (1912 caricature) was the star player for Wanderers.
Wanderers Football Club was an English association football club. It was founded as "Forest Football Club" in 1859 in Leytonstone. In 1864, it changed its name to "Wanderers", a reference to it never having a home stadium, instead playing at various locations in London and the surrounding area. Comprising mainly former pupils of the leading English public schools, Wanderers was one of the dominant teams in the early years of organised football and won the inaugural Football Association Challenge Cup in 1872. The club won the competition five times in total, including three in succession from 1876 to 1878, a feat which has been repeated only once.
The ground at Leyton Flats, Epping Forest (pictured in 2019), where the Forest Club played its earliest football
The only known photo of the team, taken in 1863 when the club was still known as Forest F.C.
The second FA Cup trophy, pictured here, is identical in design to that won by Wanderers. The original trophy was stolen in 1895 and never recovered
The programme from Wanderers' match away to Queen's Park in October 1875