Now You Know Big Book of Sports. Doug Lennox

and holds the record for most Welsh Cup wins, with 23.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that the record for consecutive Irish League championship titles is six, held jointly by Belfast Celtic FC (1935–40 and 1947–48) and Linfield FC (1981–87)?

       Why are Wales’ three historically strongest teams now barred from competing for the Welsh Cup?

      Wrexham, Cardiff City, and Swansea City are teams in a kind of limbo. Professional teams from northern Wales, all three have been playing within the English Football League since before the formation in 1992 of the League of Wales by the Football Association of Wales. Prior to 1992, any FAW member team could compete for the Welsh Cup, and Wrexham, Cardiff, and Swansea had collectively garnered 55 championships since the cup’s founding in 1878. But with the formation of the new Welsh league, English-league teams were excluded from Welsh Cup competition, leaving Wrexham, Cardiff City, and Swansea City out in the cold.

       What is the League Cup?

      The League Cup is an annual knockout competition open to the 20 clubs of England’s FA Premier League, and the 72 clubs of England’s Football League, which organizes the competition. It was first played in the 1961, seeing Aston Villa emerge victorious over Rotherham United in a two-leg final. Since 1982, the competition has taken its name from a sponsor and is currently called the Carling Cup.

       Quickies …

       Did you know …

      that in 1993, when Arsenal won the first-ever League Cup/FA Cup double, they faced Sheffield Wednesday FC in the final at both tournaments?

       Which teams played in the first FA Cup final?

      The first FA Cup final took place at Kennington Oval, London, on Saturday, March 16, 1872, before a crowd of 2,000. At the time, soccer matches were played without crossbars or goalnets. There were also no free kicks or penalties and the pitch markings did not include a centre-circle or a halfway line. The Wanderers defeated the Royal Engineers 1–0 on a goal from A.H. Chequer.

       Why was the 1920 Irish Cup awarded without a final being played?

      In the 1920 Irish Cup competition, Shelbourne FC, who had beaten Glenavon FC in one semifinal, were awarded the cup without playing the final, when the two other semifinalists, Glentoran FC and Belfast Celtic FC, were both disqualified — Glentoran for fielding an unlisted player, Belfast Celtic after one of their supporters fired gunshots at the Glentoran fans.

       FA Cup Final Captains Courageous

      • Dave Beasant (Wimbledon): first goalkeeper to captain a winning FA Cup side, and first to stop a penalty kick in an FA Cup final, 1988.

      • Viv Anderson (Sheffield Wednesday): first black player to captain an FA Cup final side, 1993.

      • Danny Blanchflower (Tottenham Hotsupr): first player to captain a team to successive FA Cup final wins, 1961 and 1962.

      • Eric Cantona (Manchester United): first non-British player to captain an winning FA Cup final side, 1996.

       How many fans came out to see David Beckham’s first start in a regulation MLS soccer match?

      David Beckham’s first start in a regulation match as a member of Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy team was played on Aug 18, 2007, against the New York Red Bulls. Held at Giants Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the game drew a crowd of 66,237 fans, up considerably from the Red Bulls’ average draw of 11,573 fans. The Red Bulls won 5–4.

       Has any player ever won the World Cup as a player and later as a coach?

      Regarded by many as the greatest German footballer of all time, sweeper Franz Beckenbauer won the 1974 World Cup as a player, and the 1990 World Cup as a coach, both times with West Germany.

       Who was the first Chinese player to appear for England?

      Frank Soo was the first player of Chinese extraction to play for England. He was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, in 1914 and was the son of a Chinese father and an English mother.

      One of the best inside forwards of the immediate pre-war era, he formed part of a legendary team that included players such as Sir Stanley Matthews and Neil Franklin.

       Who holds the record for most goals in a career?

      Josef “Pepi” Bican was a Czech-Austrian football forward. Records are not entirely complete, but it has been estimated by soccer statisticians that Bican scored 800 goals in all of his competitive matches, not including friendly games. For this, the International Federation of Football Historians and Statisticians awarded Bican the “Golden Ball” as the greatest goal scorer of the last century.

       Players Noted For Their Noticeable Locks

       What embarrassed Italian player Peppino Meazza during the 1938 World Cup semifinal?

      As Meazza scored on a penalty kick, his shorts, torn earlier in the game, fell down. His celebrating teammates surrounded him until a new pair were produced. Italy went on to win the game, and the tournament.

       Has anyone scored a hat trick in an FA Cup final?

      Appropriately enough, three people have done so. Billy Townley did it for Blackburn Rovers in 1890, Jimmy Logan did it for Notts County in 1894, and Stan Mortensen scored three for Blackpool in 1953. No one has done it since.

       Who scored the first goal in FA Cup competition history?

      The first official FA Cup competition goal was scored by Jarvis Kenrick for Clapham Rovers in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on November 11, 1871. It was the first of two goals for Kenrick in the match. He later won the FA Cup three years running with Wanderers.

       What was the “Little Tin Idol”?

      The original FA Cup trophy, awarded from 1872 to 1895, was made by Martin, Hall and Co. and looked nothing like the one played for today. Made of silver, it was less than 18 inches (45 centimetres) high and cost £20 to make. It had a figure of a footballer on the top and was popularly known as the “Little Tin Idol.” In 1895, it was stolen from the William Shillcock football outfitters shop in Newtown Row, Birmingham, and never recovered.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that the first televised F.A. Cup Final was April 30, 1938, with Preston North End FC defeating Huddersfield Town FC 1–0 at Wembley Stadium?

       Who was Harry Burge?

      In 1958, 83-year-old Harry Burge, who lived in a Birmingham hostel for the homeless, confessed to a reporter from a British newspaper that he was the thief who stole the original FA Cup trophy, the “Little Tin Idol.” He claimed to have melted it down to make counterfeit half-crown coins.

       Top Ten FA Cup Winners

      • Manchester United: 11 wins in 18 appearance

      • Arsenal: 10 wins in 17 appearances

      • Tottenham Hotspur: 8 wins in 9 appearances

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