The Amateur Cup

The FA Amateur Cup was a competition open to all amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.

Wealdstone FC first entered the competition in 1913, their first season as a ‘Senior’ amateur club, their first tie resulting in a 5-1 home win versus Sutton Court on 18.10.1913. It was a short-lived cup run however as Wealdstone lost in the next round 0-4  away to 3rd Coldstream Guards on the 1st of November.

Wealdstone played a total of 159 Amateur cup ties, with an impressive record of 79 victories, 25 draws and 54 defeats. The club also won the trophy at Wembley Stadium in 1966, beating local rivals Hendon FC  3-1 in front of a declared crowd of 45,000.

Of Wealdstone’s victories, five were after extra-time and the club only lost twice after extra-time in the competition. On nine occasions the scored remained tied after extra-time, resulting in replays and three of these resulted in 1968 in the 1st round tie, originally drawn 0-0 away to Hertford Town, requiring four replays before Wealdstone eventually won 1-0.

The competition often saw high scoring games particularly in the early rounds when so called smaller clubs were often drawn against top amateur sides, and Wealdstone achieved a 12-0 win at home to an RAF XI in 1930. A good result but not good enough to replace the highest scoring win in Wealdstone FC history, a 22-0 win in the 1st round of the Amateur Cup on 13th October 1923 again the 12th London Regiment. Interesting to note however that Wealdstone’s twenty-two goals were scored by six players, Mason (7), Edwards (6), Mascall (4), Hall (3) and Deeley scored 21, the other an own goal.

Wealdstone entered the competition 47 times (there were no competition during either World War) prior to turning professional at the start of the 1971-72 season. The competition was replaced with the FA Trophy in 1974.

In the 159 ties played;

Full Match Results can be viewed HERE

Author: Roger Slater

[Uploaded March 2020]