The 1900–01 FA Cup was the 30th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur of the Southern League, who defeated Sheffield United 3–1 in a replay after a 2–2 draw in the first game.[2] This is the only occasion since the formation of The Football League in 1888 that a club from outside the League has won the cup.[3]
Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held at neutral venues until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.
Calendar
The format of the FA Cup for the season had a preliminary round, five qualifying rounds, an intermediate round, three proper rounds, and the semi-finals and final.
The ten matches were played on 5 January 1901. One tie, which was Reading v Bristol City, went to a replay, played in the following midweek. This rematch again resulted in a draw, so a second replay was played the following week at a neutral venue (Swindon Town's County Ground).
The eight Second Round matches were scheduled for Saturday 23 February 1901. There was one replay, between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, played in the following midweek.
The semi-final matches were both intended to be played on Saturday 6 April 1901. Sheffield United and Aston Villa played on this date, but drew their tie and had to replay it five days later; this next match finished in a 3–0 win for United. The other game, Tottenham Hotspur against West Bromwich Albion, was delayed until Monday 8 April and finished in a convincing win for Spurs.
The final took place on Saturday 20 April 1901 at Crystal Palace. Over 110,000 supporters attended the match. Fred Priest opened the scoring for Sheffield United after about 20 minutes. Sandy Brown headed an equalising goal for Spurs shortly afterwards and half time arrived with the score 1–1. Brown put Spurs ahead early in the second half, but, not to be denied, Sheffield United pressed strongly, and Walter Bennett headed an equaliser for the draw.
In the replay, Spurs became the first and only "non- (Football) league" side to win the FA Cup since the creation of the Football League when they beat United 3–1 before an attendance of 20,470 at Burnden Park, Bolton. John Cameron opened the scoring before centre forward Sandy Brown became the first player to score in every round. He netted both goals in the final as well as one in the replay for a total of 15 in the season's competition.
^Soar, Phil (1995). Tottenham Hotspur The Official Illustrated History 1882–1995. Hamlyn. p. 25. ISBN0-600-58706-1.
^James M. Ross (6 June 2008). "England FA Challenge Cup Finals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
^Christopher Lyles (5 January 2008). "FA Cup by numbers". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
^ abBrown, Tony (1994). The Ultimate F.A. Cup Statistics Book. Association of Football Statisticians. Retrieved 6 November 2018 – via soccer.mistral.co.uk. The exemption system had three categories for this season. Twenty two clubs were still exempt to round one. Ten were exempt to a new intermediate round after the qualifying rounds. Four from each group were exempt to the third qualifying round as before.