On the evening of Monday 26 October 1863 the representatives of 12 London and suburban clubs met at the Freemasons Tavern in Great Queen Street to form an Association and establish a definite code of Rules for the game. Out of the 12 teams 11 signed up and the Football Association was born.

In 1871 at a meeting on 20 July the F.A Secretary Charlie Alcock proposed that it would be desirable to have a Challenge Cup that all Association would be invited to compete for. This Cup would be called the Football Association Challenge Cup (F.A.CuP) and was given the nickname ‘’Little Tin Idol.’’

All 50 member clubs were sent invitations but only 15 replied and after withdrawals only 12 teams took part playing just 12 fixtures.

The inaugural game took place in West Ham Park on 11 November 1871 between Upton Park and Clapham Rovers.

The first goal being scored by Jarvis Kendrick of Clapham Rovers who went to win 3-0 (Kendrick scoring twice).

The match was watched by over 1000 spectators.

The final was played at the Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872 between Wanderers and Royal Engineers in front of 2000 spectators who paid 1 shilling (5p) each to watch the game.

The match being won by Wanderers (1-0).

The original Trophy cost £20 and was passed between various clubs for over 20 years until Aston Villa won the Cup in 1895.

Unfortunately the Cup was stolen from a shop window where it was being displayed. A replica was made to replace it and survived until 1910 when it was replaced by the Trophy that we know today.

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