THE 41st F.A.CUP FINAL - Wednesday 24th April 1912

Sheffield's Only F.A. Cup Final - Barnsley v West Bromwich Albion

There has only ever been one F.A.Cup Final played in Sheffield and that occurred on Wednesday, 24th April 1912. The game was in fact a replay because the first match had finished in a goalless draw between the two finalists, Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion. It had taken place a few days earlier at the Crystal Palace in London where the game was watched by a crowd of 54,556 who paid a total gate receipt of £6,057.

Programme for the 1912 FA Final between Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion

The replay in Sheffield  attracted a crowd of 38,555 with gate receipts of £2,612. Both teams remained unchanged after what was described as a dour and uninspiring match at Crystal Palace. The Times report on April 25 1912 of the Final was rather sparse and rudimentary to say the least

A few more details though can be added about the match from other sources. Although Barnsley retained possession of the ball in the early stages of the match they found it difficult to breakdown a resolute West Bromwich defence. As the match went on, an incident occurred that led to the introduction of a rule that is still in force today. The Barnsley right half Glendenning was off the field receiving treatment for an injured foot. West Bromwich attacked the Barnsley goal and with the Barnsley goalkeeper Cooper beaten, Glendenning ran on to the pitch with one boot on and cleared the ball away from the Barnsley goalmouth. After this incident, a F.A. rule was introduced that stipulated that a player who is off the field must receive the referee's permission before returning.

The match ended in stalemate and for the first time in the history of the competition the Final went into extra-time. With two minutes of extra-time remaining (and no-one certain of what to do if there was another draw) the Barnsley wing half Utley broke up an Albion attack on the left and then hit a pass to the Barnsley inside right Harry Tufnell who was standing on the halfway line. Showing both stamina and pace he outstripped the Albion full-backs Jesse Pennington and Cook before rounding the goalkeeper Pearson  and putting the ball into the far corner of the goal. The Barnsley Chronicle reported
"... Tufnell broke away on his own, and getting clear of the backs, made no mistake. Pearson ran out, but Tufnell steadied himself and got the ball into the net amid scenes of tremendous excitement!" 
Barnsley regrouped for the the last couple of minutes before the whistle blew and for the first (and the last) time in their history, Barnsley were presented with the F.A.Cup. It was to have been presented by the Lady Mayoress of London but she did not make the journey north and so the trophy was instead presented by the Chairman of the Football Association Charles Clegg (see below) 

The above photograph was taken at Oakwell and shows the victorious Barnsley side with the F.A.Cup! The Team that won the Cup that day were Cooper, Downs, Taylor, Capt) Glendenning, Bratley, Utley, Bartrop, Tufnell, Lillycrop, Travers and Moore.

Harry Tufnell the winning goal-scorer is sat, second from the left, on the front row. There is also a Will's cigarette card in existence that shows individual portraits of the players.

Of the eleven that played, ten were English born the exception being the captain Archie Taylor who was Scottish. The goalkeeper Cooper together with Bartrop (Worksop) were from Nottinghamshire whilst Downs, Glendenning, Lillycrop and Moore were from the North East. Travers came from Birmingham whilst the goalscorer Harry Tufnell was from Buxton in Derbyshire (*see note). Only Bratley and Utley were from the local area. Bratley was from Rawmarsh and Utley was from Elsecar.  The manager of the side was Arthur Fairclough who left soon after the Cup win to manage Huddersfield Town whilst the trainer was a former Army Sergeant called Bill Norman

Notes 

• This was Barnsley's second appearance in a F.A.Cup Final - the first was in 1910 at Crystal Palace, when they had a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United (Newcastle won the replay 2-0).

• Barnsley in reaching the Final played twelve matches of which three went into extra time. The defence conceded only four goals in the process

• After a tremendous procession through the streets, the reception for the team was held at the Clarence Hotel and the matchball, according to Firth, was presented to the guest of honour the  Reverend Tiverton Preedy (1863 - 1928) the original founder of Barnsley FC 

• There is some archive footage of the first game at Crystal Palace - GAUMONT'S CUP FINAL FILM 1912: BARNSLEY V WEST BROMWICH ALBION (Gaumont, UK 1912) - 35mm, 351ft, 6' (16fps) - a record of the 1912 F.A. Cup Final between Barnsley (in the dark shirts) and West Bromwich Albion (in light stripes), played at Crystal Palace"

• There was not another drawn FA Cup Final for fifty eight years until Chelsea drew  2 - 2 with Leeds  United on 11th April 1970 at Wembley Stadium. The replay took place on 29th April 1970 at Old Trafford Manchester with Chelsea winning 2 - 1. The winner was scored by David Webb who managed to get his head and shoulder to a long throw from Ian Hutchinson.

• The next Cup Final to end in a goalless draw after extra time was the 2005 FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Manchester United. This was the first drawn final that was not replayed. The match was decided on penalties with Arsenal winning 5 - 4.

• Charles Clegg (1850 - 1937) who died in June 1937 at the age of 87 became known in the years following the 1912 Final as "the great old man of football" and at the time of his death had served the Football Association for over 51 years. A Sheffield Wednesday Director and President  he played for Wednesday and Sheffield F.C. and had the honour of playing for England. He also refereed international matches and was the referee for the 1882 F.A. Cup Final between Old Etonians and Blackburn Rovers at Kennington Oval (London). The Old Etonians won 1 - 0 incidentally. He also assisted in the foundation of Sheffield United F.C. and was to serve at various times as Chairman and President. He received a knighthood in 1927 for his services to the sport

• Harry Tufnell ended up on the training staff at Oldham Athletic after his playing career was over. He died in the town in December 1959. Firth has him as coming from Buxton but he did in fact come the Horninglow district of Burton (or more specifically Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire). The 1901 Census has a Harry Tufnell working as a 15 year old greengrocers assistant in the Burton suburb of Horninglow. It was not the first time that Harry had scored in a FA Cup Final. Harry Tufnell joined Barnsley from Bury at the beginning of the 1909-10 season. He was in the Barnsley side that contested the 1910 Final against Newcastle United. He scored the only Barnsley goal after 35 minutes, putting the ball in off the post from a cross from Wilf Bartrop. The game ended a 1-1 draw with Newcastle equalising in the 82nd minute . Barnsley then lost the replay at Goodison Park, Liverpool, 2-0. 

• The two captains Archie Taylor of Barnsley on the left and Jessie Pennington of WBA on the right

• In March 2008 I received a mail that gave the following additional information on the Final itself, and the players involved

  "..my great great great uncle; George Utley (I have inherited none of his skills) , He played for Barnsley & Sheffield and won the FA Cup with both of them in 1912 & 1915  (The Khaki Cup Final).  Out of curiosity I looked for some information on George on Wikipedia and found I knew more than was on the site so I started expanding his article, then moved to the Cup finals he played in.
  
  You might find them interesting:

  1912 FA Cup Final - 1915 FA Cup Final - George Utley
  
  I've gradually been adding stubs for the players in the matches and as I was working on Harry Tufnell's page when I came across your fascinating site.
  
  In your description of the scoring of the goal I note that the Barnsley Chronicle credits Utley with wrestling the ball from WBA and passing it Tufnell. I based the wiki article on the Manchester Guardian report which credits Gledenning with winning the ball .  I guess it must have been a bit of tussle and without numbers difficult to tell one player from another. The MG then describes how Tufnell passed Pennington by putting the ball past his right hand-side and then running past his left hand-side.  Pearson then ran out of the W.B.A. goal to try and narrow the angle "stamping his feet" before Tufnell put the ball into the corner of the net."
   

• In September 2008 I received another mail from a descendent of Wilf Bartrop 

  "I saw on your website that you have an interest in the 1912 FA Cup Final. You have pages on Harry Tufnell (of course), and mention George Utley. My grandfather's cousin, Wilf Bartrop, also played in this match. Bartrop was from Worksop, Notts, and played for Worksop Town, Barnsley and Liverpool, before fighting in the First World War. He was killed in action on 7th November 1918, just four days before the end of the war (and in fact on the very last day that his Battalion fought). I have written a biography of Bartrop, that will be published later in 2008."

  At the time of writing the book has not been published but given the general lack of information about the participants in the 1912 FA Cup Final. I am sure that it will be a fascinating and at times poignant read  

• In October 2008, I was contacted by Jim Halliday whose website charts metal detecting finds. He drew my attention to the following item that was found near Naburn, York the previous month. Jim wanted to know if the colours on the matchbox were those worn by Barnsley in the Final. I could not help him on this matter and so if anyone knows the colour of their strip, can they contact me