On 16 March 1875, when news of the Sappers’ FA Cup Final victory reached the Commandant of the School of Military Engineering, he was on the parade ground. Disregarding the formality of the occasion, he threw his cap in the air – a spontaneous gesture celebrating an achievement seven years in the making.
Colonel Thomas Gallwey had become the Commandant at Chatham in 1868 and the following year he appointed Francis Marindin, an Old Etonian and Crimean War veteran, as his Brigade Major. As well as establishing the RE AFC, Marindin was also an influential figure in the newly established Football Association and in 1871 he played an instrumental role in the creation of the FA Cup. Under his captaincy, the RE AFC reached the first FA Cup final, played at the Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872. Their opponents, the Wanderers, were widely considered to be the best side in the country and duly won 1-0. Knocked out in the third round of the 1872/73 competition, the Sappers reached the final for a second time in 1874 but, despite a spirited performance, could not prevent Oxford University lifting the trophy.
In the early rounds of the 1874/75 competition, the Sappers defeated Great Marlow, Cambridge University and Clapham Rovers before meeting Oxford University in the semi-final. Avenging the previous year’s defeat, they won a replay at Chatham by a single goal after a keenly contested game at the Parks had ended 1-1.
The 1875 FA Cup final was again staged at the Oval. At that time the rules stipulated that teams had to change ends after every goal and the Old Etonians started the match with a strong wind at their backs. They laid siege to the Sapper’s goal and, after 30 minutes, took the lead direct from a corner. Within five minutes of the turnaround, with the wind now behind them, the Sappers had equalised and once again found themselves kicking into the wind. But the Etonians had lost a player through injury, which evened things up, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Weather conditions for the replay, just three days later, were more equitable and the match attracted a crowd of around three thousand. Fielding an unchanged side, the Sappers took the lead after 15 minutes: the Etonians conceded a free kick and following a goalmouth scramble the ball was bundled between the posts by Lieutenant Henry Renny-Tailyour. The match then remained evenly balanced until the 75th minute when a concerted surge of the Engineers forwards enabled Renny-Tailyour to score his second.
At the third time of asking, the Sappers had won the FA Cup. They would make it through to one more final, in 1878, where they were again defeated by the Wanderers, and the club would continue to participate in the competition until 1888. In 1893, marking the formal split between professionals and amateurs, the FA Amateur Cup was introduced and in 1908 Depot Regiment RE won the competition; the only military team to do so in the competition’s 81-year history.
Col. A Phillips
To celebrate 150 years since the Corps of Royal Engineers won the FA Cup, the original match report and replica FA Cup are on display in the Museum.
For the full article as published in the Royal Engineers Journal click here. To learn more about the Institution of Royal Engineers, click here.
23 April 2025