1871 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the 'Sappers', of the British Army and based in Chatham, Kent. In the 1870s, it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup finalists in three of the first four seasons. The Engineers were pioneers of the combination game, where teammates passed the ball to each other rather than kicking ahead and charging after the ball. With the rise of professional teams, in 1888 the Engineers joined a newly formed Army Football Association.
Wanderers Football Club was an English association football club. It was founded as "Forest Football Club" in 1859 in Leytonstone. In 1864, it changed its name to "Wanderers", a reference to it never having a home stadium, instead playing at various locations in London and the surrounding area. Comprising mainly former pupils of the leading English public schools, Wanderers was one of the dominant teams in the early years of organised football and won the inaugural Football Association Challenge Cup in 1872. The club won the competition five times in total, including three in succession from 1876 to 1878, a feat which has been repeated only once.
James Frederick McLeod Prinsep was an English footballer who held two 'youngest player' records for almost 125 years, before they were both broken within the space of just over a year.
Charles Henry Reynolds Wollaston was an English footballer who played as a forward for Wanderers and England. He won the FA Cup five times with Wanderers, becoming the first player to do so. Wollaston was born in Felpham, Sussex and died in Westminster.
The 1871–72 Football Association Challenge Cup was the first staging of the Football Association Challenge Cup, usually known in the modern era as the FA Cup, the oldest association football competition in the world. Fifteen of the association's fifty member clubs entered the first competition, although three withdrew without playing a game. In the final, held at Kennington Oval in London on 16 March 1872, Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by a single goal, scored by Morton Betts, who was playing under the pseudonym A. H. Chequer.
Robert Walpole Sealy Vidal, who from 1892 was Robert Walpole Sealy was an English 19th century footballer who featured in the first three FA Cup Finals for two different clubs. In March 1870 he played in the first ever international football match, which took place at Kennington Oval, London. He represented England again in 1871.
Civil Service Football Club is an English football club based in the city of London. The club originally played both association football and rugby football and the Civil Service, along with Blackheath F.C., is one of the two clubs that can claim to be a founder member of both The Football Association and the Rugby Football Union. However, the rugby club is now a distinct entity and appears to have been so since the late nineteenth century. They are currently members of the Southern Amateur League Senior Division 1.
Crystal Palace F.C. was an amateur football club formed in 1861 who contributed to the development of association football during its formative years. They were founder members of the Football Association in 1863, and competed in the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871–72.
Reginald Halsey Birkett was an English footballer who played for Clapham Rovers, as well as the England national side. He also played international rugby union for England in 1871, in the first international rugby match. In this match he scored England's first try.
The Gipsies Football Club was a short lived 19th century rugby football club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as producing a number of international players in the sport's early international fixtures.
The West Kent Football Club was a 19th century association football and rugby football club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as producing a number of international players in the sport's early international fixtures.
Francis Luscombe was a rugby union international who represented England from 1872 to 1876. He also captained his country.
Edgar Lubbock LLB was an English amateur footballer who twice won the FA Cup and played first-class cricket. He later became a partner in the Whitbread Brewery, a director and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and the Master of the Blankney Foxhounds.
Alexander Andrew Ellis Nash was an English amateur footballer who played for England in the first representative match against Scotland in March 1870.
Rochester F.C. was an English association football club from Rochester in Kent.
Louis Birkett was an English rugby union player who played for Clapham Rovers and was also selected to play for England. He was the younger brother of Reg Birkett and uncle of John Birkett.
Clapham Common Club, usually known by its initials C.C.C., was a mid-nineteenth century amateur English football club based at Clapham Common.
Charles Bryden (1852-1941) was a rugby union international who represented England from 1875 to 1877.
Herbert Shelley Bevington was a footballer who played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 FA Cup final.
