1873 FA Cup Final
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| Event | 1872–73 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 29 March 1873 | ||||||
| Venue | Lillie Bridge, London | ||||||
| Referee | Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.) | ||||||
| Attendance | 3,000 | ||||||
The 1873 FA Cup final was a football match between Wanderers and Oxford University on 29 March 1873 at Lillie Bridge in London. It was the second final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (known in the modern era as the FA Cup). Unusually, the final was held in the morning, so as to avoid a clash with the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race which was held on the same day. Wanderers reached the final without playing a match, as the original rules of the competition stated that the holders would receive a bye straight to the final and other teams would compete to gain the other place in the final and challenge the holders for the trophy. Oxford reached the final when their semi-final opponents, Queen's Park, dropped out of the competition
Both teams had key players absent for the final, including several who had represented Wanderers in the previous year's final. The best player on the day was Arthur Kinnaird, who scored the first goal for Wanderers. Charles Wollaston added a second goal towards the end of the match to give Wanderers a 2–0 victory and a second consecutive FA Cup win. It was the only Cup final prior to 1893 not played at The Oval.
As the previous year's FA Cup winners, Wanderers received a bye straight to the final in the 1872–73. This was in keeping with the original concept of the competition being a "challenge cup", in which the holders would qualify directly for the following season's final and teams would compete for the other place in the final and the right to challenge them for the trophy. This was the only time this rule was used.
In the first round Oxford University played Crystal Palace (a different club to the modern club of the same name) and won 3–2 at home. In the second round, they played an away match against Clapham Rovers, winning 3–0.
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