Fascinating Facts and Trivia

Shin guards date back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

The first yellow tennis ball was used at Wimbledon in 1986.

If Michael Phelps were a country, he would rank 35th on the all time Olympic Gold medal list, ahead of 97 nations.

Just going back to the Only Fools and Horses trivia on the previous page by GreenMachine.On a recent documentary about the show Nicolas Lyndhurst revealed that Lennard Pearce who played grandad from 1981 to 1984,told him during a lunch break one day that in the 1930s when he as a stage actor working in Germany,the Nazi party attended a performance and shook hands with the cast. Pearce expressed his regret that he didn't try and kill Adolph Hitler who also joined them on stage.

As it's FA Cup weekend, here's a bit of FA Cup Trivia

The first FA Cup final was held at Kennington Oval in London on the 16th March 1872. The Oval is now more famous for being a Cricket ground where the England team often play. The Royal Engineers (pic below) played in the first final and lost 1-0 to The Wanderers.




The fastest goal ever scored in an FA Cup final was 42 seconds. The goal was scored by Roberto Di Matteo, who played for Chelsea, and later managed them to a Champions League title.

Arsenal have lost 6-0 three times in the FA Cup. The first was against Sunderland in 1883, the second was against Derby in 1889 and the third against West Ham in 1946.

In 1990 the three semi-final matches had a total of 16 goals all scored by 16 different players.

In 1946 and 1947 the ball actually burst in both finals, something which has not occurred since. This is likely due to the poor materials used to make the balls in post-wartime Britain and the lack of back up balls that we have today.

The fastest goal in FA Cup history was scored by Louis Saha for Everton against Chelsea in 2009. The goal came 25 seconds after the match kicked off.

Between March 12th and May 1st 1980, Liverpool and Arsenal played each other five times, four of these games being FA Cup semi final ties and the other a league game. All but one of these games were drawn. The last meeting, a Semi Final 3rd replay took place 9 days before the FA Cup Final.

Had the 1977 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Manchester United been a draw, the replay would have taken place during Wimbledon fortnight, on June 27th!

Bill Shankly rejected a request from The Beatles for tickets to the 1965 FA Cup final saying: "I've never seen The Beatles standing at the Kop".

The 1938 FA Cup final between Preston and Huddersfield was the first to be televised.

There have been five FA Cup Trophies. The first which cost £20 to create, was stolen in 1895 while it was on display in a shoe shop having been won by Aston Villa.
Trophy number two, a precise replica of the first one, was in use from 1896 till 1910 and was subsequently sold in 2005 for almost half a million pounds.
The third trophy was larger and was used for several years but it was discovered to be fragile and so was replaced by a replica which remained in use until 2014 when it was replaced by a stronger heavier version.

In 1990, the three FA Cup Semi Final matches produced a total of 16 goals. These 16 goals were scored by 16 different players.