Blackburn Rovers and England goalkeeper Herbie Arthur who kept goal in three cup finals and seven England games. In two spells with Rovers he managed to –play in 40 league games after joining the club originally in 1880. Arthur retired in 1892 but not before a legendary match in which he took on the Burnley side…all by himself! © Cottontown

Since the birth of the FA Cup there has only ever been one occasion that the same sides played each other in two successive finals and this was it, the second England v Scotland clash in a row and for the last time in an FA Cup final. The Blackburn side included eight players from the previous final. They lined up as; Arthur, Turner, Suter, Haworth, McIntyre, Sowerbutts, Lofthouse, Douglas, Jimmy Brown as captain and Fecitt. The crowd was even larger than last year, around 13,000 which was a huge figure for the time. Haworth was actually on loan from Accrington, or at least was allowed to play for Rovers for a while. Queens Park remained resolutely amateur, as they continue to do so to the present day. Although modern times have seen them thrown around the Scottish leagues, they continue to be amateur and continue to play at Hampden Park. They can’t have been too happy at having Mandarin referee the game after his handling of the final of the previous year but they were too gentlemanly to think of complaining.

Nor would it have mattered as Rovers simply dominated the game. The first half was a very open affair and Queens Park did have their chances but Rovers led 1-0 at half time after Jimmy Forrest scored in his second FA Cup final after a close range shot on fourteen minutes. Despite having chances, the Scots didn’t really know what to do with them which may explain why Herbie Arthur did not handle the ball with his hands in the entire first half. The second half was simply all Rovers. Very soon after Arthur handled the ball for the first time, Fecitt ran down the left wing and squared it for Jimmy Brown to make it 2-0 and finish off the game. There were over twenty minutes left in the game yet Queens Park never threatened to get a consolation goal never mind an equaliser and Rovers were FA Cup champions once again. Queens Park would enter the FA Cup twice more but would not reach another final. The Scottish FA then banned any of its member clubs entering the competition and the days of ‘Battles of Britain’ were over or at least for a very long time.

Blackburn Rovers were now the kings of the cups and only one team in the land could ever claim bragging rights over them and that was the awesome Corinthians side. Their constitution meant they refused to enter competitions (this was changed but not some decades) and so Rovers could only meet them in friendlies. They probably wished they hadn’t bothered. In 1884 the Corinthians beat them 8-1. In 1885 the Corinthians beat them 2-1 at their Leamington Street home and then later in the year beat them 6-0. In 1886 the Corinthians beat them 3-2. In fact, Rovers didn’t even beat them until 1888 and before that had needed to put a brave face on a 6-1 loss. The rise of the Football League would lessen the force of this majestic Corinthians side but they would still have one last sting in the tail left for Rovers when they would meet for one last time in the 1920s.