The Suffolk Senior and Junior Cups

The Suffolk Senior and Junior Cups A Full Explanation Of Beccles Town FC’s 1920 Missing Senior Cup Final Win By Suffolk FA Researcher, Richard Wall, edited by Mark Allen October 2015 – The Facts are finally exposed. The Suffolk Senior Cup was first played for in the 1885-86 season as the Suffolk Challenge Cup. It was renamed the Suffolk Senior Cup when the Suffolk Junior Cup was introduced for the 1889-90 season. This situation continued until 1907 when a split occurred in the governing body, the Football Association. The problem is described in the 1907-08 Suffolk County Football Association handbook as follows: “At the Annual Meeting of the Football Association, Ltd., in May, a Rule, compelling Amateur Associations to admit professional Clubs, was passed in the teeth of a strong opposition by the Amateurs. At the same meeting Mr. G. S. Sherrington, the leader of the Amateur party on the Council, was turned out of office. This was the last straw. The Amateurs felt that the only thing to do was to form an Association of their own, and accordingly the Amateur Football Association was formed a few weeks later.” Suffolk County F.A. had to decide whether to stay with the F.A. or join the new A.F.A. They opted to join the A.F.A. Not all Suffolk clubs agreed and so another Suffolk County F.A. was formed that was affiliated to the F.A. (Beccles Town was one of these clubs). Each Suffolk County F.A. held Suffolk Senior Cup and Suffolk Junior Cup competitions. The original Suffolk County F.A. (now affiliated to A.F.A) used the original Senior & Junior Cup trophies. The new F.A. affiliated Suffolk County F.A. used new Suffolk Senior & Junior Cup trophies presented to that association by the F.A. (who also presented a ‘Charity’ Cup). This confusing situation continued with two Suffolk Senior cups and two Suffolk Junior cups for seven seasons. Finally in 1914 the differences between the two associations were resolved with the A.F.A. affiliating to the F.A. Incidentally, the A.F.A. still exists as the Amateur Football Alliance and has many clubs throughout the country as members and runs the A.F.A. Senior Cup each year. The First World War then broke out bringing the process of reconciliation of the two Suffolk County F.A.s to a halt. It was 1919/20 season before organised football in Suffolk began again but now there was only one Suffolk County F.A. and that was affiliated to the Football Association. They held a Senior Cup and Junior Cup competition that year in which they presented the only Senior and Junior Cups they had, which were those presented to them by the F.A. The teams that won the trophies were Beccles Town and Brantham Athletic respectively. The original Trophies were still in the hands of the late committee of the A.F.A. affiliated Suffolk County F.A. At the Suffolk County F.A. Council meeting of 19 March 1921 the President (W. M. Catchpole), Vice- President & Secretary of the Referees’ Committee (H.G. Stephenson), and the Hon. Secretary & Treasurer (John W. Yallop), were “directed to sign the undertaking required by the late A.F.A. Committee in the handing over of the original Senior & Junior Cups”. What this undertaking was, I do not know but the original trophies have been played for in the Suffolk Senior and Junior Cup competitions ever since. Why did Suffolk, which had no professional clubs at that time, get involved in the F.A. dispute? George S. Sherrington was born in Islington and had been a player for the Corinthians, but… He moved to Ipswich as a child and, with his two brothers, attended Ipswich School. He was one of the founders, a player, and one of the original co-captains of the Ipswich Association Football Club in 1878. He owned Broom Hill (also referred to as Brook’s Hall) where Ipswich originally played before the club moved to Portman Road. He played for, and was captain of, the Suffolk Representative team. He represented Suffolk and Norfolk (and Kent) on the Council of the Football Association. He became a prominent Suffolk Referee. Ironically, he refereed the match between Suffolk and Preston North End on 24 March 1892 at Portman Road. This was the first time a professional football team played in Suffolk. He was President of the Suffolk County Football Association from 1894-1896. He became one of the first Vice-Presidents of the A.F.A. His older brother William also played for both Ipswich and Suffolk. Incidentally, his other (eldest) brother Charles may also have played for Ipswich. He became an eminent physician and neurologist eventually being knighted and winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine. So I think it fair to say that he had a certain amount of influence within Suffolk County F.A. What happened to the F.A. presented trophies? On 11 June 1921 Suffolk County F.A. resolved “That the late Senior Cup be offered for competition between midweek clubs.” and “That the late Junior Cup be offered for competition between County Schools in Suffolk”. The Mid-Week Cup does not seem to have lasted very long. There may have been as few as six entries in 1921-22. As a result, the trophy was being used for a Charity Cup competition in 1924. The Junior Cup became the trophy in the County Schools Championship. Originally Suffolk County F.A. were involved in running this competition but in 1924 they passed the management, and the trophy, over to a committee appointed by the Competitors. The F.A. presented Junior Cup was thus lost to Suffolk County F.A. Suffolk County F.A. decided to have a competition for boys’ football clubs to replace that for the schools. Consequently, the Minor Cup competition was started. They needed a trophy and thus the Senior Cup presented by the Football Association became the Minor Cup and has been played for in that competition since 1924. The winners of the trophies during the period of the split were: Senior Cup (A.F.A) Senior Cup (F.A.) 1907-08 Ipswich Town Kirkley 1908-09 Long Melford Kirkley 1909-10 Cambridge Town Lowestoft Town 1910-11 Suffolk District Asylum (Melton) Orwell Works 1911-12 Ipswich Town Morton (Lowestoft) 1912-13 Ipswich Town Leiston 1913-14 Ipswich Town Lowestoft Town 1919-20 Beccles Town (7 years after the reconciliation of the two bodies but one year before the return of original trophy) Junior Cup (A.F.A.) Junior Cup (F.A.) 1907-08 Stowmarket I.O.G.T. (Lowestoft) 1908-09 Woodbridge Leiston Reserves 1909-10 Orford Currently Unknown 1910-11 Sudbury Brigade United Thetford 1911-12 Ipswich Y.M.C.A. Ipswich R.H.A. 1913-14 Stoke Athletic Brantham Athletic 1919-20 Brantham Athletic In 1922 Beccles win the Suffolk Senior Cup for a second time, but because the trophy had now been sought, retreived and switched for the original/current one the club’s name only appeared as 1922 winners (until 2009 when Beccles won it a third time). The trophy that Beccles won as the Senior Cup in 1920 was now the Suffolk Minor Cup and Beccles again lifted this piece of silverware in 1948 & 49 by winning and retaining the Minor Cup. I.O.G.T. = International Organisation of Good Templars: This was (and still is) a temperance organisation. R.H.A. = Royal Horse Artillery .

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