Gloucestershire Cup

This article is about the defunct football competition. For the modern-day tournament, see Gloucestershire Senior Cup.

Gloucestershire Cup was the informal name of an association football competition held under the auspices of the Gloucestershire County Football Association on 99 occasions from 1887 to 1996. The full name of the competition changed over time: originally the Gloucestershire Football Association Challenge Cup, the introduction of a Junior tournament two years later led to it being renamed the Gloucestershire Football Association Senior Challenge Cup in 1889,^[1] then after the advent of professionalism in football it became the Gloucestershire Senior Professional Cup.

Gloucestershire Cup

Flag of Gloucestershire
Organising body	Gloucestershire County FA
Founded	1887
Abolished	1996
Region	Gloucestershire
Number of teams	various
Related competitions	Gloucestershire Senior Cup
Last champions	Bristol City (54th title)
Most successful club(s)	Bristol City (54 titles)

It was originally a knockout tournament open to teams in Gloucestershire, but from 1907–08 became an annual match between the first teams of Bristol Rovers and Bristol City.^[2]

Creation

The Montpelier Hotel, visible at the top of the hill, was the birthplace of the Gloucestershire Cup

The Gloucestershire cup was created by Charles Lacy Sweet of Clifton Association F.C. after a meeting in September 1887. Present at the meeting were representatives from Clifton Association, Eastville Rovers (later to become Bristol Rovers), Globe (a team made up of Old Elizabethans), Southville, and church teams St Agnes, St George and St Simon.

The draw for the first edition of the competition was held at the Montpelier Hotel in Bristol on 5 October 1887 and featured seven entrants. Eastville Rovers were awarded a bye into the second round, while the first round ties drawn were Clifton v St Agnes, Globe v Southville, and Warmley v St George.^[3]

1887–88 tournament

	First Round				Semi-finals				Final
	Warmley	2
	St George	1
					Warmley	8
	Second replay
					Globe	1
	Globe	1
									Replay, at St George
	Southville	0
									Warmley	1
									Clifton	4
					at St George
					Eastville Rovers	1
					Clifton	4
	Clifton	5
	St Agnes	0

Knockout tournament

List of tournament finals

Season	Final #	Date	Winner[A]	Score	Runner-up	Goalscorers	Att.	Venue	Ref
1887–88	1	10 March 1888	Clifton	1–1	Warmley	J.R. Riddell (Warmley); H.H. Francis (Clifton)	2,000	St George	[4]
	1 (replay)	17 March 1888	Clifton (1)	4–1	Warmley	A.B. Colthurst (2), C.H. Russell (2) (Clifton); Unknown (Warmley)	2,000	St George	[5]
1888–89	2	6 April 1889	Eastville Rovers (1)	1–0	Warmley	W. Perrin	3,000	St George	[6]
1889–90	3	22 March 1890	Clifton (2)	5–0	St George	R. Barlow, A.T. Hingston, R. Innes-Pocock, H.H. Francis	2,500	St George	[7][8]
1890–91	4	28 March 1891	Bedminster (1)	2–0	Warmley	Griffiths, H.J. Batchelor	3,000	St George	[9]
1891–92	5	12 March 1892	Warmley (1)	2–1	Bedminster	Rev A.B. Macfarlane (Bedminster); J. King, G. Peacock (Warmley)	6,000	Kingswood	[10]
1892–93	6	1 April 1893	Warmley (2)	4–1	Gloucester	N. Britton (2), G. Peacock, W. Phipps (Warmley); W. Sessions (Gloucester)	3,500	Kingswood	[11]
1893–94	7	31 March 1894	St George (1)	3–1	Eastville Rovers	W. Britton (2), D.S. Gerrish (St George); H. Horsey (Eastville)	4,000	Kingswood	[12]
1894–95	8	15 April 1895	St George (2)	4–3	Gloucester	Winstone, Whippie, Harris, Britton (St George); Stout (2), Fielding (Gloucester)	Large	Kingswood	[13]
1895–96	9	6 April 1896	Warmley (3)	1–0	Eastville Rovers	Bowler	6,000	St George	[14]
1896–97	10	19 April 1897	Warmley (4)	2–0	Bedminster	P. Britton, Stone	7,000	St George	[15][16]
1897–98	11	11 April 1898	Bristol City (1)	2–1	Warmley	Caie, Higgins (Bristol City); Bishop (Warmley)	12,000	Eastville	[17]
1898–99	12	3 April 1899	Bristol City (2)	2–1	Bristol Rovers	Langham, Murphy (City); Brown (Rovers)	12,000	St George	[18]
1899–1900	13	30 April 1900	Bedminster (2)	3–1	Bristol City	Boucher, Lewis, Geddes (Bedminster); Russell (Bristol City)	2,000	Eastville	[19]
1900–01	14	29 April 1901	Bristol City (3)	4–0	Bristol Rovers	Fulton (2), Wilson, McDougall	2,800	St John's Lane	[20][21]
1901–02[B]	15	31 March 1902	Bristol Rovers	0–0	Bristol City		18,000	Eastville	[22]
	15 (replay)	23 April 1902	Bristol City	0–0	Bristol Rovers		4,000	St John's Lane	[23]
1902–03	16	13 April 1903	Bristol Rovers	0–0	Bristol City		11,790	Eastville	[24][21]
	16 (1st replay)	20 April 1903	Bristol Rovers	1–1	Bristol City	Corbett (Rovers); Banks (City)	3,000	St John's Lane	[25]
	16 (2nd replay)	29 April 1903	Bristol Rovers (2)	4–2	Bristol City	Corbett (2), Marriott, Dunn (pen.) (Rovers); Banks (2) (City)	5,000	St John's Lane	[26]
1903–04	17	4 April 1904	Bristol City (4)	2–1	Bristol Rovers	Corbett, Jones (City); Beats (Rovers)	10,537	St John's Lane	[27][21]
1904–05	18	24 April 1905	Bristol Rovers	2–2	Bristol City	Capes, Fenton (City); Beats, Smith (Rovers)	10,000	Eastville	[28]
	18 (replay)	28 April 1905	Bristol Rovers (3)	3–1	Bristol City	Beats, Dunkley, Lewis (Rovers); Fisher (City)	3,000	Ashton Gate	[29]
1905–06	19	16 April 1906	Bristol City (5)	4–0	Bristol Rovers	Bennett, Burton, Gilligan, Wedlock	8,000	Ashton Gate	[30]
1906–07	20	1 April 1907	Bristol City (6)	2–0	Bristol Rovers	Gilligan (2)	11,000	Eastville	[31]

^[A] The cumulative number of cup wins for each team is shown in brackets.
^[B] The title was shared between Bristol Rovers and Bristol City in 1901–02 after two matches were played and drawn.^[32]

Summary of tournament winners

It is arguable which team was the most successful of the tournament era. Bristol City's six wins and three runners-up places put them clearly ahead of any other team, but two of these wins and one second place came prior to their merger with Bedminster in 1900. The Western Daily Press at the time clearly considered the merged team to be a new club, distinct from the original, which would make Warmley the most successful team, with four wins and four second places.

Team	Wins	Runners-up
Bristol City	6 (1898, 1899, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1907)	3 (1900, 1903, 1905)
Warmley	4 (1892, 1893, 1896, 1897)	4 (1888, 1889, 1891, 1898)
Bristol/Eastville Rovers	3 (1889, 1903, 1905)	7 (1894, 1896, 1899, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1907)
Bedminster	2 (1891, 1900)	2 (1892, 1897)
St George	2 (1894, 1895)	1 (1890)
Clifton	2 (1888, 1890)	0
Gloucester	0	2 (1893, 1895)
No outright winner	1 (1902)

Bristol City v Bristol Rovers matches

There was a growing feeling among teams participating in the tournament that the dominance shown by City and Rovers meant that all other entrants were going into the competition each year knowing that they had no hope of winning. A solution to this problem was put forward at the annual meeting of the Gloucestershire County Football Association (GFA), held at the Crown & Dove Hotel in central Bristol on 2 August 1907. Mr W.H. Haskins, secretary of the GFA, proposed the creation of an intermediate cup competition for teams who were too accomplished to take part in the Junior Cup, but who were unable to compete with Rovers and City in the Senior competition. The proposal carried with unanimous support in the room.^[33] From this point on the Senior Cup would be contested by Rovers and City only each year.

The change in the format of the competition coincided with a move from the final's traditional place in the calendar on Easter Monday, enabling more flexibility with the scheduling of matches.^[34]

The 1996 Gloucestershire Cup match was depicted in a series 5 episode of the ITV preschool series Rosie and Jim.

List of Bristol City v Bristol Rovers match results

Season	Final #	Date	Winner	Score	Scorers	Att.	Venue	Ref
1907–08	21	29 April 1908	Bristol City	2–0	Burton, Maxwell	9,000	Ashton Gate	[34]
1908–09[α]	22	1 September 1909	Draw	1–1	McKenzie (City); Corbett (Rovers)	10,000	Eastville	[35]
	22 (1st replay)	13 October 1909	Draw	1–1	Cowell (City); Corbett (Rovers)	3,000	Ashton Gate	[36]
	22 (2nd replay)	26 January 1910	Bristol City	2–1	Cowell, Radford (City); Roberts (Rovers)	2,000	Eastville	[37]
1909–10	23	6 April 1910	Bristol City	2–0	Foster (2)	1,000	Ashton Gate	[38]
1910–11	24	19 April 1911	Bristol City	1–0	Foster	4,000	Eastville	[39]
1911–12	25	3 February 1912	Bristol City	1–0	Copestake	8,966	Ashton Gate	[40]
1912–13	26	25 March 1913	Bristol Rovers	1–0	Brogan	10,000	Eastville	[41]
1913–14	27	14 April 1914	Bristol City	2–0	Brown, Harris	9,000	Ashton Gate	[42]
World War I (1914–1918)
1919–20	28	24 September 1919	Bristol City	4–0	Neesam (2), Howarth (2)	7,000	Eastville	[43]
1920–21	29	29 September 1920	Bristol City	1–0	Banfield	12,000	Ashton Gate	[44]
1921–22	30	1 May 1922	Bristol City	2–0	Fairclough, Pocock	9,000	Eastville	[45]
1922–23	31	16 April 1923	Abandoned after 80 minutes due to poor light with City winning 3–1			8,000	Ashton Gate	[46]
	31 (replay)	7 May 1923	Bristol City	1–0 aet	Smith	4,991	Ashton Gate	[47]
1923–24	32	30 April 1924	Draw	1–1	Walsh (City); Phillips (Rovers)	7,396	Eastville	[48]
	32 (replay)	5 May 1924	Bristol City	2–0	Walsh, Torrance	6,091	Ashton Gate	[49]
1924–25	33	27 April 1925	Draw	1–1	Whatmore (Rovers); Walsh (City)	5,102	Ashton Gate	[50]
	33 (replay)	29 April 1925	Bristol Rovers	2–0	Phillips, Morgan	4,123	Eastville	[51]
1925–26	34	19 April 1926	Bristol City	4–1	Keating (3), Paul (City); Holcroft (Rovers)	3,500	Eastville	[52]
1926–27	35	1 January 1927	Bristol City	4–0	Walsh (2, 1 pen), Keating, Martin	9,601	Ashton Gate	[53]
1927–28	36	10 April 1928	Bristol Rovers	1–0	Ormston	7,600	Eastville	[54]
1928–29	37	19 September 1928	Bristol City	2–0	Barber, Williams	6,923	Ashton Gate	[55]
1929–30	38	30 September 1929	Draw	0–0		3,000	Eastville	[56]
	38 (replay)	22 April 1930	Bristol City	4–1	Vials (2), Johnson, Homer (City); Phillips (Rovers)	3,962	Ashton Gate	[57]
1930–31	39	1 October 1930	Bristol City	3–1	Townrow, Homer (pen), Elliott (City); Dennis (pen) (Rovers)	5,000	Ashton Gate	[58]
1931–32	40	9 September 1931	Bristol City	1–0	Elliott	11,000	Eastville	[59]
1932–33	41	14 September 1932	Draw	3–3	Irving, Eyres, Jackson (Rovers); Homer (2), Bowen (City)	7,000	Ashton Gate	[60]
	41 (replay)	24 April 1933	Bristol City	4–3	Scriven (2), Loftus, Bowen (City); Stoddart, Wyper, McNestry (Rovers)	5,000	Eastville	[61]
1933–34	42	13 September 1933	Draw	0–0		8,361	Eastville	[62]
	42 (replay)	3 April 1934	Bristol City	2–1	Riley (2) (City); Havelock (Rovers)	7,000	Ashton Gate	[63]
1934–35	43	26 September 1934	Bristol Rovers	2–1	Smith (2, 1 pen) (Rovers); Riley (City)	5,216	Ashton Gate	[64]
1935–36	44	25 September 1935	Bristol Rovers	3–1	Crisp, Wildsmith, Harwood (Rovers); Bradford (City)	6,293	Eastville	[65]
1936–37	45	9 September 1936	Bristol City	1–0	Haycox	5,000	Ashton Gate	[66]
1937–38	46	27 September 1937	Bristol Rovers	2–1	McArthur (2) (Rovers); Brain (City)	3,648	Eastville	[67]
1938–39	47	21 September 1938	Bristol City	3–0	Clayton (2), Gallacher	2,500	Ashton Gate	[68]
World War II (1939–1945)
1944–45	48	26 December 1944	Bristol City	5–0	Clark (4), Owen	9,048	Eastville	[69]
1945–46	49	24 September 1945	Bristol City	3–1	Collins, Clark, Curran (City); Lambden (Rovers)	7,962	Ashton Gate	[70]
1946–47	50	26 May 1947	Draw	2–2	Leamon, Hodges (Rovers); Clark, Collins (City)	17,151	Eastville	[71]
	50 (replay)	7 June 1947	Bristol City	2–0	Williams, Thomas	11,434	Ashton Gate	[72]
1947–48	51	8 May 1948	Bristol Rovers	2–1	Morgan, Watkins (Rovers); Clark (City)	16,000	Ashton Gate	[73]
1948–49	52	14 May 1949	Bristol Rovers	2–0	Lambden, Morgan	15,111	Eastville	[74]
1949–50	53	13 May 1950	Bristol City	2–0	Williams (2)	17,000	Ashton Gate	[75]
1950–51	54	12 May 1951	Shared	1–1	Lambden (Rovers); Boxley (City)	16,673	Eastville	[76]
1951–52	55	10 May 1952	Bristol City	2-1	Jimmy Rogers, Cyril Williams
1952–53	56	8 May 1953	Bristol City	2-0	John Ayteo, Alois Eisentrager
1953–54	57	3 May 1954	Shared	2-2	Alois Eisentrager, Cyril Williams
1954–55	58	2 May 1955	Bristol Rovers	2-1	John Atyeo
1955–56	59	30 April 1956	Bristol Rovers	1-0
1956–57	60	29 April 1957	Bristol City	2-1	John Atyeo, Dermot Curtis
1957–58	61	29 April 1958	Bristol City	4-1	Bobby Etheridge (2), Dermot Curtis, John Atyeo
1958–59	62	4 May 1959	Shared	1-1	Bert Tindill
1959–60	63	2 May 1960	Bristol City	3–2	Atyeo (2), Rogers (City); Biggs (2) (Rovers)	7,195	Ashton Gate
1960–61	64	1 May 1961	Bristol City	3-1	John Atyeo (2), Jantzen Derrick
1961–62	65	1 May 1962	Bristol City	3-1	Brian Clark (3)
1962–63	66	23 May 1963	Bristol Rovers	2-1	Jantzen Derrick
1963–64	67	28 April 1964	Shared	2-2	Gordon Low, Bobby Williams
1964–65	68	26 April 1965	Bristol Rovers	3-2	Terry Bush, Brian Clark
1965–66	69	12 May 1966	Bristol Rovers	1-0
1966–67	70	9 May 1967	Bristol City	3-0	Chris Crowe, Tony Ford, Roger Peters
1967–68	71	14 May 1968	Shared	1-1	Gerry Sharpe
1968–69	72	28 April 1969	Bristol City	5-0	John Galley, Chris Garland, Bobby Kellard, Gerry Sharpe, Alan Skirton
1969–70	73	22 April 1970	Bristol City	2-1	Bobby Kellard (2)
1970–71	74	4 May 1971	Shared	1-1	Keith Fear
1971–72	75	9 May 1972	Bristol Rovers	1–1 (4–2 pen)	Allan (Rovers); Emanuel (City)	13,137	Ashton Gate	[77]
1972–73	76	1 May 1973	Bristol City	2–2 (5–3 pen)	Gerry Gow (2)
1973–74	77	29 April 1974	Bristol Rovers	2-0
1974–75	78	29 April 1975	Bristol Rovers	2–1 aet	Gary Collier
1975–76	79	4 May 1976	Bristol City	3–2 aet	Jimmy Mann (2), Paul Cheesley
1976–77	80	24 May 1977	Bristol City	1-0	Jimmy Mann
1977–78	81	2 May 1978	Bristol City	3-0	Kevin Mabbutt (2), Jimmy Mann
1978–79	82	15 May 1979	Bristol City	2-0	Gerry Gow, Jimmy Mann
1979–80	83	6 May 1980	Bristol City	1-0	Howard Pritchard
1980–81	84	5 May 1981	Bristol City	1–0 aet	Kevin Mabbutt
1981–82	85	8 September 1981	Bristol Rovers	1-0
1982–83	86	21 September 1982	Bristol Rovers	2-1	Gary Williams
1983–84	87	20 September 1983	Bristol Rovers	3–2 aet	Howard Pritchard, Glyn Riley			[78]
1984–85	88	21 May 1985	Bristol Rovers	3–1 aet	Alan Walsh, Steve White, Paul Bannon, Nick Tanner
1985–86	89	9 September 1985	Bristol City	1–0	Steve Johnson (pen)			[79]
1986–87[β]	90	2 December 1987	Bristol City	2–1	Paul Fitzpatrick (pen), Mike Tanner
1987–88	91	15 March 1988	Bristol City	3–1	Paul Fitzpatrick, Steve Galliers, John Pender
1988–89	92	17 August 1988	Bristol Rovers	3–0	Mehew, White
1989–90	93	8 August 1989	Bristol Rovers	2–1	David Smith
1990–91	94	15 August 1990	Bristol City	4–1	David Smith, Gary Shelton, Nicky Morgan (2)
1991–92	95	7 August 1991	Bristol City	3–2	Purnell, Mehew (Rovers), Bob Taylor (2), Rob Edwards (City)
1992–93	96	5 August 1992	Bristol Rovers	2–1	Cole (City), Mehew, Stewart (Rovers)
1993–94	97	5 August 1993	Bristol Rovers	1–1 (5–3 pen)	Clark (Rovers), Bryant (City)
1994–95	98	3 August 1994	Bristol Rovers	0–0 (11–10 pen)
1995–96	99	6 August 1996	Bristol City	1–0	Goater

^[α] The 1908–09 final was held over to the beginning of the following season due to fixture congestion suffered by City.
^[β] The 1986–87 final was held over to the following season.

Total Bristol City wins: 53 Total Bristol Rovers wins: 27