1939–40 FA Cup

1939–40 FA Cup
Country	England
Defending champions	Portsmouth
	← 1938–39 1945–46 →

The 1939–40 FA Cup was an abandoned season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. The competition began as the 64th season of the competition, but was abandoned after just the first round of qualifying matches, due to the start of World War II.

Suspension[]

The 1939–40 FA Cup began on 2 September 1939, the day after the German invasion of Poland, which began World War II. On 3 September the United Kingdom declared war with Germany and its allies. The FA suspended the FA Cup on 7 September, until further notice;^[1] on 21 September it was announced that all organized football was cancelled for the duration of the war, with only friendly and regional competitions permitted.^[1] All results to date in the 1939-40 season were declared null and void.^[2]

The Football League War Cup began in October 1939.^[3] Organised by the Football League, this was the only national-level competition during the war. Alongside this, the Wartime League or regionalized competitions provided regular football for players and fans during the war.^[4]

Extra-Preliminary Round[]

62 ties were scheduled for 2 September 1939.^[5]^[6] The results of several matches are missing, but it's not known if these were simply not played, or if the results went unrecorded as it quickly became apparent that the competition would not be continued.^[5]

Of the teams involved, this was the only FA Cup appearance for , , Dagenham Town and . withdrew before playing a game, in what would have otherwise been their only appearance.^[5]

Home team	Score	Away team
	8-4
Annfield Plain	5-0
Ashington	2-1	Whitley & Monkseaton
Birtley	2-1
	1-1	Newcastle West End
Reyrolles	5-2	Shankhouse
	1-2
	5-1
	2-0
	2-1	Chilton Colliery Recreation
Buxton	4-0
	v	Middlewich Athletic
Nantwich	v
	v
Armthorpe Welfare	5-0	Rossington Main
Bentley Colliery	1-1
Brodsworth Main Colliery	4-3
Goole Town	8-1
Grimethorpe Rovers	4-2	Ossett Town
Guiseley	1-3	Rawmarsh Welfare
	v	Farsley Celtic
Upton Colliery	3-5	South Kirkby Colliery
Worksop Town	1-0	Pilkington Recreation
	w/o
Clapton	4-2	Dagenham Town
Harwich and Parkeston	v
Berkhamsted Town	1-2	Barnet
Stevenage Town F.C.	v
London Caledonians	v	Enfield
Epping Town	1-3	Ware
Harlow Town	2-3	Welwyn Garden City
Kings Langley	v	Hertford Town
Harrow Town	0-3	Finchley
Saffron Walden	v
St Albans City	6-1	Bishop's Stortford
Tufnell Park	v	Pinner
Wealdstone	7-3
Civil Service	v
Hounslow Town	0-3	Wycombe Wanderers
Maidenhead United	4-0	Yiewsley
Newbury Town	1-2	Bicester Town
	3-5
Oxford City	v	Headington United
	v	Uxbridge
Marlow	v	Slough
	v
	0-12	Woking
	v	Kingstonian
Vickers Armstrong	v
	2-1
	v	Wimbledon
Gravesend United	1-3	Bexley
Maidstone United	2-2	Margate
	v	Whitstable
Bournemouth Gasworks Athletic	4-0	Bournemouth
	3-0
	v
Hamworthy	v
Thornycrofts	v	Winchester City
	v
	v

References[]

General

Official site; fixtures and results service at TheFA.com

Specific

^ ^a ^b Hodgson, Alan. "The Abandoned Season". Huddersfield Town FC. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Blitz, Sam (26 March 2020). "When English football was last suspended – how the league was left during the war". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Noel, Stuar. "The Magic of the Football League War Cup". The Ball is Round. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Taylor, Matthew. "Life during wartime: how the Second World War exposed football's regional divides". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Forgotten FA Cup Matches". FA Cup Factfile. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ "FA Cup 1939-40". FCHD. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[HTFC-1] Hodgson, Alan. "The Abandoned Season". Huddersfield Town FC. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[2] Blitz, Sam (26 March 2020). "When English football was last suspended – how the league was left during the war". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[3] Noel, Stuar. "The Magic of the Football League War Cup". The Ball is Round. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[4] Taylor, Matthew. "Life during wartime: how the Second World War exposed football's regional divides". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[Factfile-5] "The Forgotten FA Cup Matches". FA Cup Factfile. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[6] "FA Cup 1939-40". FCHD. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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