Gloucestershire Senior Cup

The Senior Challenge Cup is the current county cup in the county of Gloucestershire. It is administered by the Gloucestershire County Football Association (GCFA).^[1] According to the current rules of the competition, it is open to all clubs whose first affiliation is with the GCFA. The current holders are Bristol City reserves.

History[]

The Senior Cup and the Challenge Trophy are the only competitions competed across the whole county. Most other challenge cup competitions in the county are competed for by clubs according to their location in the county. County rules state that clubs that are south of Thornbury compete in the southern section and the rest of the county compete in the northern section.^[2] None of the affiliated clubs that compete above the fifth tier in the English football league system enter their first teams in the Senior Challenge Cup.^{[citation needed]}

The natural predecessor to the current competition was the Gloucestershire FA Northern Senior Professional Cup, which for its early existence was an annual game held between Gloucester City and Cheltenham Town. Gradually, other local sides were introduced to the competition, but the final was still dominated by the founding two clubs, until Forest Green Rovers in the 1980s and the eventual joining of the Bristol-based clubs in the 1990s to form what we now recognize as the Gloucestershire Senior Cup.^[3]

In the early years the cup saw large crowd and great local interest. The largest crowd came at Longlevens where a crowd of 4,221 witnessed Gloucester City defeat Cheltenham Town on 26 April 1951. In recent years, popularity has dwindled with clubs being involved in more prestigious competitions and fielding weakened sides in the competition.^{[citation needed]}

The final was traditionally held at one of the finalists stadiums, but in recent years the final has been played at a neutral in Almondsbury at Oakland Park, which is the headquarters of the Gloucestershire FA.^{[citation needed]}

Finals[]

Bristol City Res v Gloucester City

06/05/2009	Bristol City Res	5 - 1	Gloucester City	showBristol
19:30 BST	Štyvar  17', 26' Akinde  38', 65' Murray  48'	Report	Ballinger  71'	Stadium: Ashton Gate Stadium Attendance: 702 Referee: Adrian Shilston

Yate Town v Cheltenham Town Res

04/05/2011	Yate Town	3 - 2	Cheltenham Town Res	showYate
19:45 BST	Plummer  44' Church  46' Fawke  50' (o.g.)	Report	Dempsey  16' (o.g.) Hitchings  83'	Stadium: Lodge Road

Bristol City Res v Bishop's Cleeve

26/04/2012	Bristol City Res	6 - 0	Bishop's Cleeve	showBristol
19:30 BST	Burns  2', 26' Horgan  34' Amadi-Holloway  65' Reid  72'	Report		Stadium: Ashton Gate Stadium Attendance: 229 Referee: Derek Eaton

Mangotsfield United v Cinderford Town

02/05/2013	Mangotsfield United	4 - 0	Cinderford Town	showMangotsfield
19:30 BST	Duharty  5' Marshall  52' Lamb  62' Monelle  89'	Report		Stadium: Cossham Street Stadium Attendance: 135 Referee: Richard Morris

Mangotsfield United v Bristol City Res

29/04/2014	Mangotsfield United	3 - 0	Bristol City Res	showAlmondsbury
19:30 BST	Sysum  30' Egan  52' Powell  78'	Report		Stadium: Oaklands Park Referee: Brian Durie

Cirencester Town v Shortwood United

28/04/2015	Cirencester Town	2 - 0	Shortwood United	showAlmondsbury
19:30 BST	Jones  13' Parsons  88'	Report		Stadium: Oaklands Park Attendance: 125 Referee: Tim Wood

Forest Green Rovers v Bishop's Cleeve

09/05/2016	Forest Green Rovers	1 - 0	Bishop's Cleeve	showNailsworth
19:30 BST	Jeffrey	Report		Stadium: The New Lawn Attendance: 264 Referee: Simon Turner

Bristol City U23 v Gloucester City

30/07/2018	Bristol City U23	1 - 1 (7 - 6 p)	Gloucester City	showAlmondsbury
19:30	Rees	[1]	Hanks	Stadium: Oaklands Park Attendance: 300 Referee: Andrew Sheppard
	Penalties
	Holden Richards Harrison Janneh Morton Parsons Smith		Seymour Hanks Parker Deaman Lawrence King Yates

Performance by club[]

Note: 9 tournaments are missing

Trivia[]

The 1950 final between Gloucester City and Cheltenham Town at Whaddon Road had ended in a 1-1 draw.

A replay was held and, a crowd of 4,115 flocked to Gloucester City's Longlevens ground to witness the match. After normal time, the match had finished 1-1 again and it had been decided to play two 15 minute periods of extra time.

When the score was still 1-1 after the extra time expired, the captains and referee agreed to play a further 20 minute period of extra time, and afterwards, a further 20 minutes as the score was still level - a total of 160 minutes of play.

When the winning goal was scored by Gloucester's Doug Hunt in the 159th minute, the crowd spilled onto the pitch in jubilation, and the match was immediately ended by the referee.

External links[]

• Gloucestershire County FA Official Website

References[]