TheCup.us introduces “The First Cup” series, which revisits the first running of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (then known as the National Challenge Cup) that took place from the fall of 1913 to the spring of 1914. Click here for the full series.
Note: As you read this, you’ll notice a lot of players with just one name. This is not an oversight on our part, but rather, many of the sources of this information (newspapers, publications etc.) only use the last name of players in their stories.
November 29, 1913
The Farr Alpaca club decided to forfeit their replay against the New Bedford FC Â in favor of playing a scheduled match in the Western New England League against Sons of St. George on this day in 1913.
Farr Alpaca, a Holyoke, Mass.-based club sponsored by a textile mill, were granted a replay when New Bedford failed to list two of its players on their roster before their original game on Nov. 1. New Bedford had won that match, 3-1.
For the past week there was some debate as to what Alpaca manager Charles Burnett would do about the situation. The decision that the replay was to take place in New Bedford played a major factor in electing to forfeit the game. The first match on Nov. 1 proved to be a financial loss for the visiting Alpaca club due to the small crowd that turned up in New Bedford.
Also playing a role in the decision is the race for the Western New England League title. It was decided that the team in first place after Dec. 20 would be declared the champions. With league matches against Clan McLaren and West Boylston already postponed due to American Cup games, Burnett decided it would be too risky to count on rescheduling the game with St. George by Dec. 20, with the chance of games being put off due to weather. The Alpacas were in a tight race with Clan Murray for the league championship, and it stood to reason they needed to get every game in that they could.
Burnett had tried to convince New Bedford to play the game in Holyoke, Mass., offering all sorts of financial inducements to get the location switched. The New Bedford officials were convinced a better crowd would turn up for the replay, and wanted to play the game on Thanksgiving Day. The Alpaca management wrote to New Bedford to say that if the game was not moved from Nov. 27 to Nov. 29, they would be compelled to forfeit. Despite moving the date of the game to the Alpacas wishes, the game was still forfeited to New Bedford.
With the forfeit, New Bedford moved on to face the Presbyterian FC of Bridgeport, Conn. in the third round on Dec. 9.