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, then after the advent of professionalism in football it became the Gloucestershire Senior Professional Cup.
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.'The Robins through the years by David M. Woods in the Bristol City v Bristol Rovers Match Programme 9 September 1985 page 30 https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0aGVnbG91Y2VzdGVyY3VwfGd4OjE0NTA2ZGQxYjM3YjQyNjc&pli=1
Creation
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.
1887–88 tournament
Knockout tournament
List of tournament finals SeasonFinal #DateWinnerScoreRunner-upGoalscorersAtt.VenueRef1887–88110 March 1888Clifton1–1WarmleyJ.R. Riddell (Warmley); H.H. Francis (Clifton)2,000St George1 (replay)17 March 1888Clifton (1)4–1WarmleyA.B. Colthurst (2), C.H. Russell (2) (Clifton); Unknown (Warmley)2,000St George1888–8926 April 1889Eastville Rovers (1)1–0WarmleyW. Perrin3,000St George1889–90322 March 1890Clifton (2)5–0St GeorgeR. Barlow, A.T. Hingston, R. Innes-Pocock, H.H. Francis2,500St George1890–91428 March 1891Bedminster (1)2–0Warmley Griffiths, H.J. Batchelor3,000St George1891–92512 March 1892Warmley (1)2–1Bedminster Rev A.B. Macfarlane (Bedminster); J. King, G. Peacock (Warmley)6,000Kingswood1892–9361 April 1893Warmley (2)4–1Gloucester N. Britton (2), G. Peacock, W. Phipps (Warmley); W. Sessions (Gloucester)3,500Kingswood1893–94731 March 1894St George (1)3–1Eastville RoversW. Britton (2), D.S. Gerrish (St George); H. Horsey (Eastville)4,000Kingswood1894–95815 April 1895St George (2)4–3GloucesterWinstone, Whippie, Harris, Britton (St George); Stout (2), Fielding (Gloucester)LargeKingswood1895–9696 April 1896Warmley (3)1–0Eastville RoversBowler6,000St George1896–971019 April 1897Warmley (4)2–0BedminsterP. Britton, Stone7,000St George1897–981111 April 1898Bristol City (1)2–1WarmleyCaie, Higgins (Bristol City); Bishop (Warmley)12,000Eastville1898–99123 April 1899Bristol City (2)2–1Bristol RoversLangham, Murphy (City); Brown (Rovers)12,000St George1899–19001330 April 1900Bedminster (2)3–1 Bristol CityBoucher, Lewis, Geddes (Bedminster); Russell (Bristol City)2,000Eastville1900–011429 April 1901Bristol City (3)4–0Bristol RoversFulton (2), Wilson, McDougall2,800St John's LaneByrne & Jay (2003)1901–021531 March 1902Bristol Rovers0–0Bristol City 18,000Eastville15 (replay)23 April 1902Bristol City0–0Bristol Rovers 4,000St John's Lane1902–031613 April 1903Bristol Rovers0–0 Bristol City 11,790Eastville16 (1st replay)20 April 1903Bristol Rovers1–1 Bristol City Corbett (Rovers); Banks (City)3,000St John's Lane16 (2nd replay)29 April 1903Bristol Rovers (2)4–2 Bristol City Corbett (2), Marriott, Dunn (pen.) (Rovers); Banks (2) (City)5,000St John's Lane1903–04174 April 1904Bristol City (4)2–1 Bristol RoversCorbett, Jones (City); Beats (Rovers)10,537St John's Lane1904–051824 April 1905Bristol Rovers2–2 Bristol City Capes, Fenton (City); Beats, Smith (Rovers)10,000Eastville18 (replay)28 April 1905Bristol Rovers (3)3–1 Bristol City Beats, Dunkley, Lewis (Rovers); Fisher (City)3,000Ashton Gate1905–061916 April 1906Bristol City (5)4–0 Bristol Rovers Bennett, Burton, Gilligan, Wedlock 8,000Ashton Gate1906–07201 April 1907Bristol City (6)2–0 Bristol Rovers Gilligan (2)11,000Eastville The cumulative number of cup wins for each team is shown in brackets. The title was shared between Bristol Rovers and Bristol City in 1901–02 after two matches were played and drawn.
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. TeamWinsRunners-upBristol City6 (1898, 1899, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1907)3 (1900, 1903, 1905)Warmley4 (1892, 1893, 1896, 1897)4 (1888, 1889, 1891, 1898)Bristol/Eastville Rovers3 (1889, 1903, 1905)7 (1894, 1896, 1899, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1907)Bedminster2 (1891, 1900)2 (1892, 1897)St George2 (1894, 1895)1 (1890)Clifton2 (1888, 1890)0Gloucester02 (1893, 1895)No outright winner1 (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. 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.
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