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Berks & Bucks Senior Cup History

The Berks & Bucks Senior Cup was first played in 1878/79. Just think about that for a moment - the FA Cup had only been going for seven years, there was no Football League, and most countries in the world didn't have any competitions at all (or indeed any clubs!).

The Berks & Bucks FA was formed in 1878, with the first president and driving force being Mr J H Clark from Maidenhead. The Berks & Bucks Challenge Cup was played in the first season of the Association's existence. The competition has had different names over the years and is currently known as the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup.

There are also currently competitions called the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy, Berks & Bucks Intermediate Cup and the Berks & Bucks Junior Cup played for by clubs at lower levels in the pyramid structure, plus numerous other "Berks & Bucks" cups. These sometimes cause confusion as each club seems to refer to the competition that they enter as the "Berks & Bucks Cup"!

Roll of honour (last updated 12/5/2009):

Club name changes by town:

Aylesbury - Aylesbury United were formed in 1897 after the merger of three sides - Night School, Printing Works and Aylesbury Town.

Chesham - Chesham changed their name to Chesham Town in 1899. Chesham United were formed in 1917 after a merger of Chesham Generals and Chesham Town.

Maidenhead - Maidenhead (formed October 1870) merged with Maidenhead Excelsior in 1885, the combined club being called Maidehead. They then merged with Maidenhead Norfolkians (formed 1884) on 12th April 1919. The merged club was referred to both as Maidenhead and Maidenhead Town, until 30th July 1920 when they adopted the name Maidenhead United.

Marlow - Marlow were often referred to as Great Marlow in their earlier years.

Milton Keynes - Bletchley & WIPAC changed their name to Bletchley Town in 1957 and again to Milton Keynes City in 1974. This is the team that won the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup in 1980, but they then folded in 1984/85. Another club, Mercedes Benz, changed their name to Milton Keynes City in 1998, but as far as I know are unrelated. Yet another club, Milton Keynes, changed their name to Bletchley Town in 1999. There is another different club called Milton Keynes Borough. In 2004 after having relocated to Milton Keynes, Wimbledon changed their name to Milton Keynes Dons.

New Bradwell - Stantonbury St James may have previously been called New Bradwell St James, but in 1902 they were renamed Stantonbury St Peter. In 1946/47, they merged with New Bradwell Corinthians to form New Bradwell St Peter.

Reading - Reading decided to employ professional players on 6th June 1895. Some existing players were unhappy and broke away to form Reading Amateurs.

Slough - Swifts were formed in 1860 and based in Slough. A merger of Young Mens Friendly Society and Slough Albion in 1889 formed Slough, although I am not sure whether Swifts were also included in this merger. Another team in the town were Slough Centre - in 1942/43 the two clubs merged to form Slough United (but in 1945/46 teams known as Slough and Slough United both played in this competition). In 1947 Slough Centre split from Slough United, and in November 1947 Slough United changed their name to Slough Town.

Windsor - Windsor Home Park and Windsor Grosvenor merged in the summer of 1882 to form Windsor, the two-time finalists in the 1880s. A club was formed on the 18th August 1892 by a merger of Windsor Phoenix and Windsor St. Albans but I am not sure what name they used. In 1893 they merged with Windsor Victoria. In 1902 they took over Windsor & Eton Temperance FC, with the final name adopted being Windsor & Eton.

Wokingham - Wokingham Town were founded in 1875. Wokingham Athletic existed in at least 1904/05 and 1909/10, and in 1910/11 their second eleven merged with Wokingham Town.

Wolverton - Wolverton London & North Western Railway Affiliated Football Club (shown as Wolverton L&NWR in the table above for obvious reasons) were founded in 1886/87. In 1919/20 they changed their name to Wolverton Town. In 1948 they changed to Wolverton Town & BR. They were still using this name in 1978/79. By 1983/84 the name had changed back to Wolverton Town, but I'm not sure exactly when. They changed again to Wolverton Town (Milton Keynes) in 1987/88, and then to Milton Keynes Wolverton Town in 1988/89. They folded in the middle of season 1991/92, but not before one final change, this time to Wolverton AFC.

Statistics:

There have been 131 seasons from 1878/79 to 2008/09, and the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup was contested in 126 of those seasons, missing only the five during World War I. Allowing for the shared trophy in 1879/80, there have been 127 winners.

Wins by club:
27 - Wycombe Wanderers
16 - Maidenhead United
14 - Chesham United
13 - Marlow
12 - Windsor & Eton
5 - Slough
5 - Slough Town
4 - Aylesbury United
4 - Wokingham Town
3 - Maidenhead
3 - Reading
2 - Chesham Town
2 - Reading Amateurs
2 - Slough Centre
2 - Swifts (1 shared)
2 - Windsor
1 - Abingdon Town
1 - Buckingham Town
1 - Chesham Generals
1 - Hungerford Town
1 - Maidenhead Norfolkians
1 - Milton Keynes City
1 - Milton Keynes Dons
1 - Newbury Town
1 - Old Philberdians (1 shared)
1 - Windsor Phoenix
1 - Wolverton L&NWR

Wins by town:
27 - High Wycombe
20 - Maidenhead
17 - Chesham
15 - Windsor
14 - Slough (1 shared)
13 - Marlow
5 - Reading
4 - Aylesbury
4 - Wokingham
2 - Milton Keynes
1 - Abingdon
1 - Buckingham
1 - Hungerford
1 - Holyport (1 shared) (note that Philbert's School was in Holyport and I assume that Old Philberdians played there)
1 - Newbury
1 - Wolverton

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