Misplaced Pages

English Cup

Organising body	Mainland Football
Founded	1913; 111 years ago (1913)
Region	Canterbury
Number of teams	15 (2024)
Domestic cup(s)	Chatham Cup
Current champions	Coastal Spirit (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Western (26 titles)
Website	Mainland Football
2024 English Cup

The English Cup, is an annual New Zealand knockout football competition for Mainland Football men's first teams. First played during the 1913 season, it has been running on for 10 years longer than the Chatham Cup. It is organised by and named after Mainland Football. It has been known as the Morrison Mitsubishi English Cup after its headline sponsor. A concurrent Women's Cup has been held since 1974 called Reta Fitzpatrick Cup.

The tournament consists of 1 randomly drawn round followed by the quarter-final, semi-finals and the final. All quarter-final, semi-finals and final games are hosted at English Park during the week, generally on a Tuesday at 7:00pm. Entrants are not seeded, and depending on the amount of teams there are, teams can receive byes.

History

The cup is named after Robert English (1874-1934). Robert English was born in England and arrived in Christchurch in 1903 to work as an engineer for the Christchurch Gasworks and was president of the Canterbury Football Association from 1911 until 1928. He was largely responsible for the acquisition of English Park for the Canterbury Football Association code and the park was given his name in 1915 as a compliment to his work. He donated the English Cup for the knock-out competition in Canterbury first-grade Association football.

The first Cup Final, between Sydenham and Burnham, was played at the Canterbury Show Ground and required a replay before the Sydenham came back from 1 - 0 down at the break to win 3 - 2 to become the first name engraved on the trophy.

Winners

Since its establishment, the English Cup has been won by 23 different teams. Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence.

Steve Summer Medal

Notes

1. Cashmere Technical have won the English Cup 7 times (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), and multiple merging clubs have. Christchurch Technical have won the cup 12 times (1928, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1993, 1996, 1999), Christchurch City (Briefly merged from Christchurch Technical and Woolston Working Men's Club in 2000-2002) have won the cup once (2000), Woolston Wanders (Merge from Christchurch Technical and Woolston Working Men's Club) have won the cup once (2007).
2. Christchurch United have won the English Cup 7 times (1982, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2023) and in 1973 amalgamated with Christchurch City, have won the cup 6 times (1957, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1968, 1972). YMCA which was what Christchurch City was known as before the name change in 1952, have won the cup once (1951).
3. Coastal Spirit have won English Cup once (2024). The two merging club have Christchurch Rangers and New Brighton (merged in 2008). Rangers have won the cup 7 time (1917, 1918, 1921, 1923, 1979, 1994, 1995), New Brighton have won the cup twice (1986, 1987).
4. FC Twenty 11 have not won an English Cup, the closest they have gotten is runners-up in 2017. The two merging club have, Avon United and Burnside (merged in 2011). Avon United is a merger from Riccarton and Shamrock in 1996, while Burnside used to be known as Burndale United until 1993. Burndale have won the cup once (1970), Shamrock have won the cup once (1984).
5. Unknown if its Christchurch United, mostly likely not due to the dates.

References

1. "Busy weekend and ANZAC Day as Cups Football starts". mff.nz. 20 April 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
2. "Morrison Mitsubishi English Cup 2023". mff.nz. Retrieved 13 September 2023.

• Association football cup competitions in New Zealand