The FA Cup final tomorrow between Manchester City and Chelsea provides a double anniversary of strong Cumbrian connections.
It will be 125 years since Maryport-born Tom Smith played a key part in Tottenham Hotspur’s victory in the cup final replay.
Then 80 years ago, in 1946, the famous Wembley Cup final in which the ball burst was refereed by Cumberland FA’s Ernest (ED) Smith. The two were not related!
Tom had began his career at Preston North End in 1895 at the age of 19 and went on to play 53 matches, scoring on eight occasions.
An outside right he went on to join Spurs in 1897 and was part of the squad that won the Southern League in 1899-1900 season, and featured in both matches in the 1901 FA Cup final against Sheffield United.
After a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace he scored the second goal in their 3-1 replaywin at Burnden Park, Bolton.
As such they became the first and only non-league club to win the FA Cup.
He rejoined Preston in 1903 and played a further eight matches, scoring three goals.
He later played for Carlisle United and possibly briefly at Workington before ending his career at Maryport Tradesmen.
Tom’s Tottenham Hotspur 15ct gold 1901 FA Cup Winning Medal was up for auction in 2015 at Graham Budd Auctions, London and was sold for £20,000.
Tom was the older half-brother of James Lomas, also from Maryport, who played rugby league professionally for Bramley (31), Salford (304), Oldham (80), York (53) before returning to Salford for another eight games before retirement.
He captained the first Great Britain team to tour Australia and New Zealand., and played professionally for 24 years during which time he scored 271 tries and kicked 596 goals.
When Derby County beat Charlton Athletic 4-1 after extra time in 1946 the game is often remembered most, and has been the subject of countless quiz questions over the years, by the fact the ball burst just before the end of normal time.
The man in the middle was Ernest Smith, a West Cumbrian known throughout football as ED Smith, later to become chairman of Workington Reds.
ED was largely credited with Reds’ successful application to join the Football League five years later, pulling on many associates and friends he had made during his time in the game.
Current Cumberland FA referee Simon Elston, from Carlisle, remembers his late father Peter talking about the final.
Simon had contacted Cumberland FA to say that he had the programme at home, framed and pride of place, after his father had gone to the final.
His dad was a Londoner who loved Derby County. Living in Hayes, Wembley is just a stone’s throw away.
He ran a sports shop in Workington for many years; was headmaster of Lowca School; lived for a long-time in Brigham and wrote a weekly column for the paper under the nom-de-plume Scribe. He was also chairman of the Reds for a number of years.
Cumberland FA referees development officer, Scott Taylor, said: “I have been aware of the former Cumberland referee ED Smith for a while as our U18 County Cup is engraved and named in his honour, but I had not realised that this year commemorates 80 years since his appointment as referee for the 1946 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
“When I learnt of this I thought it was important we celebrated that achievement this week as we lead up to the 2026 FA Cup final.
“I will be attending my 9th FA Cup final this Saturday with my daughter Jade (her first) so we will spare a moment during the National Anthem to think about ED Smith, a fellow Cumberland referee, and hope one day soon another referee from our county will have that honour.
“We currently have Cumbrian Anthony Backhouse officiating at a very high level of the game so hopefully he can one day add the FA Cup final to his growing list of Wembley appearances, and we have someone represent the Cumberland FA again.”
