Montagu Cup: The origins, history and standout stories ahead of 125th anniversary

Doncaster club Scawthorpe Athletic will face Dog Daisy United from Rotherham at Mexborough Athletic’s Hampden Road ground on Easter Monday (April 18).

We begin by taking a look at the history of the competition…

Prior to the formation of the NHS by the then Minster for Health, Aneurin Bevan, in July 1948, hospitals were self-funded and wholly reliant on donations from businesses, benefactors, churches and local residents.

Born out of a philanthropic need to raise funds, a raft of hospital cup football competitions sprang up around the country. The first known competition was the East Lancashire Hospital Cup involving teams from Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale first competed for in 1883.

Others soon followed, including the West Ham Hospital Cup (1885), Dudley Guest Hospital Cup (1886), Barnsley Beckett Hospital Cup (1898), Norfolk & Norwich Hospital (1903), Woodhouse Hospital Cup (1905), Isle of Man Hospital Cup (1921), Berwick Infirmaries Cup (1922), Ipswich Hospital Cup (1927) Bolton Hospital Cup (1930).

Traditionally Hospital Cups were end of season affairs. They could either be a knockout competition or, in some cases, a top team of the day would be invited to contest a match in aid of the local hospital.

The matches often drew incredible crowds. For example 9,500 attended the game between Norwich City and Everton at Newmarket Road in 1907.

While the original purpose of Hospital Cups may have changed, many still exist and one with a particularly venerable history is the Mexborough Montagu Hospital Charity Cup.

The Montagu Cottage Hospital opened in Bank Street in 1890. It only had 14 beds but it meant stricken Dearne Valley residents no longer had to be carted (literally) to Doncaster or Rotherham for treatment. By 1905 demand had outgrown the original site and the hospital was moved to its current site on Adwick Road.

While landowner Andrew Montagu only charged a nominal rent to the hospital, fundraising for day-to-day operations had to be met and in 1897 a committee was formed to inaugurate a football competition.

A handsome trophy was commissioned for the not inconsiderable sum of £85 and entrants from the local area, restricted to a seven-mile radius of Mexborough, were sought for the first competition.

The first final was held on what would become the traditional date for ‘The Mont’ of Easter Bank Holiday Monday 1897. The match took place at Hampden Road in Mexborough, a venue which is still hosting finals 124 years later. Ecclesfield had the honour of being the first club to win the trophy, beating Newhill 2-0.

The second final was one of the most controversial in the competition’s long history. Birdwell beat Kilnhurst 2-1 but were found to have given a false teamsheet to the officials. Birdwell were fined and the game ordered to be replayed.

In the restaged game the Kilnhust team walked off the pitch following a disallowed goal. They were eventually persuaded to return once the umpire on the touchline had been replaced by a spectator! Kilnhurst’s William ‘Dutch’ Holland would turn professional with Doncaster Rovers before sadly losing his life at Gallipoli in December 1915.

Another controversial final came in 1945 when the tie between Manvers Main and Broomhill finished 1-1 after 90 minutes in a game staged at Wath Atheltic’s ground.

The trophy was decided on who would obtain the first corner in extra time.

The winning corner was duly gained by Manvers five minutes into the additional period.

It completed a bad day for Broomhill. Rationing meant they struggled to obtain shirts to play in and finally got a set of dark blue shirts which clashed with the referee’s kit. The problem was solved by Mrs Bradley quickly sewing a white ‘V’ to each shirt!

The competition had grown in stature from its early years with finals attracting thousands of spectators with some attendances even topping 5,000, particularly for matches staged at Hampden Road.

The final also became a mecca for football scouts and where hitherto unknown amateur players could be plucked from a life of hard menial work into the ranks of paid professional footballers.

One such player was Joe Beresford who played in the 1924 Montagu Final for Askern Road Working Men’s Club at the age of 18. During the week he worked long hours as a pit pony stablehand at Bentley Colliery.

Beresford would sign professional forms with Mansfield Town in 1926 but after just one season moved to Aston Villa for £750. Whilst at Villa, Beresford won his solitary England cap in 1934 against Czechoslovakia in Prague. In 1936 he would play in an FA Cup Final for Preston North End and in 1938 won the Welsh Cup with Swansea Town.

Another famous Montagu Cup yarn involves Wally Ardron. On April 29, 1944, Ardron started his shift as an engine fireman on the railway at two o’clock in the morning. At the end of his shift on the Mexborough to Cleethorpes line he cycled to Millmoor to play, and score, for Rotherham United against Sheffield United at 3pm.

Not content with his day’s work Ardron sped off to Hampden Road where there was a 6.15pm kick off for the Montagu Cup final replay, following a 3-3 draw on the Easter Monday.

Ardron scored a penalty and missed another for Denaby United in their 2-1 defeat to Wath Wanderers.

It should also be mentioned that the replayed final went to unlimited extra time where the first goal scored would take the trophy. After Ardon’s penalty miss on 130 minutes the tie was eventually settled when Wath scored in the 158th minute of the game!

Men were real men in those days and his incredible work ethic would eventually secure him a move to Nottingham Forest. Ardron would become a legend at the City Ground scoring a club record 36 league goals in 1950/51 and becoming their third greatest goalscorer of all time with 124 goals in 191 appearances.

The delayed 2021 final was contested between Swinton Athletic and the crack Sunday league club Joker. Over 500 people attended Hampden Road to see Swinton win a record-equalling seventh ‘Mont’ – an honour they now share with Wombwell Main and Mexborough Main Street.

In the many finals since the formation of the National Health Service, the competition has raised thousands of pounds for the Montagu Hospital Comfort Fund which finances items not available on the NHS for the benefit of staff, patients and visitors alike.

Easter Monday 2022 should see the 125th anniversary final of this historic competition but the formidable Swinton Athletic team have had their grip on the cup loosened.

Swinton lost on penalties in the quarter-final against Scawthorpe Athletic.

So who will be the latest name etched on the trophy, in a competition affectionately known as South Yorkshire’s ‘little FA Cup’?

If you are anywhere near the Dearne Valley at Easter, pop along to the ‘Mont’.

It really is rather special.

*Credit: This article includes an excerpt from Peter Miles’ “The Full Monty” in Turnstiles. The full article can be found in Issue 3, available at turnstilesmagazine.bigcartel.com.

*For more information about the Montagu Cup visit montagucup.com.