ABSTRACT
The 1883 F.A. Cup Final has long been viewed as a seminal event in the rise of professional football and an example of the class/culture conflict thought to characterized later Victorian sport. Recent scholarship has improved understandings of the larger contexts surrounding the match but diminish the importance of the 1883 Final as a catalyst for wider change. Little has been done to reconcile traditional understandings with this new, and more complex, view of the motivations for cultural change within the F.A. Utilizing new perspectives on the traditions and character of English sporting culture more generally, this article seeks to recast the 1883 Final within a post-colonial discourse concerning identity and representation. Through this perspective, traditional interpretations can be reconciled with contemporary understandings and the 1883 Final can be re-imbued with a sociocultural significance that more recent perspectives tend to neglect.
