The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it was postponed due to World War I.
Despite the name, teams from Wiltshire, Dorset, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands have also competed in this competition, as well as teams representing the Police and any armed forces based within the county. The competition is open to teams from all levels of competition from the Premier League down to Level 10 of the English football league system, and a number of league teams have won this competition in the past. However, it is mostly non-league clubs who compete for this trophy instead of their league counterparts as all teams associated with the Hampshire FA are required to compete, with the exception of Premier League and Football League teams who may opt out of the competition for a nominal fee.
The current champions are Eastleigh F.C., who defeated AFC Totton in the 2012 final held at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton. In April 2012, FIFA announced that the Hawk-Eye sensor system would be used in an experimental capacity at that year's final between AFC Totton and Eastleigh F.C. as part of a series of ongoing reliability and accuracy tests of goal-line technology systems.
Famous quotes containing the words hampshire, senior and/or cup:
“The New Hampshire girls who came to Lowell were descendants of the sturdy backwoodsmen who settled that State scarcely a hundred years before.... They were earnest and capable; ready to undertake anything that was worth doing. My dreamy, indolent nature was shamed into activity among them. They gave me a larger, firmer ideal of womanhood.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
“I suffer whenever I see that common sight of a parent or senior imposing his opinion and way of thinking and being on a young soul to which they are totally unfit. Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make that man another you. One’s enough.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is not enough exercise in this way of life. I try to make up by active gymnastics before I dress when I get up, by walking rapidly in the lower hall and the greenhouse after each meal for perhaps five to ten minutes, and a good hand rubbing before going to bed. I eat moderately; drink one cup of coffee at breakfast and one cup of tea at lunch and no other stimulant. My health is now, and usually, excellent.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)