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:
“Anything I can say about New Hampshire
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New Hampshire mountains curl up in a coil.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Adolescents have the right to be themselves. The fact that you were the belle of the ball, the captain of the lacrosse team, the president of your senior class, Phi Beta Kappa, or a political activist doesn’t mean that your teenager will be or should be the same....Likewise, the fact that you were a wallflower, uncoordinated, and a C student shouldn’t mean that you push your child to be everything you were not.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee than in front of a jury.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)