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The Association Football Cup (FA Cup) competition was inaugurated in 1871, being contested originally by fifteen clubs, all amateur, the first final being played at Kennington Oval in 1872 between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers - the Wanderers winning 1-0, since 1923 it was played at Wembley Stadium. In 1884 the cup was won by Blackburn Rovers, after which amateur teams started to fall out of the competition, The first final at Wembley was played in 1923 when Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United FC 2-0.
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Falconry is the pursuit of game by means of trained falcons or hawks; also called Hawking. Falconry is a very old amusement in Europe and Asia. In the middle ages it was the favourite sport of princes and nobles; and, as ladies could engage in it, it became very prevalent. Charlemagne passed laws in regard to falconry. In Germany Henry the Fowler and the Emperor Frederick the Second were much addicted to this sport, the latter having written a work on falconry. In France it reached its height under Francis I, whose grand falconer had under him an establishment of 15 nobles and 50 falconers, costing annually about 40,000 livres.
In Britain falconry was practised among the Anglo-Saxons, but became much more popular and widespread after the Norman Conquest. One of the most interesting English works on the subject is that which forms the first part of the Boke of St. Albans, first printed in 1481. In England the Duke of St. Albans is still hereditary grand falconer, and traditionally presents the monarch with a cast (or pair) of falcons on the day of his coronation. Falconry continued to be popular until the 17th century; but the invention of fire-arms gradually superseded it, though in isolated instances gentlemen could still be found who pursued the sport to some little extent as late as the end of the 19th century. In Iran and other eastern countries hawking remained in great favour.
The training of a hawk was a matter requiring great pains and protracted attention, the natural wildness and intractableness of the birds being difficult to overcome. When a hawk allows itself to be hooded and unhooded quietly and will leap on the hand of the trainer to receive food, its education is considered far advanced, and the trainer then endeavoured to accustom the bird to the lure. This was a piece of leather or wood covered with the wings and feathers of a bird and attached to a cord. The falcon was fed from it, and was recalled by the falconer swinging the lure round his head with an accompanying cry. When the falcon had been taught to obey the lure it was then trained in the mode of seizing its game, which was first done with tame game attached to a peg. The falcon was then made to fly at free game, and when it was fully trained it was used for sport. The falcon was always kept hooded during excursions, until it was wanted to fly.
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Fallowfield Stadium is the oldest cycle track extant in the north of England. It was built at Manchester in 1892 of concrete. It is 509 yards in circumference and has thirty degree bankings. Its major annual event is the Manchester Wheelers' meeting on the second Saturday in July. In addition to cycling, the track has athletic and other facilities, and hosted the 1893 FA Cup Final.
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Fantan is a Chinese gambling game, in which bets are made on any corner of a rectangular card, with numbered corners. When bets have been made the banker places on the table a head of counters and divides them into fours. The winning number is decided by the number of counters in the last batch; if one counter is left over, number one wins, if 2 number 2 and so on. Fantan is a gambling card game for any number of players, played with a full deck of 52 cards.
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Faro is an old gambling card game, possibly of Italian origin.
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The Fastnet Race is an offshore yacht race sailed biennially over a 968 km course from Cowes, Isle of Wight, round the Isles of Scilly to the Fastnet Rock off the south-west coast of Ireland and back to Plymouth.
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Feijenoord SC are an Association Football club formed in Rotterdam in 1908. The club first won the Netherlands championship in 1924.
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Fell Running is an endurance test for both distance runners and mountaineers, deriving its name from the hills of northern England where it is mainly contested.
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Fencing is the art of attack and defence with sword or rapier, no shield being used. It was in Italy in the 16th century that the skilful use of the small sword first became common. The art spread to Spain and then to France, where, on account of the prevalence of duelling, it was brought to a high degree of development.
The small sword or rapier (which was adopted for duelling) has a point, but no edge, and therefore demands the highest degree of adroitness in its use. In the fencing schools the instrument adopted for exercise is called a foil; it has a guard of metal or leather between the handle and blade, which is made of pliant steel and has a button at the end in place of a point. The parries are made with the weapon itself by opposing the forte of the foil (i.e. the strong part from the handle to the centre) to the feeble of the adversary's foil (i.e. to the part from centre to point); the upper part of the body to the right is defended by the parry called tierce, the upper part to tho left by the carte, and the lower part by the seconde. In all parrying care must be taken that in covering the side attacked the other side is not too carelessly exposed to the enemy. After every parry a return should be made with rapidity and decision. The fencer should rely more upon his sword hand for protection than upon his agility of leg; yet he must be active on his legs so as to advance, retreat, or lunge with effect. The knees should therefore be somewhat bent when the fencer is on guard, that he may be light and elastic in his movements. An attack may be made by the mere extension of the arm, or accompanied by a lunge, that is, by advancing the body, stepping forward with the right foot without moving the left.
An engagement means the crossing of the blades; a disengagement, slipping your foil under the opponent's and then pressing in the opposite direction; riposte, the attack without pause by a fencer who has parried.
Fencing with the broadsword differs essentially from that with the foil, as the former has an edge as well as a point, and is therefore meant to cut as well as thrust. According to the instructions of drill-masters there are seven cuts, with corresponding guards, and three thrusts. Out one is a diagonal, downward cut at the left cheek of the adversary; cut three is delivered with an upward slope at the left leg, and cut five horizontally at the right side; cuts two, four, and six attack the right cheek, right side, and right leg respectively; and cut seven is directed vertically at the head. Guards one and two defend the upper portion of the body, the sword sloping upwards in an opposite direction to the opponent's; guards three and four protect the legs, the sword sloping downwards; guards five and six defend the sides, when the sword is held vertically, point downwards; and guard seven protects the head, the blade meeting the enemy's almost at a right angle.
Since the introduction of the bayonet, bayonet exercise has become an important department of fencing in the army. In handling the bayonet defensively the right foot is thrown back and receives most of the weight of the body, the knees are bent, the bayonet brought to a horizontal position level with the waist. This is the 'guard,' and according to the parry to be made the weapon is carried either to the 'high' position, pointing upwards from the breast, or to the 'low' position, pointing downwards from the breast. In taking the offensive the right leg is straightened, and the left bent forward, without moving the feet from their place. The butt of the rifle is pressed firmly to the shoulder and points straight forward. In 'shortening arms' the butt is carried back to the full extent of the right arm, while the barrel (turned downwards) rests upon the left arm. The body rests upon the right leg, which is slightly bent, while the left is somewhat advanced.
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Fenland Skating is a form of ice speed-skating which developed on natural, seasonal ice along a stretch of the low-lying Fenland district of England, mainly in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. The first professional races were recorded at Croyland in 1820 when some 4000 spectators watched four competitors compete over a distance of two miles for a prize of five guineas, won by Gittam of Nordelph, Norfolk.
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Ferencvaros is an Association Football club in Budapest. It was founded in 1899 as FTC, changed its name to Kinizsi in 1945 and after being amalgamated for a while with the army in 1956 was reformed as a separate entity under the name Ferencvaros.
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Fettesian-Lorettonians are a Scottish Rugby Union football club formed in 1881 with the main object of raising an annual touring side for New Year matches. The founder members were pupils of Fettes College and Loretto who were at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
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In chess, a fianchetto is the development of a bishop on the second rank of the neighbouring knight's file or the third rank of the nearer rook's file.
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Figure-skating is a sport for solo and pair-skaters which tests style as well as technical skill. In senior championship competition solo competitors are required to skate three specific ice-skating figures, drawn from an internationally recognised schedule. They then have to perform a short programme containing prescribed free- skating elements, and finally, to music, a free-style performance of their own creation.
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In patience card games a file is a column of cards overlapping but with suits and pip values visible.
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Although Five Hundred is now the national card game of Australia, it was invented in the USA, and promoted by the US Playing Card Company, who copyrighted the rules in 1904. The game is called 500 because the first team (or player) to reach a total score of at least 500 points wins. It is an extension of Euchre, in which the following elements have been added: each player is dealt 10 cards instead of 5, trump is not turned up, but is chosen by whoever is willing to contract for the greatest number of tricks; the size of the pack is adjusted, so that all the cards are dealt to the players except for a kitty of three cards, which can be used by the highest bidder. From the outset, special expanded decks with extra pip cards were made to allow the game to be played by six people. In Australia, 500 is normally played by four people, two playing against two in fixed partnerships; a similar version of the game is played in New Zealand. Five Hundred is still played in North America as well, but the standard American rules are rather
different from the Australian game.
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Five-Up is a game played with a standard set of Western double-six dominoes - 28 tiles in all. It is also known as Muggins or All Fives.
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Fives is a kind of game with a ball, originally called hand-tennis, played on a level piece of ground with a smooth wall, against which the ball is struck after its first rebound from the ground. It is so named probably from its being usually played with five on each side, although others give different explanations, as that it is so called because the ball is struck with the hand or five fingers.
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The Fleche Wallonne Cycle Race is a Belgian professional classic founded in 1936. The race has no fixed course, but traditionally starts at Liege, finishes at Charleroi and covers 206 - 249 km of laborious climbing along the Ardennes mountain roads.
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Flemington is a horse-race-course at Melbourne, Australia, where the Melbourne Cup, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Victoria Derby and other races for two-year-olds are run.
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Flower and Scorpion is a domino game, a variation of Bergen, for two to four players using a double six set (28 dominoes). As in Bergen, players score for making the free ends of the layout equal. In addition, two pairs of dice are thrown before each hand to determine the flower, which gives a bonus when the ends of the layout match it, and the scorpion, which gives a penalty when it is matched.
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Fluminense is a Brazilian Association Football club in Rio de Janeiro. It was founded in 1902 and was a co- founder of the Rio League in 1906.
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In card games a flush is a hand of cards of all the same suit.
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Fly Ball is a bat-and-ball game of the tennis type played with a shuttlecock. The racket is the shape of a table-tennis bat and has a net hitting surface. The shuttlecock is like that used in badminton.
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The Folkestone Festival is a hockey festival held annually at Easter in Folkestone, England. It was first held in 1906.
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In card games, follow suit means to play a card of the same suit as the previous card played in a trick.
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Football is the name of several games involving the kicking of an inflated ball around a pitch, the modern football games evolving around the middle of the 19th century, but football was known to the ancient Britons, and was censured and opposed by Edward II in 1314.
In former times towns and villages were often matched against each other, the whole of the able-bodied inhabitants taking part in the struggle; the goals being often miles apart, and usually consisting of natural objects, as a brook or river.
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Forty-Fives is a card game descended from the Irish game Spoil Five. It is much played among the Irish population in the New World - especially in Nova Scotia - the most popular version being one with bidding, technically known as Auction Forty-Fives, and also sometimes called One Hundred and Twenty, which is more logical given that 120 is the target score and the number 45 has no relevance to the game.
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In patience card games a foundation card is a card laid down upon which other cards are built up or built down, usually an ace or a king.
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Fox-hunting is a barbaric blood sport, once a favourite English sport much practised during the autumnal and winter months by the British idle-rich. A traditional pack of foxhounds consisted of from 20 to 60 couples of hounds according to the frequency of the hunting days. These dogs were carefully bred and trained and were under the superintendence of one experienced man called the master, who had the general control of the whole 'field.' Under him were the huntsman, whose duty it was to look after the hounds in their kennels and direct them in the field. The huntsman was directly responsible for the hounds condition and training. Next to him were the whippers-in whose main duty was that of assisting generally the huntsman both in the kennels and in the field. A less important function of the whipper-in was that of urging on lagging hounds.
The night before the hunt, the gamekeeper, calculating on the habits of the fox to leave his burrow or 'earth' in search of food at night, blocked-up all the 'earths' after the foxes have left them. The confused and scared animals were thus forced to seek refuge in neighbouring thickets or other cover, generally near their 'earth', and this fact determined the arrangements of the day's hunting and slaughter.
The huntsmen assembled in the neighbourhood of the stopped 'earth' and drew the neighbouring coverts by throwing off the dogs to search for the fox. The presence of the fox was generally indicated by the whine of some old and experienced hound who had first scented a fox; but a fox may hang or keep within the covert for a long time. The person who first saw the fox leave the covert, break cover as it is called, gave the view-halloo after it had got some little distance, upon which the huntsman collected his hounds and set off in chase followed by the entire field on horse back.
The foxhounds followed almost entirely by scent, the fox being itself perhaps far ahead and out of sight. Wherever, therefore, the scent failed the hounds were said to be at fault, and there was a check until the scent was recovered. When the scent was good most of the hounds own it by giving tongue, and they are were then said to be in full cry.
The rider who was first in at the death (at which the exhausted and terrified fox was literally torn to pieces by the savage hounds) lashed the hounds off and secured the head, feet or pads, and tail or brush of the fox. The midland counties of England, Leicester, Warwick, Yorkshire, etc, were traditionally the most infamous for fox-hunting.
During the 20th century public opposition in Britain to fox-hunting and similarly barbaric pursuits increased, and nature-lovers formed organisations known as hunt-saboteurs to lead false scents and thus sabotage fox hunts, before eventually hunting with dogs was outlawed in the 1990's.
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The Frank Worrell Trophy is a cricket trophy played for between the West Indies and Australia. It was instituted in 1961 by the Australian cricket board in commemoration of the tied test match between Australia and the West Indies at Brisbane during the series of the 1960-1961 season and named after Sir Frank Worrell who led the West Indies in that match.
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Freefalling is a sport also known as skydiving, which entails falling from an aircraft and then, by a correct positioning of the body, gliding down from anything up to 3650 meters until 600 meters - the level at which a parachute must be opened.
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French Tarot is a trick taking card game played by three or four players with a 78-card deck of Tarot cards.
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Fulham FC is a British Association Football club founded in 1898 from the St Andrews Church football team which had been formed in 1879 and entered the Football League in 1907. In 1894 Fulham FC settled at their current ground, Craven Cottage, but had to wait two years before the ground was fit to play a match at.
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