1903 FA Cup final

The 1903 FA Cup final was an association football match between Bury and Derby County on Saturday, 18 April 1903 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1902–03 FA Cup, the 32nd edition of the world's oldest football knockout competition, and England's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup.

Bury were appearing in their second final and Derby County in their third – Bury won the cup in 1900 while Derby were runners-up in 1898 and 1899. As members of the Football League First Division, both teams were exempt from the competition's qualifying phase and, having entered in the first round proper, progressed through four rounds to the final.

The final was watched by a crowd of 63,102 and Bury, leading 1–0 at half-time, won a one-sided match 6–0 with goals by Joe Leeming (2), George Ross, Charlie Sagar, Willie Wood and Jack Plant. Bury's six-goal victory remains the record winning margin in FA Cup finals, though it was equalled in the 2019 final when Manchester City defeated Watford by the same score. Bury were the second team to score six in a final, following Blackburn Rovers in the 1890 final; and also the second team to win the cup without conceding a goal in the entire competition, following Preston North End in the 1888–89 tournament.

The FA Cup, known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic English football. The competition was first proposed on 20 July 1871 by C. W. Alcock at a meeting of The Football Association committee. The tournament was first played in the 1871–72 season and is the world's oldest association football competition. The 1903 match between Bury and Derby County at Crystal Palace was the 32nd final and the third of the 20th century. Bury were appearing in the final for the second time, having defeated Southampton 4–0 in 1900. Derby County were appearing in their third final, having lost the previous two by 3–1 to Nottingham Forest in 1898 and by 4–1 to Sheffield United in 1899.

Bury and Derby County were both members of the Football League First Division. In the 1902–03 league championship, they amassed 35 points each, seven points behind champions The Wednesday. With identical win–loss records, Bury were placed eighth and Derby ninth as Bury had a slightly better goal ratio.

The Derby team was managed by Harry Newbould who in 1900 had become the first person to be formally appointed to the position, having previously had charge of the team as club secretary. Bury's team between 1895 and 1907 was selected by a three-man committee but with club secretary Harry Spencer Hamer in charge of the team on match days.

Bury entered the competition in the first round proper and played four matches en route to the final. All four of their opponents were other teams in the First Division.

In the first round, Bury were drawn at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers. With a goal after sixty minutes by Billy Richards, Bury won the tie 1–0 at Gigg Lane and progressed to the second round. The crowd was only 5,172.