1922 FA Cup final

The 1922 FA Cup final was the deciding match of the 1921–22 FA Cup competition, contested by Huddersfield Town and Preston North End at Stamford Bridge on 29 April 1922. It was the last final before the opening of the Empire Stadium at Wembley the following year, and the guest of honour was the Duke of York.

The five teams that Huddersfield had eliminated to reach the final included Burnley, who were the League champions from the previous season, while Preston's opponents had included both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, who had contested the previous season's Cup final. Huddersfield were playing in their second FA Cup final in three seasons, having lost to Aston Villa in 1920, and Preston were playing in their first final for 33 years.

Huddersfield won by a single goal, a contentious penalty scored by Billy Smith in the second half, after Smith was brought down by the Preston defender Tom Hamilton. The match was strongly criticised by contemporary journalists and the Football Association because of the poor standard of play and the excessive number of deliberate fouls. It was Huddersfield's first major trophy under the management of Herbert Chapman. This remains the only time they have won the Cup, although they have appeared in three subsequent finals, including the 1938 final when they lost to Preston by the same score.

In the first round, Huddersfield were drawn away to the reigning League champions Burnley, who were unbeaten at home in League and Cup since August 1920. After falling two goals down, Huddersfield rallied to draw 2–2 after a late equaliser from Billy Watson, and then won the replay 3–2 in heavy rain, with Clem Stephenson scoring the winning goal. In the second round, they drew an uneventful match away to Brighton & Hove Albion of the newly-formed Third Division South, and won the replay 2–0 at home with second-half goals from Stephenson and George Richardson.

In the third round they were drawn away for the third time in a row, and again required a replay after a 1–1 with First Division Blackburn Rovers, although Huddersfield had two goals disallowed in the second half. Huddersfield won the replay convincingly, 5–0, with Frank Mann, Ernie Islip and Billy Smith scoring in the first half, and Smith and Islip adding further goals in the second.

Huddersfield received a favourable home draw against another Third Division South team, Millwall, in the quarter-finals, which they won 3–0 with two first-half goals by Stephenson and one in the second half by Islip, before returning to Turf Moor to play the only Cup semi-final ever to be held at Burnley's home stadium. Their opponents, in front of a crowd of 46,000, were Second Division Notts County, who were playing the tenth match of their Cup run, having needed replays in each previous round. A mistake by County's goalkeeper Albert Iremonger allowed Mann to open the scoring with a header after two minutes, but Harold Hill equalised before a quarter of an hour had been played. In the second half, goals in quick succession by Smith and Stephenson gave Huddersfield a 3–1 win and a place in the final for the second time in three seasons.

Preston North End began by beating the finalists from the previous season, Second Division Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3–0 at home with two goals from Tommy Roberts and one from Frank Jefferis. In the second round they conceded an early goal to Newcastle United's Stan Seymour, but recovered strongly to win 3–1. In the third round against the 1912 Cup winners, Barnsley, they required a replay, which they won 3–0 after Barnsley's Jack Tindall was sent off in the first half.

The quarter-finals saw Preston draw 1–1 with Arsenal at Highbury, despite the absence of their captain Joe McCall, in a match played in heavy rain. Jefferis scored after five minutes, but Bert White equalised with a long shot before half-time and Arsenal could not score again despite dominating the second half. On another heavy pitch in the replay, Arsenal went ahead early in the second half when Billy Blyth scored after a corner, but Roberts soon equalised and then he scored the winning goal in extra-time.