document_title: Elena Gilbert

question_text: when does elena turn into a vampire in the tv series

text: Elena Gilbert

text: Casting and portrayal[edit]

text:
When I look in the mirror, I just feel different when I'm Katherine or when I'm Elena. My voice changes a little bit, I think, and even just mentally, I feel like I can get away with a lot more.[1]
“
”

—Dobrev

tag: div

text: On March 9, 2009, it was announced that Bulgarian-born Canadian actress Nina Dobrev, known for her portrayal of Mia Jones on Degrassi: The Next Generation, had joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries as Elena.[2] She was the second cast member to be announced following Steven R. McQueen, who plays Elena's brother Jeremy Gilbert.[3] Steve West Cinema Blend said the vampire brothers' battle over Elena will wreak havoc on the entire town.".[2] Executive producer Kevin Williamson recalled Dobrev auditioning while having the flu, which he described as the "worst audition ever", and they "didn't even look at her a second time". Dobrev went back home to Canada, yet, still wanting the part, she submitted a videotape audition, which saw her cast as Elena Gilbert.[4]

text: Dobrev said that after reading the script, she was drawn to Elena because she was "this average girl who was damaged in many ways".[5] Initially, she believed that she would be playing the "bad girl" Elena from the books, but the show wanted to go in a different direction for the character.[4] After researching, Dobrev discovered she would also play Elena's 534-year-old vampire doppelgänger Katherine Pierce whose characteristics are the "complete opposite".[5] Dobrev described this as "one of the rarest, coolest opportunities in television, to play two people on the same medium". She had confessed that she enjoys playing Katherine more than Elena.[5] Dobrev stated that she changes her appearance to distinguish Elena from her doppelgänger, Katherine; "Changing my hair helps me transform," she told Glamour.[6] Additionally, she said "I think I have one of the coolest characters on the show — I get to play two completely different people on opposite sides of the spectrum and I just have so much fun doing it".[4] Dobrev felt that her biggest challenge on The Vampire Diaries was distinguishing Katherine and Elena, and found it "interesting" to create a whole new character.[1] In the novels, Katherine originated from Germany. However, in the television series, she is Bulgarian, as is Dobrev, who can speak the language fluently . Dobrev said, "The writers heard me speaking Bulgarian to my mom on the phone while I was on set one day. One thing led to the other and voila".[7]

text: Development[edit]

text: Characterization[edit]

text: In the books, Elena is considered "one of the popular girls" at her high school and always gets "anything she wants".[8] Executive producer of the television show, Julie Plec, said the Elena from the books was "really kind of selfish". In The Vampire Diaries, Elena's "selfishness" in the books as a human was never explored, because it "didn't ever feel like a characteristic" the show wanted for their heroine.[9] Plec said "We kind of abandoned that queen-bee popular complex that in a lot of ways defined early Elena in the books", while feeling that Elena's actual flaw is her "deep, deep connection to other people".[9] In the books, Elena had blonde hair, but has brown hair in the television show.[10] Describing Elena from the books, Dobrev said she is "one of those mean girls that gets what she wants, popular . . . and she's blonde and blue eyed". Williamson told her that "the angle we wanted to go for was the relatable, nice, girl next door, who the audience roots for".[4] Katherine, on the other hand, is penned as a "conniving, narcissistic, bitch".[4] Describing Elena years later, Dobrev said she evolved from a "younger, naive, sad, young girl" to a "strong woman".[1]

text: Romances[edit]

text: Before The Vampire Diaries, Elena dated Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig), who was unable to move past his feelings for her initially after their break-up.[11] Elena began dating Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), and later discovered he was a vampire.[12] As the episodes progressed, she developed a connection with Stefan's adventurous brother Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), who consumes human blood, unlike Stefan, who has an animal blood diet.[13] Speaking about the different qualities Stefan and Damon bring to Elena, Dobrev said they have "different qualities that are very appealing", which combined make "the perfect man". She said "Stefan is committed and sweet and protective and loving, and Damon is spontaneous and crazy and fun and exciting".[5]

text: After Elena became a vampire, she became sired to Damon and they slept together. According to Plec during an interview with TVLine, Elena "really believes what she feels is 100 percent genuine and real", and the couple "wants to be together and realizes that they shouldn’t, yet really wants to. So what do they do?"[14] Stefan became heartbroken, feeling angry and betrayed, and lashed out at Damon and Elena.[15] In the season 4 finale, an unsired Elena confirms that she is in love with Damon, and the two kiss passionately. At the end of season 6, the two plan to become human, get married, and have children together, but their dream is abruptly compromised by Kai, who puts Elena into a magical coma. Damon remains entirely devoted to Elena throughout the remaining two seasons as Elena sleeps peacefully. In the season 8 finale, she is revealed to be happily married to Damon. Elena considers Damon to be the love of her life and her soulmate.

text: Transition[edit]

text: Executive producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson agreed that in the book series, Elena was turned into a vampire too early, which was around page 200 of The Awakening.[16] Elena's transition into a vampire was planned for two years. Plec said: "That felt obviously too soon, and rushed, and we didn’t want to make a show about a teenage girl who instantly becomes a vampire. But we always knew that her journey would take her there eventually".[16] At the second season's conclusion, Elena was nearly turned into a vampire.[1] Dobrev was happy that she wasn't, because she felt "it would have been too soon", and also didn't think it was something Elena or she wanted.[1]

text: In the show's third season, Elena has a brain hemorrhage which was initially thought to be a concussion, and begins to die.[17] In what was described by the International Business Times as "the moment Vampire Diaries fans have been waiting for", Elena had to choose whether to be driven to Damon or Stefan to say goodbye to. At the time, Klaus was killed, meaning all vampires sprouting from his bloodline also die, which includes Damon and Stefan. She picks to say goodbye to Stefan.[17] However, all these vampires end up surviving when Klaus never really dies. To save her, Doctor Merideth Fell (Torrey DeVitto) fed Elena Damon's blood. Rebekah Mikaelson kills Elena on Wickery Bridge, unaware of the vampire blood in her system. She woke up as a vampire at the end of the season.[17] The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Plec, and described her transition as "monumental changes" which would have Elena in for a "wild ride". Plec said Elena becoming a vampire is "an awakening of a person who is about to go through a lot of changes", and "she is going to evolve as a person and her relationships are going to evolve accordingly".[18] While Stefan was afraid she would hurt someone, Damon thought it was inevitable and wanted to "rip the band-aid off".[18] Plec felt that "She’s, unfortunately, not getting the same advice from the two people she values most in the world. It’s going to make it more difficult for her",[18] while describing the situation as "a whole new Elena and it’s a whole new day. It’s a different dynamic between the three of them especially".[18]

text: Television series[edit]

text: Backstory[edit]

text: Elena Gilbert is born on June 22, 1992 in Mystic Falls, Virginia to John Gilbert (David Anders) and Isobel Flemming (Mia Kirshner) while they were still in highschool. With the help of John's brother Grayson, Isobel and John flee town days later, leaving Grayson and his wife Miranda to adopt Elena as their own. A doctor, Grayson fakes a birth certificate so that it appeared Elena was his daughter with Miranda. The next year, Miranda and Grayson had a child of their own, Jeremy Gilbert. Elena dates her childhood friend Matt Donovan, who was her first love. On 23 May 2009, Elena is picked up by her mother and father after getting in a fight with Matt while attending the party. The three of them later end up in a car accident, with their car driving off a bridge. Stefan Salvatore finds them, and saves Elena, but it was too late to save Grayson and Miranda, who died. It remained unknown for months who saved Elena, and it was considered a miracle that she lived. Her relationship with Matt ended when they broke up.

text: Storyline[edit]

text: Season 1[edit]

text: Elena, still empty after losing her parents, begins to fit back into school. She meets a mysterious new student named Stefan Salvatore. They connect instantly, and begin dating. She meets his older and malevolent brother, Damon. After researching, Elena realizes Stefan was alive in 1953. It is later revealed that he is a 162-year-old vampire. Damon also begins falling for Elena. After she and Stefan slept together, Elena finds a picture of a woman named Katherine Pierce who looks exactly like her. Stefan reveals that it is the woman who made him and Damon feud 145 years ago, and the person who turned them into vampires. He also told her that he is the person that saved her the night of her parents death. At the end of season one, Elena discovers that Grayson and Miranda weren't her biological parents, and that a woman named Isobel and her uncle John, who she grew up hating, were.

text: Season 2[edit]

text: In season two, she learns that she is a Petrova doppelgänger, having an appearance just like Katherine Pierce, which means that she has to be sacrificed to release Klaus' werewolf side. The sacrifice later happens, but Elena is saved, because John sacrificed himself for her after being put under a spell by Bonnie. However, her aunt Jenna is turned into a vampire and, as part of the sacrifice, is killed by Klaus, leaving Elena without a guardian. In the season two finale, while Damon is dying due to a werewolf bite, she forgives him for forcing her to drink his blood and kisses him with the thought that it might be Damon's last day, however Damon gets cured by drinking Klaus' blood.

text: Season 3[edit]

text: In season three, Elena does everything in her power to make Stefan get his humanity back, which was turned off by Klaus as payment for saving Damon from a werewolf bite in the latter part of season two. Meanwhile, she grows closer to Damon while working together on saving Stefan and trying to defeat Klaus, eventually even sharing a kiss. She later admits to Stefan that she has feelings for Damon as well but that she never stopped loving Stefan. While in Denver together, Elena kisses Damon, later telling him that she doesn't know how she feels about him. It is eventually revealed that Elena met Damon the night of her parent's death, though he compelled her to forget. She eventually chooses Stefan in the season finale but before she can tell him, Elena drowns while having vampire blood in her system. During the last moments of season three, she awakens as a vampire in transition.

text: Season 4[edit]

text: In season four, Elena is faced with the tough decision of whether to die or to feed on human blood so she can fully transition into a vampire. Elena, after realizing Stefan's desperation to keep her alive, decides to complete her transition. Her relationship with Stefan ends, allowing her to begin a proper romance with Damon. Although, it is later revealed there is a sire bond between them. Sometime later whilst searching for the cure for vampirism, Jeremy is fed to the immortal Silas by Katherine. As a result, Damon used the sire bond to convince her to turn off her humanity, due to her incredible grief over losing her brother and the last remaining member of her family. Elena became ruthless without her emotions, going on killing sprees and being very hateful towards her friends. Towards the end of season four, Damon kills Matt in front of Elena to trigger her grief. After revealing that Matt had the Gilbert Ring on, Elena's humanity was switched on and her emotions were focused on hate towards Katherine for killing Jeremy. Season four ended with Bonnie as a ghost after bringing Jeremy back to life and Elena fed Katherine the cure for vampirism in a moment of desperation as she was about to be killed. Elena had chosen Damon as the Salvatore that she loved.

text: Season 5[edit]

text: In season five, Elena starts at Whitmore College and is happy after spending the summer with Damon. There she realises that Silas has taken Stefan's place and that Stefan is in that safe in a river constantly drowning. She and Damon then find the safe, only to find a dead body there meaning that someone opened the safe and Stefan is a Ripper again. However, Qyetsiyah had fried Stefan's brain causing him to suffer amnesia. While trying to bring him back, they almost kiss meaning that she still feels something for him. Qyetsiyah soon brings back Stefan's memories and says that Elena and Stefan were always meant to be as the Universe had to unite the doppelgängers of Silas and Amara. This leaves Damon and Elena questioning their relationship. Later on she is kidnapped and experimented on by Wes Maxfield, and she learns that her father also used to experiment on vampires. Later, when Katherine is about to die as a result of all of her years catching up with her as a result of having the cure in her system, Katherine uses a spell and possesses Elena, a fact that her friends were initially unable to deduce. But once they did, they trapped Katherine and left her with no escape. Stefan stabbed her with the traveller dagger, but ghost Katherine reveals to Bonnie, shortly before trying to cross into the Other Side, that she had injected Dr. Maxfield's enhanced ripper/werewolf virus into Elena's body, infecting Elena. The gang is eventually able to find an antidote. She unfortunately loses trust in Damon, partly because he killed her friend Aaron, so they break up, but realise they cannot survive being apart and get back together. Once Markos and his traveller army begin to take over Mystic Falls, setting an anti-magic barrier around the town, the gang comes up with a plan to take out the travellers by killing them all at the same time, overpowering the anchor to the Other Side AKA Bonnie and creating a possible way out of the now-collapsing Other Side. Elena and Damon drive into the gas-filled Mystic Grill with most of the travellers in it, blowing it up and killing most of the people in it, including Elena and Damon. She wakes up as a ghost and finds her body, sending her to Bonnie, where she passes to the Other Side, and she and many others are able to pass back to the land of the living afterwards. But the spell that allows this is broken before Damon passes back through, and as Bonnie is the anchor, she is a part of the Other Side and shall therefore disappear along with it. This leaves the gang mourning the loss of Damon and Bonnie in the season finale.

text: Season 6[edit]

text: In season six, Elena starts back at Whitmore, and is unable to set foot in her hometown. She is also unable to recover from Damon's death and starts lurking the borders of Mystic Falls in order to grab civilians, drink their blood, then compel them to forget, but as spirit magic no longer works in Mystic Falls, any of her victims who cross into the town remember the ordeal, putting her identity as a vampire at risk when one of her victims, Sarah, comes to town. Elena begs Alaric to compel her to forget that she ever loved Damon, which Alaric is able to do, due to him being an Enhanced Original, with the ability to compel other vampires. She eventually wears him down and asks her friends to never remind her once the compulsion had been done. After a number of failed attempts, Alaric successfully compels her to forget her love for Damon. She however leaves Alaric with some of her reminders of Damon, should she ever need them again. She is told of her former feelings for Damon soon afterwards, but decides to stay the way she is, as she doesn't want to go back to being unhappy again. She starts to date her classmate, Liam. Once Damon comes back to life, Alaric tries to convince Elena to allow him to undo the compulsion, a decision she is reluctant to make. She eventually decides to have him undo it, but Alaric goes back to being human again after crossing into Mystic Falls, causing him to lose his vampire status (he only stayed alive because his once fatal human injuries were healed), meaning he will not be able to do so. She is then left to finally come face-to-face with Damon and see if she'll still feel the same way about him. They eventually rekindle their relationship,Elena takes the cure that Bonnie gave Damon. At Alaric's wedding Kai ruins their wedding and casts a sleeping spell on Elena, linking her life to Bonnie's. She makes a sacrifice to let Bonnie live out her life until it is her turn. She bids goodbye to her friends and loved ones before parting ways but knows that she will see Damon, Stefan and Caroline again one day.

text: Season 7[edit]

text: Elena doesn't make an appearance but is heard calling Damon's name when he visits the Armory vault. It was a way of Sybill, the Siren, luring him into a trap.

text: Season 8[edit]

text: In the final episode, Elena makes an appearance. When a weakened Bonnie dies from the sounding bell, she meets Elena in a dream-like forest. Elena hugs her and wonders if she really has died. Enzo appears and says it isn't her time and takes Bonnie back to the world of the living. When Bonnie wakes up, it was Stefan who resuscitated her. Elena, asleep, is then taken to the Mystic Falls High School by Katherine and places her in the boiler room. Stefan tries to rescue Elena, but Katherine had Kai spell the boiler room, so that Elena can't be taken out of the room. After Bonnie had deflected the hellfire back into the bell, Bonnie passes out. Elena wakes up and wanders the school. Stefan meets up with her. It looks like Bonnie has died, but in fact Elena is still sleeping and Stefan's ghost came to visit her in her dream. He had taken the place of killing Katherine instead of Damon, since Damon is human after Stefan gave him the cure. He came to say goodbye. After a tearful hug and saying goodbye, Stefan goes into afterlife. Elena finally wakes up because Bonnie has broken the spell over her. Elena reunites with Damon and the rest of the gang. Elena gives Caroline the message Stefan whispered into her ear, saying he did hear her voice message and will love her forever. In the epilogue, Elena continued to studying medical school. After finishing her education, she went back to Mystic Falls and lived together with Damon, happily married for a long time. After living out her life, she crosses over to the afterlife where she finally reunites with her parents, Aunt Jenna and Uncle John.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Elena has received mainly positive reviews. Steve West of the Cinema Blend compared the story of The Vampire Diaries and the character of Elena to the popular vampire franchise, Twilight, and its protagonist Bella Swan. West said "Clearly Elena is way hotter than Bella, she has two immortal vampires fighting over her".[2] After she transitioned into a vampire, Carina Adly MacKenzie of Zap2it hoped that the "fierce" and "ripper" side of Elena would emerge when "someone messes with the people she loves".[19] McKenzie noted that when a person becomes a vampire, "their strongest personality traits are heightened", and hoped that wouldn't see Elena's "compassion and selflessness" double into "helping old ladies with their groceries and nursing injured animals back to health".[19] Robyn Ross of TV Guide also hoped that after Elena "has had a taste for blood", she would lose control. Prior to her becoming a vampire, Ross thought she was less fun and "slightly boring", and wanted Elena to follow her instinct and "stop protecting everyone's feelings".[20]

text: Elena's romances with Stefan and Damon have become a popular craze with viewers, who have nicknamed them "Stelena" and "Delena".[21] Andy Swift of the website HollywoodLife praised Elena's relationship with Damon, which was a combination of real love and a sired bond, hoping they would live "happily ever after".[21] Vlada Gelman of TVLine, however, felt that their romance was "over in a rather mature way for a young love triangle" and questioned whether Elena was "ready to jump into a relationship with Damon right away" while Stefan was still in the picture.[22]

text: Merchandising[edit]

text: Tonner Doll Company, Inc. created dolls for Elena and Katherine along with Stefan and Damon, from 1864.[23][24]


document_title: FA Cup

question_text: who gets first pick of fa cup games

question_tokens: who gets first pick of fa cup games

root

text: FA Cup

text: History[edit]

text: In 1863, the newly founded Football Association (the FA) published the Laws of the Game of Association Football, unifying the various different rules in use before then. On 20 July 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, the FA Secretary C. W. Alcock proposed to the FA committee that "it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The inaugural FA Cup tournament kicked off in November 1871. After thirteen games in all, Wanderers were crowned the winners in the final, on 16 March 1872. Wanderers retained the trophy the following year. The modern cup was beginning to be established by the 1888–89 season, when qualifying rounds were introduced.[3]

tag: p

text: Following the 1914–15 edition, the competition was suspended due to the First World War, and did not resume until 1919–20. The 1922–23 competition saw the first final to be played in the newly opened Wembley Stadium (known at the time as the Empire Stadium). Due to the outbreak of World War II, the competition was not played between the 1938–39 and 1945–46 editions. Due to the wartime breaks, the competition did not celebrate its centenary year until 1980–81; fittingly the final featured a goal by Ricky Villa which was later voted the greatest goal ever scored at Wembley Stadium, but has since been replaced by Steven Gerrard.[4]

text: Having previously featured replays, the modern day practice of ensuring the semi-final and final matches finish on the day, was introduced from 2000 onwards. Redevelopment of Wembley saw the final played outside of England for the first time, the 2001–2006 finals being played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The final returned to Wembley in 2007, followed by the semi-finals from 2008.

text: Eligibility[edit]

text: The competition is open to any club down to Level 10 of the English football league system which meets the eligibility criteria. All clubs in the top four levels (the Premier League and the three divisions of the Football League) are automatically eligible. Clubs in the next six levels (non-league football) are also eligible provided they have played in either the FA Cup, FA Trophy or FA Vase competitions in the previous season. Newly formed clubs, such as F.C. United of Manchester in 2005–06 and also 2006–07, may not therefore play in the FA Cup in their first season. All clubs entering the competition must also have a suitable stadium.

text: It is very rare for top clubs to miss the competition, although it can happen in exceptional circumstances. Manchester United did not defend their title in 1999–2000, as they were already in the inaugural Club World Championship. The club stated that entering both tournaments would overload their fixture schedule and make it more difficult to defend their Champions League and Premier League titles. The club claimed that they did not want to devalue the FA Cup by fielding a weaker side. The move benefited United as they received a two-week break and won the 1999–2000 league title by an 18-point margin, although they did not progress past the group stage of the Club World Championship. The withdrawal from the FA Cup, however, drew considerable criticism as this weakened the tournament's prestige and Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted his regret regarding their handling of the situation.[5][6][7]

text: Welsh sides that play in English leagues are eligible, although since the creation of the League of Wales there are only six clubs remaining: Cardiff City (the only non-English team to win the tournament, in 1927), Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, Merthyr Town and Colwyn Bay. In the early years other teams from Wales, Ireland and Scotland also took part in the competition, with Glasgow side Queen's Park losing the final to Blackburn Rovers in 1884 and 1885 before being barred from entering by the Scottish Football Association. In the 2013–14 season the first Channel Island club entered the competition when Guernsey F.C. competed for the first time.[8]

text: The number of entrants has increased greatly in recent years. In the 2004–05 season, 660 clubs entered the competition, beating the long-standing record of 656 from the 1921–22 season. In 2005–06 this increased to 674 entrants, in 2006–07 to 687, in 2007–08 to 731 clubs, and for the 2008–09 and 2009–10 competitions it reached 762.[9] The number has varied slightly but remained roughly stable since then, with 759 clubs participating in 2010–11, a record 763 in 2011–12, 758 for 2012–13, 737 for 2013–14 and 736 for 2014–15. By comparison, the other major English domestic cup, the League Cup, involves only the 92 members of the Premier League and Football League.

text: Competition format[edit]

text: Overview[edit]

text: Beginning in August, the competition proceeds as a knockout tournament throughout, consisting of twelve rounds, a semi-final and then a final, in May. A system of byes ensures clubs above Level 9 and 10 enter the competition at later stages. There is no seeding, the fixtures in each round being determined by a random draw. Prior to the quarter-finals, fixtures ending in a tie are replayed once only.[10] The first six rounds are qualifiers, with the draws organised on a regional basis. The next six rounds are the "proper" rounds where all clubs are in one draw.

text: Schedule[edit]

text: Entrants from the bottom two levels (9 and 10) begin the competition in the Extra Preliminary Round. Clubs from higher levels are then added in later rounds, as per the table below. The months in which rounds are played are traditional, with exact dates subject to each year's calendar.

text:
Round[2]

New entrants at this round[2]

Month

No of matches

Qualifying Competition[2]

Extra-Preliminary Round

Level 9 and 10 clubs

August

184

Preliminary Round

Level 8 clubs

160

First Round

Level 7 clubs

September

116

Second Round

Level 6 clubs

80

Third Round

none

October

40

Fourth Round

Level 5 clubs

32

Competition Proper[2]

First Round

Level 3 and 4 clubs

November

40

Second Round

none

December

20

Third Round

Level 1 and 2 clubs

January

32

Fourth Round

none

16

Fifth Round

February

8

Quarter-finals

March

4

Semi-Finals

April

2

Final

May

1

tag: table

text: The qualifying rounds are regionalised to reduce the travel costs for smaller non-league sides. The first and second proper rounds were also previously split into Northern and Southern sections, but this practice was ended after the 1997–98 competition.

text: The final is normally held the Saturday after the Premier League season finishes in May. The only seasons in recent times when this pattern was not followed were 1999–2000, when most rounds were played a few weeks earlier than normal as an experiment, and 2010–11 and 2012–13 when the FA Cup Final was played before the Premier League season had finished, to allow Wembley Stadium to be ready for the UEFA Champions League final,[11] as well as in 2011–12 to allow England time to prepare for that summer's European Championships.[12]

text: The draw[edit]

text: The draws for the Extra-Preliminary, Preliminary, and First Qualifying Rounds used to all occur at the same time. Thereafter, the draw for each subsequent round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round, meaning that in the case of replays, clubs will often know their future opponents in advance. This season 2016/17 the draw for the 1st qualifying round was drawn at a later date as per previous season's later rounds.

text: The draw for each of the proper rounds is broadcast live on television, usually taking place at the conclusion of live coverage of one of the games of the previous round. Public interest is particularly high during the draw for the third round, which is where the top-ranked teams are added to the draw.

text: Tiebreaking[edit]

text: In rounds up to and including the fifth round proper, fixtures resulting in a draw (after normal time) go to a replay, played at the venue of the away team, at a later date; if that replay is still tied, the winner is settled by a period of extra time, and if still necessary, a penalty shootout. Since 2016–17, ties are settled on the day from the quarter-finals onwards, using extra time and penalties.

text: Until 1990–91, further replays would be played until one team was victorious. Some ties took as many as six matches to settle; in their 1975 campaign, Fulham played a total of 12 games over six rounds, which remains the most games played by a team to reach a final.[13] Replays were traditionally played three or four days after the original game, but from 1991–92 they were staged at least 10 days later on police advice for the rounds proper. This led to penalty shoot-outs being introduced, the first of which came on 26 November 1991 when Rotherham United eliminated Scunthorpe United.[14]

text: From 1980–81 to 1998–99, the semi-finals went to extra time on the day if the score after 90 minutes was a draw. If the score was still level after extra time, the match would go to a replay. Replays for the semi-finals were scrapped for 1999–2000, the last semi-final to go into a replay was in 1998–99 when Manchester United beat Arsenal 2–1 after extra time. The first game had ended in a 0–0 draw.

text: The first FA Cup Final to go to extra time and a replay was the 1875 final, between the Royal Engineers and the Old Etonians. The initial tie finished 1–1 but the Royal Engineers won the replay 2–0 in normal time. The last replayed final was the 1993 FA Cup Final, when Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday fought a 1–1 draw. The replay saw Arsenal win the FA Cup, 2–1 after extra time.

text: The last quarter-final to go to a replay was Manchester United vs West Ham United in the 2015–16 FA Cup. The original game at Old Trafford ended in a 1–1 draw, while Manchester United won the replay at the Boleyn Ground, 2–1. It was also the last FA Cup game ever played at the Boleyn Ground.[15]

text: Qualification for subsequent competitions[edit]

text: European football[edit]

text:
The FA Cup winners qualify for the following season's UEFA Europa League (formerly named the UEFA Cup; from its launch in 1960 until 1998, they entered the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners' Cup instead). This European place applies even if the team is relegated or is not in the English top flight. In the past, if the FA Cup winning team also qualified for the following season's Champions League or Europa League through their league position, then the losing FA Cup finalist were given this European berth instead. FA Cup winners enter the Europa League at the group stage. Losing finalists, if they haven't qualified for Europe via the league, began earlier, at the play-off or third qualifying round stage.[16] From the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League season, however, UEFA does not allow the runners-up to qualify for the Europa League through the competition.[17] If the winner – and until 2015, the runner-up –
has already qualified for Europe through their league position (with the exception of the UEFA Cup until 1998), the FA Cup berth is then given to the highest-place team in the league who has not yet qualified.

text: FA Community Shield[edit]

text: The FA Cup winners also qualify for the following season's single-match FA Community Shield, the traditional season opener played against the previous season's Premier League champions (or the Premier League runners-up if the FA Cup winners also won the league – the double).

text: Venues[edit]

text: Fixtures in the 12 rounds of the competition are usually played at the home ground of one of the two teams. The semi-finals and final are played at a neutral venue – the rebuilt Wembley Stadium (since 2008 and 2007 respectively).

text: Competition rounds[edit]

text: In the matches for the twelve competition rounds, the team who plays at home is decided when the fixtures are drawn – simply the first team drawn out for each fixture. Occasionally games may have to be moved to other grounds due to other events taking place, security reasons or a ground not being suitable to host popular teams. In the event of a draw, the replay is played at the ground of the team who originally played away from home.

text: In the days when multiple replays were possible, the second replay (and any further replays) were played at neutral grounds. The clubs involved could alternatively agree to toss for home advantage in the second replay.

text: Semi-finals[edit]

text: The semi-finals have been played exclusively at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium since 2008, one year after it opened and after it had already hosted a final (in 2007). For the first decade of the competition, the Kennington Oval was used as the semi-final venue. In the period between this first decade and the reopening of Wembley, semi-finals were played at high-capacity neutral venues around England; usually the home grounds of teams not involved in that semi-final, chosen to be roughly equidistant between the two teams for fairness of travel. The top three most used venues in this period were Villa Park in Birmingham (55 times), Hillsborough in Sheffield (34 times) and Old Trafford in Manchester (23 times). The original Wembley Stadium was also used seven times for semi-final, between 1991 and 2000 (the last held there), but not always for fixtures featuring London teams. In 2005, both were held at the Millennium Stadium.

text: In 2003 the FA took the decision to permanently use the new Wembley for semi-finals to recoup debts in financing the new stadium.[18] This was controversial, with the move seen as both unfair to fans of teams located far from London, as well as taking some of the prestige away from a Wembley final.[19] In defending the move, the FA has also cited the extra capacity Wembley offers, although the 2013 fixture between Millwall and Wigan led to the unprecedented step of placing 6,000 tickets on sale to neutral fans after the game failed to sell out.[20] A fan poll by The Guardian in 2013 found 86% opposition to Wembley semi-finals.[20]

text: Final[edit]

text: The final has been played at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium since it opened, in 2007.[21] The rebuilding process meant that between 2001 and 2006 they were hosted at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in Wales. Prior to rebuilding, the final was hosted by the original Wembley Stadium since it opened in 1923 (being originally named the Empire Stadium). One exception to this 78 year series of Empire Stadium finals (including five replays) was the 1970 replay between Leeds and Chelsea, held at Old Trafford in Manchester.

text: In the 51 years prior to the Empire Stadium opening, the final (including 8 replays) was held in a variety of locations, predominantly in London, and mainly at the Kennington Oval and then Crystal Palace. It was played 22 times at The Oval (the inaugural competition in 1872, and then all but two times until 1892). After The Oval, Crystal Palace hosted 21 finals from 1895 to 1914, broken up by four replays elsewhere. The other London venues were Stamford Bridge from 1920 to 1922 (the last three finals before the move to Empire Stadium); and the University of Oxford's Lillie Bridge in Fulham for the second ever final, in 1873. The other venues used sparingly in this period were all outside of London, as follows:

text:
Racecourse Ground, Derby (1886)
Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester (1893)
Goodison Park, Liverpool (1894)
Burnden Park, Bolton (1901 replay)
Old Trafford, Manchester (1911 replay)
Goodison Park (1910 replay)
Bramall Lane, Sheffield (1912 replay)
Old Trafford (1915)

tag: ul

text: Artificial turf[edit]

text: The FA permitted artificial turf (3G) pitches in all rounds of the competition from the 2014–15 edition and beyond.[22] Under the 2015–16 rules, the pitch must be of FIFA One Star quality, or Two Star for ties if they involve one of the 92 professional clubs.[2] This followed approval two years previously for their use in the qualifying rounds only – if a team with a 3G pitch progressed to the competition proper, they had to switch their tie to the ground of another eligible entrant with a natural grass pitch.[23] Having been strong proponents of the surface, the first match in the proper rounds to be played on a 3G surface was a televised first round replay at Maidstone United's Gallagher Stadium on 20 November 2014.[24]

text: Trophy[edit]

text: The eventual winners of the competition receive the FA Cup; it is only loaned to the club by the FA, under the current (2015–16) rules it must be returned by 1 March, or earlier if given seven days’ notice.[2] Traditionally, the holders had the Cup until the following year's presentation, although more recently the trophy has been taken on publicity tours by the FA in between finals.[25]

text: The trophy comes in three parts – the cup itself, plus a lid and a base. There have been two designs of trophy in use, but five physical trophies have been presented. The original trophy, known as the "little tin idol", was 18 inches high and made by Martin, Hall & Co. It was stolen in 1895 and never recovered, and so was replaced by an exact replica, used until 1910. The FA decided to change the design after the 1909 winners, Manchester United, made their own replica, leading the FA to realise they did not own the copyright.[26] This new, larger design was by Fattorini and Sons, and was used from 1911.[26] In order to preserve this original, from 1992 it was replaced by an exact replica, although this had to be replaced after just over two decades, after showing wear and tear from being handled more than in previous eras. This third replica, first used in 2014, was built heavier to withstand the increased handling.[25] Of the four surviving trophies, only the 1895 replica has entered private ownership.[27]

text: The name of the winning team is engraved on the silver band around the base as soon as the final has finished, in order to be ready in time for the presentation ceremony.[25] This means the engraver has just five minutes to perform a task which would take 20 under normal conditions, although time is saved by engraving the year on during the match, and sketching the presumed winner.[28] During the final, the trophy is decorated with ribbons in the colours of both finalists, with the loser's ribbons being removed at the end of the game.[29] The tradition of tying ribbons started after Tottenham Hotspur won the 1901 FA Cup Final and the wife of a Spurs director decided to tie blue and white ribbons to the handles of the cup.[30] Traditionally, at Wembley finals, the presentation is made at the Royal Box, with players, led by the captain, mounting a staircase to a gangway in front of the box and returning by a second staircase on the other side of the box. At Cardiff the presentation was made on a podium on the pitch.

text: The tradition of presenting the trophy immediately after the game did not start until the 1882 final; after the first final in 1872 the trophy was not presented to the winners, Wanderers, until a reception held four weeks later in the Pall Mall Restaurant in London.[31] Under the original rules, the trophy was to be permanently presented to any club which won the competition three times, although when inaugural winners Wanderers achieved this feat by the 1876 final, the rules were changed by FA Secretary CW Alcock (who was also captain of Wanderers in their first victory).[32]

text: Portsmouth F.C. have the distinction of being the football club which has held the FA Cup trophy for the longest uninterrupted period - seven years.  Portsmouth had defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1 in the 1939 FA Cup Final and were awarded the trophy as 1938-1939 FA Cup Champions. But with the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the regular Football League and FA Cup competitions for the 1939-40 season were cancelled for the duration of the war. Portsmouth's manager Jack Tinn was rumoured to have kept the FA Cup trophy 'safe under his bed' throughout the duration of the war, but this is an urban myth. Because the naval city of Portsmouth was a primary strategic military target for German Luftwaffe bombing, the FA Cup trophy was actually taken ten miles to the north of Portsmouth, to the nearby Hampshire village of Lovedean, and there it resided in a quaint thatched roof country pub called The Bird in Hand for the seven years of the war.[33]  After the conclusion of World War II, the FA Cup trophy was presented back to the Football Association by Portsmouth F.C. in time for the 1946 FA Cup Final.

text: Original design[edit]

text: 1871 original[edit]

text: The first trophy, the 'little tin idol', was made by Martin, Hall & Co at a cost of £20[34] It was stolen from a Birmingham shoe shop window belonging to William Shillcock while held by Aston Villa on 11 September 1895 and was never seen again. Despite a £10 reward for information, the crime was never solved. As it happened while it was in their care, the FA fined Villa £25 to pay for a replacement.

text: Just over 60 years later, 80 year old career criminal Henry (Harry) James Burge claimed to have committed the theft, confessing to a newspaper, with the story being published in the Sunday Pictorial newspaper on 23 February 1958. He claimed to have carried out the robbery with two other men, although when discrepancies with a contemporaneous report in the Birmingham Post newspaper (the crime pre-dated written police reports) in his account of the means of entry and other items stolen, detectives decided there was no realistic possibility of a conviction and the case was closed. Burge claimed the cup had been melted down to make counterfeit half-crown coins, which matched known intelligence of the time, in which stolen silver was being used to forge coins which were then laundered through betting shops at a local racecourse, although Burge had no past history of forgery in a record of 42 previous convictions for which he had spent 42 years in prison. He had been further imprisoned in 1957 for seven years for theft from cars. Released in 1961, he died in 1964.[35]

text: 1895 replica[edit]

text: After being rendered obsolete by the redesign, the 1895 replica was presented in 1910 to the FA's long-serving president Lord Kinnaird.[26] Kinnaird died in 1923, and his family kept it in their possession, out of view, until putting it up for auction in 2005.[36] It was duly sold at Christie's auction house on 19 May 2005 for £420,000 (£478,400 including auction fees and taxes).[26] The sale price set a new world record for a piece of football memorabilia, surpassing the £254,000 paid for the Jules Rimet World Cup Trophy in 1997.[27] The successful bidder was David Gold, the then joint chairman of Birmingham City; claiming the FA and government were doing nothing proactive to ensure the trophy remained in the country, Gold stated his purchase was motivated by wanting to save it for the nation.[27] Accordingly, Gold presented the trophy to the National Football Museum in Preston on 20 April 2006, where it went on immediate public display.[36] It later moved with the museum to its new location in Manchester.[26] In November 2012, it was ceremonially presented to Royal Engineers, after they beat Wanderers 7–1 in a charity replay of the first FA Cup final.

text: Current design[edit]

text: 1911 original[edit]

text: The redesigned trophy first used in 1911 was larger at 61.5 cm (24.2 inches) high, and was designed and manufactured by Fattorini's of Bradford, coincidentally being won by Bradford City in its first outing.[25][26]

text: On the 27 March 2016 episode of the BBC television programme Antiques Roadshow, this trophy was valued at £1 million by expert Alastair Dickenson, although he suggested that, due to the design featuring depictions of grapes and vines, it may not have been specifically produced for the FA, but was instead an off-the-shelf design originally meant to be a wine or champagne cooler.[26]

text: A smaller, but otherwise identical, replica was also made by Fattorini, the North Wales Coast FA Cup trophy, and is contested annually by members of that regional Association[37].

text: 1992 replica[edit]

text: The 1992 replica was made by Toye, Kenning and Spencer.[38] A copy of this trophy was also produced, in case anything happened to the primary trophy.[39]

text: 2014 replica[edit]

text: The 2014 replica was made by Thomas Lyte, handcrafted in sterling 925 silver over 250 hours. A weight increase to increase durability has taken it to 6.3 kilograms (14 lb).[25]

text: Medals[edit]

text: Each club in the final receives 40 winners or runners-up medals to be distributed among players, staff, and officials.[40]

text: In 1914 Burnley won the cup and received unique medals incorrectly struck as "English Cup Winners". One is displayed at Turf Moor, within the 1914 collection.[41]

text: Sponsorship[edit]

text: Since the start of the 1994–95 season, the FA Cup has been sponsored. However, to protect the identity of the competition, the sponsored name has always included 'The FA Cup' in addition to the sponsor's name, unlike sponsorship deals for the League Cup where the word 'cup' is preceded by only the sponsor's name. Sponsorship deals run for four years, though – as in the case of E.ON – one-year extensions may be agreed. Emirates Airline is the sponsor from 2015 to 2018, renaming the competition as 'The Emirates FA Cup', unlike previous editions, which included 'The FA Cup in association with E.ON' and 'The FA Cup with Budweiser'.[42]

text:
Period

Sponsor

Name

1871/72–1993/94

No main sponsor

The FA Cup

1994/95–1997/98

 Littlewoods

The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods[43]

1998/99–2001/02

 AXA

The AXA sponsored FA Cup[44](1998–99)The FA Cup sponsored by AXA (1999–2002)

2002/03–2005/06

No main sponsor

The FA Cup

2006/07–2010/11

 E.ON

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON[45][46]

2011/12–2013/14

 Budweiser

The FA Cup with Budweiser[47]

2014/15

No main sponsor

The FA Cup

2015/16–2017/18

 Emirates

The Emirates FA Cup[42]

text: From August 2006 to 2013, Umbro supplied match balls for all FA Cup matches. Since March 2013, Nike has supplied the official match ball.

text: Records and statistics[edit]

text: Final[edit]

text: Team[edit]

text:
Most wins: 13:
Arsenal (1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017)
Most consecutive wins: 3, joint record:
Wanderers (1876, 1877, 1878)
Blackburn Rovers, (1884, 1885, 1886)
Most appearances in a final: 20:
Arsenal (1927, 1930, 1932, 1936, 1950, 1952, 1971, 1972, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1993, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017)
Manchester United (1909, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2016, 2018)
Most consecutive/uninterrupted years as FA Cup Champions: 7, Portsmouth F.C., (1939-1946)
Most Final appearances without ever winning: 4, Leicester City (1949, 1961, 1963, 1969)
Most Final appearances without ever losing: 5, Wanderers (1872, 1873, 1876, 1877, 1878)
Most Final appearances without losing (streak): 7, Tottenham Hotspur (1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982)
Biggest win: 6 goals: Bury 6–0 Derby County, (1903)
Most goals in a final: 7:
Blackburn Rovers 6–1 Sheffield Wednesday (1890)
Blackpool 4–3 Bolton Wanderers (1953)
Most goals by a losing side: 3:
Bolton Wanderers: Lost 3–4 against Blackpool (1953)
West Ham United: Drew 3–3 but lost in a penalty shootout against Liverpool (2006)
Most defeats: 8, Everton (1893, 1897, 1907, 1968, 1985, 1986, 1989, 2009)

text: Individual[edit]

text:
Most wins by player: 7, Ashley Cole (Arsenal) (2002, 2003, 2005) & (Chelsea) (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Most wins by manager: 7, Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) (1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017),
Most appearances: 9, Arthur Kinnaird (Wanderers) (1872–73, 1875–76, 1876–77, 1877–78) & (Old Etonians) (1874–75, 1878–79, 1880–81, 1881–82, 1882–83)
Most goals (one final): 3, Billy Townley (Blackburn Rovers) (1890), James Logan (Notts County) (1894) & Stan Mortensen (Blackpool) (1953)
Most goals (all finals): 5, Ian Rush (Liverpool) (2 in 1986, 2 in 1989, 1 in 1992)
Most finals scored in: 4, Didier Drogba (Chelsea) (1 each in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Youngest FA Cup finalist: Curtis Weston (Millwall), 17 years and 119 days (2004)
Youngest player to score in an FA Cup Final: Norman Whiteside (Manchester United), 18 years and 19 days (1983)
Oldest player: Billy Hampson (Newcastle United), 41 years and 257 days (1924)

text: All rounds[edit]

text:
Biggest win: Preston North End 26–0 Hyde (First Round, 15 October 1887)
Biggest away win: Clapton 0–14 Nottingham Forest (First Round, 17 January 1891)
Highest attendance at Wembley: 126,047 (official) up to 300,000 (estimate) at the "White Horse Final" (Bolton Wanderers v. West Ham United, 28 April 1923)
Most clubs competing for trophy in a season: 763 (2011–12)
Longest tie: 660 minutes (6 matches in total), Oxford City v. Alvechurch (Fourth Qualifying Round, November 6/9/15/17/20/22 1971; Alvechurch won the sixth match 1–0)
Longest penalty shootout: 20 penalties each, Tunbridge Wells v. Littlehampton Town (Preliminary Round Replay, 31 August 2005; Tunbridge Wells won 16–15)
Most rounds played in a season: 9, for:
Brighton & Hove Albion (1932–33: 1st–4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st–5th Rounds)
New Brighton (1956–57: Preliminary, 1st–4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st–4th Rounds)
Blyth Spartans (1977–78: 1st–4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st–5th Rounds)
Harlow Town (1979–80: Preliminary, 1st–4th Qualifying Rounds, 1st–4th Rounds)
Most games played in a season: 13, Bideford (1973–74: one First Qualifying, two Second Qualifying, five Third Qualifying, four Fourth Qualifying and one First Round)
Fastest goal: 4 seconds, Gareth Morris (for Ashton United v. Skelmersdale United, 1st Qualifying Round, 17 September 2001)
Most consecutive games without defeat: 22, Blackburn Rovers (First Round, 1884 through Second round, replay, 1886. Won two FA Cups.)
Most consecutive games without defeat: (Excluding defeat by penalty shoot-out) 29, Chelsea (Third Round Proper, 2009 through Fourth Round Proper, replay, 2013. Won three FA Cups.)
Fastest hat-trick: 2 min 20 sec, Andy Locke (for Nantwich Town v. Droylsden, Preliminary Round, August 1995)[48]
Most career goals: 49, Henry "Harry" Cursham (for Notts County in 12 tournaments from 1877–78 to 1888–89).
Most goals by a player in a single FA Cup season: 19, Jimmy Ross (for Preston North End, 1887–88. Preston outscored opponents 50–5 over 7 matches, including "Biggest win" shown above.).[49]
Most goals by a player in a single FA Cup game: 9, Ted MacDougall (for AFC Bournemouth in 11–0 defeat of Margate, First Round Proper, 20 November 1971)[50]
Scoreline: Two examples of teams scoring 7 goals and not winning – Dulwich Hamlet 8–7 St Albans City (Fourth Qualifying Round Replay, 22 November 1922), and Dulwich Hamlet 7–7 Wealdstone (Fourth Qualifying Round, 16 November 1929).
Youngest player: Andy Awford, 15 years and 88 days (for Worcester City v. Boreham Wood, 3rd Qualifying Round, 10 October 1987),[51]
Youngest goalscorer: Sean Cato, 16 years and 25 days (for Barrow Town v. Rothwell Town, Preliminary Round, 3 September 2011)[52]
Youngest goalscorer (proper rounds): George Williams, 16 years and 66 days (for Milton Keynes Dons v. Nantwich Town, First Round Proper, 12 November 2011)

text: Cup runs and giant killings[edit]

text: The possibility of unlikely victories in the earlier rounds of the competition, where lower ranked teams beat higher placed opposition in what is known as a "giant killing", is much anticipated by the public. Such upsets are considered an integral part of the tradition and prestige of the competition, and the attention gained by giant-killing teams can be as great as that for winners of the cup.[53] Almost every club in the League Pyramid has a fondly remembered giant-killing act in its history.[54] It is considered particularly newsworthy when a top Premier League team suffers an upset defeat, or where the giant-killer is a non-league club, i.e. from outside the professional levels of The Football League.

text: One analysis of four years of FA Cup results showed that it was 99.85 per cent likely that at least one team would beat one from its next higher division in a given year. The probability drops to 48.8 per cent for a two-division gap, and 39.28 per cent for a three-division gap.[54]

text: Early years[edit]

text: The Football League was founded in 1888, 16 years after the first FA Cup competition. Since the creation of The Football League, Tottenham Hotspur is the only non-league "giant-killer" to win the Cup, taking the 1901 FA Cup with a victory over reigning league runners-up Sheffield United: although at that time, there were only two divisions and 36 clubs in the Football League, and Spurs were champions of the next strongest football league – the Southern League and probably already good enough for the First Division (as was shown when they joined the Second Division in 1908 and immediately won promotion to the First.) Only two other actual non-League clubs have even reached the final since the founding of the League: Sheffield Wednesday in 1890 (champions of the Football Alliance, a rival league which was already effectively the Second Division, which it formally became in 1892 – Wednesday being let straight into the First Division), and Southampton in 1900 and 1902 (in which years they were also Southern League champions, proving the strength of that league: again, they were probably of equivalent standard to a First Division club at the time, but Southampton's form subsequently faded and they did not join the League till 1920 and the formation of the Third Division.)

text: Non-league giant killings[edit]

text: The most recent examples of a non-league team (Levels 5 to 10) beating a Level 1 opponent are National League side Lincoln City's away victory over Premier League side Burnley in the 2016–17 FA Cup and Conference Premier side Luton Town's away victory over Level 1 Premier League's Norwich City in the 2012–13 Fourth Round Proper. Prior to that game, the last time a non-league side defeated a Level 1 club was in 1989 when Sutton United claimed a 2–1 victory at home over Coventry City, who had won the FA Cup less than two years prior.[55]

text: In the 1971–72 FA Cup, a non-league side achieved a Level 1 giant killing that was voted "best FA Cup tie ever" in a 2007 poll by The Observer newspaper.[56] Non-league Hereford United was trailing First Division Newcastle United 0–1 with less than seven minutes left in the Third Round Proper replay, when Hereford's Ronnie Radford scored the equalizer – a goal still shown regularly when FA Cup fixtures are broadcast. Hereford finished the shocking comeback by defeating Newcastle 2–1 in the match.

text: Some small clubs gain a reputation for being "cup specialists" after two or more giant killing feats within a few years.[54] Yeovil Town holds the record for the most victories over league opposition as a non-league team, having recorded 20 wins through the years before it achieved promotion into The Football League.[57] The record for a club which has never entered The Football League is held by Altrincham, with 17 wins against league teams.

text: Non-league cup runs[edit]

text: For non-league teams, reaching the Third Round Proper – where all Level 1 sides now enter – is considered a major achievement. In the 2008–09 FA Cup, a record nine non-league teams achieved this feat.[58] As of the 2016–17 season, only nine non-league teams have reached the Fifth Round Proper (final 16) since 1945,[59] and only Lincoln City have progressed to the Sixth Round (final 8), during the 2016–17 edition of the tournament.[60] Prior to Lincoln's run, Kidderminster Harriers were the last team to reach the 5th round, in 1994, where they had a chance to inflict a giant-killing of their own against a Premier League side. They were drawn at home against West Ham United in Round 5 but lost 0 - 1 in a close game at Aggborough.

text: Chasetown, while playing at Level 8 of English football during the 2007–08 competition, are the lowest-ranked team to ever play in the Third Round Proper (final 64, of 731 teams entered that season). Chasetown was then a member of the Southern League Division One Midlands (a lower level within the Southern Football League), when they lost to Football League Championship (Level 2) team Cardiff City, the eventual FA Cup runners-up that year.[61] Their success earned the lowly organisation over £60,000 in prize money.

text: Giant killings between league clubs[edit]

text: In games between league sides, one of the most notable results was the 1992 victory by Wrexham, last in the previous season's league, over reigning league champion Arsenal. Another similar shock was when Shrewsbury Town beat Everton 2–1 in 2003. Everton finished 7th in The Premier League and Shrewsbury Town were relegated to the Football Conference that same season.

text: Winners and finalists[edit]

text: Consecutive winners[edit]

text: Four clubs have won consecutive FA Cups on more than one occasion: Wanderers (1872, 1873 and 1876, 1877, 1878), Blackburn Rovers (1884, 1885, 1886 and 1890, 1891), Tottenham Hotspur (1961, 1962 and 1981, 1982) and Arsenal (2002, 2003 and 2014, 2015).

text: Winning managers[edit]

text: The record for most winner's medals for a manager is held by Arsène Wenger, who has won seven titles with Arsenal (1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017).

text: Doubles/Trebles[edit]

text: Seven clubs have won the FA Cup as part of a League and Cup double, namely Preston North End (1889), Aston Villa (1897), Tottenham Hotspur (1961), Arsenal (1971, 1998, 2002), Liverpool (1986), Manchester United (1994, 1996, 1999) and Chelsea (2010). In 1993, Arsenal became the first side to win both the FA Cup and the League Cup in the same season when they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2–1 in both finals. Liverpool (in 2001) and Chelsea (in 2007) have since repeated this feat. In 2012, Chelsea accomplished a different cup double consisting of the FA Cup and the 2012 Champions League. In 1998–99, Manchester United added the 1999 Champions League title to their league and cup double to complete a unique Treble. Two years later, in 2000–01, Liverpool won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup to complete a cup treble.

text: Outside England[edit]

text: The FA Cup has only been won by a non-English team once. Cardiff City achieved this in 1927 when they beat Arsenal in the final at Wembley. They had previously made it to the final only to lose to Sheffield United in 1925 and lost another final to Portsmouth in 2008. Cardiff City is also the only team to win the national cups of two different countries in the same season, having also won the Welsh Cup in 1927. The Scottish team Queen's Park reached and lost the final in both 1884 and 1885.

text: Outside the top division[edit]

text: Since the creation of the Football League in 1888, the final has never been contested by two teams from outside the top division, and there have only been eight winners who were not in the top flight: Notts County (1894); Tottenham Hotspur (1901); Wolverhampton Wanderers (1908); Barnsley (1912); West Bromwich Albion (1931); Sunderland (1973), Southampton (1976) and West Ham United (1980). With the exception of Tottenham, these clubs were all playing in the second tier (the old Second Division) – Tottenham were playing in the Southern League and were only elected to the Football League in 1908, meaning they are the only non-League winners of the FA Cup since the League's creation. Other than Tottenham's victory, only 24 finalists have come from outside English football's top tier, with a record of 7 wins and 17 runners-up: and none at all from the third tier or lower, Southampton (1902, then in the Southern League) being the last finalist from outside the top two tiers.

text: Sunderland's win in 1973 was considered a major upset, having beaten Leeds United who finished third in the top flight that season.[62], as was West Ham's victory over Arsenal in 1980 as the Gunners were in their third successive FA Cup Final and were also the cup holders from the previous year as well as just having finished 4th in the First Division, whereas West Ham had ended the season 7th in Division 2. This also marked the last time (as of 2017-18) a team from outside the top division. Uniquely, in 2008 three of the four semi-finalists (Barnsley, Cardiff City and West Bromwich) were from outside the top division, although the eventual winner was the last remaining top-flight team, Portsmouth.[63] West Bromwich (1931) are the only team to have won the FA Cup and earned promotion to the top flight in the same season; whereas Wigan Athletic (2013) are the only team to have won the Cup and been relegated from the top flight in the same season.

text: Media coverage[edit]

text: Domestic broadcasters[edit]

text: The FA Cup Final is one of 10 events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.

text: In the early years of coverage the BBC had exclusive radio coverage with a picture of the pitch marked in the Radio Times with numbered squares to help the listener follow the match on the radio. The first FA Cup Final on Radio was in 1926 between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City but this was only broadcast in Manchester, the first national final on BBC Radio was between Arsenal and Cardiff in 1927. The first final on BBC Television was in 1937 in a match which featured Sunderland and Preston North End but this was not televised in full. The following season's final between Preston and Huddersfield was covered in full by the BBC. When ITV was formed in 1955 they shared final coverage with the BBC in one of the only club matches shown live on television, during the 1970s and 1980s coverage became more elaborate with BBC and ITV trying to steal viewers from the others by starting coverage earlier and earlier some starting as early as 9 a.m. which was six hours before kick off. Nowadays, this continues with Setanta and ESPN having all-day broadcasts from Wembley, but terrestrial TV coverage usually begins two hours before kick off. The sharing of rights between BBC and ITV continued from 1955 to 1988, when ITV lost coverage to the new Sports Channel which later became Sky Sports.

text: From 1988 to 1997, the BBC and Sky Sports had coverage of the FA Cup, the BBC had highlights on Match of the Day and usually one match per round while Sky had the same deal. From 1997 to 2001, ITV and Sky shared live coverage with both having two matches per round and BBC continuing with highlights on Match of the Day. From 2002 to 2008, BBC and Sky again shared coverage with BBC having two or three matches per round and Sky having one or two. From 2008–09 to 2013–14, FA Cup matches are shown live by ITV across England and Wales, with UTV broadcasting to Northern Ireland but STV refusing to show them. ITV shows 16 FA Cup games per season, including the first pick of live matches from each of the first to sixth rounds of the competition, plus one semi-final exclusively live. The final is also shown live on ITV. Under the same 2008 contract, Setanta Sports showed three games and one replay in each round from round three to five, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final. The channel also broadcast ITV's matches exclusively to Scotland, after the ITV franchise holder in Scotland, STV, decided not to broadcast FA Cup games. Setanta entered administration in June 2009 and as a result the FA terminated Setanta's deal to broadcast FA-sanctioned competitions and England internationals.[64] As a result of Setanta going out of business ITV showed the competition exclusively in the 2009–10 season with between three and four matches per round, all quarter finals, semi-finals and final live as the FA could not find a pay TV broadcaster in time. ESPN bought the competition for the 2010–11 to 2012–13 season and during this time Rebecca Lowe became the first woman to host the FA Cup Final in the UK.

text: In October 2009, The FA announced that ITV would show an additional match in the First and Second Rounds on ITV, with one replay match shown on ITV4. One match and one replay match from the first two rounds will broadcast on The FA website for free, in a similar situation to the 2010 World Cup Qualifier between Ukraine and England.[65] The 2009–10 First Round match between Oldham Athletic and Leeds United was the first FA Cup match to be streamed online live.[66]

text: Many[who?] expected BSkyB to make a bid to show some of the remaining FA Cup games for the remainder of the 2009–10 season which would include a semi-final and shared rights to the final. ESPN took over the package Setanta held for the FA Cup from the 2010–11 season.[67] The 2011 final was also shown live on Sky 3D in addition to ESPN (who provided the 3D coverage for Sky 3D) and ITV.[68] Following the sale of ESPN's UK and Ireland channels to BT, ESPN's rights package transferred to BT Sport from the 2013–14 season.[69]

text: BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport provides radio coverage including several full live commentaries per round, with additional commentaries broadcast on BBC Local Radio.

text: Until the 2008–09 season, the BBC and Sky Sports shared television coverage, with the BBC showing three matches in the earlier rounds. Some analysts argued the decision to move away from the Sky and, in particular, the BBC undermined the FA Cup in the eyes of the public.

text: The early rounds of the 2008–09 competition were covered for the first time by ITV's online service, ITV Local. The first match of the competition, between Wantage Town and Brading Town, was broadcast live online. Highlights of eight games of each round were broadcast as catch up on ITV Local.[70][71] Since ITV Local closed, this coverage did not continue.

text: ITV lost the rights to the FA Cup beginning with the 2014–15 FA Cup, terrestrial rights will return to BBC Sport, with the final being shown on BBC One while BT Sport hold the pay TV rights. Under this deal, the BBC will show around the same number of games as ITV and still having the first pick for each round.[72]

text: Matches involving Welsh clubs are sometimes exclusively broadcast on Welsh language channel S4C, which is also available to view across the rest of the United Kingdom on satellite and cable television, and through the channel's website.[73] A similar arrangement is shared with BBC Cymru Wales from 2014–15, potentially giving the BBC an extra match per round.[74]

text: Overseas broadcasters[edit]

text: The FA sells overseas rights separately from the domestic contract.

text:
Territory

Current broadcaster(s)

Former broadcaster(s)

Australia
First Round to the Semi-finals are broadcast exclusively by ESPN Australia; final co-broadcast with SBS. Due to Australian anti-siphoning laws, the FA Cup Final is on a list of sporting events, that must first be offered to national television broadcasters and commercial free-to-air television broadcasters before rights can be acquired by a subscription television broadcaster.

Africa
Supersport, since 2015–16

Albania
Tring Sport, since 2009–10

Belgium
Eleven Sports Network, since 2015–2016
Prime, 2008–09 – 2011–12

Canada
Sportsnet World, since 2011–12
Setanta Sports, 2008–09 – 2010–11

Denmark
SBS Discovery Channel (Kanal 5, 6'eren, 7'eren), since 2012–13

France
beIN Sport, since 2012–13
Canal+, 2007–08, France Télévisions, 2008–09 – 2011–12

India
Sony Six & Sony ESPN, since 2012–13

Italy
Fox Sports, since 2013–14
SKY Italia, 2003–04 – 2011–12, Mediaset Premium, 2012–13

Netherlands
FOX Sports, since 2010–11

Russia
Match TV, since 2015–16

Spain
Teledeporte, since 2016–17[75]
Movistar+, 2008–2012

Sweden
TV10, since 2013–14

United States
From 2012–13, Fox Sports will feature FA Cup games split between Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer Plus and the broadcast Fox network, with the Final being on Fox.[76]

text: English football portal


document_title: Howard University

question_text: what part of dc is howard university in

question_tokens: what part of dc is howard university in

text: Howard University

text: History[edit]

text: Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, members of The First Congregational Society of Washington considered establishing a theological seminary for the education of African-American clergymen. Within a few weeks, the project expanded to include a provision for establishing a university. Within two years, the University consisted of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Medicine. The new institution was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero, who was both the founder of the University and, at the time, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard later served as President of the University from 1869–74.[13]

text: U.S. Congress chartered Howard on March 2, 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction, and tuition. An annual congressional appropriation administered by the U.S. Department of Education funds Howard University and Howard University Hospital.[14]

text: Many improvements were made on campus. Howard Hall was renovated and made a dormitory for women. J. Stanley Durkee, Howard's last white president, was appointed in 1918.[15]

text: The Great Depression years of the 1930s brought hardship to campus. Despite appeals from Eleanor Roosevelt, Howard saw its budget cut below Hoover administration levels during the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[16]

text: Howard University has played an important role in American history and the Civil Rights Movement on a number of occasions. Alain Locke, Chair of the Department of Philosophy and first African American Rhodes Scholar, authored The New Negro, which helped to usher in the Harlem Renaissance.[17] Ralph Bunche, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner of African descent, served as chair of the Department of Political Science.[18] Beginning in 1942, Howard University students pioneered the "stool-sitting" technique, which was to play a prominent role in the later civil rights movement. By January 1943, students had begun to organize regular sit-ins and pickets at cigar stores and cafeterias around Washington, D.C. which refused to serve them because of their race. These protests continued until the administration asked the students to stop in the Fall of 1944.[19] Stokely Carmichael, also known as Kwame Toure, a student in the Department of Philosophy and the Howard University School of Divinity coined the term "Black Power" and worked in Lowndes County, Alabama as a voting rights activist.[20] Historian Rayford Logan served as chair of the Department of History.[21] E. Franklin Frazier served as chair of the Department of Sociology.[22] Sterling Allen Brown served as chair of the Department of English.

text:
Presidents of Howard University

1867
Charles B. Boynton

1867–1869
Byron Sunderland

1869–1874
Oliver Otis Howard

1875–1876
Edward P. Smith

1877–1889
William W. Patton

1890–1903
Jeremiah Rankin

1903–1906
John Gordon

1906–1912
Wilbur P. Thirkield

1912–1918
Stephen M. Newman

1918–1926
J. Stanley Durkee

1926–1960
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson

1960–1969
James Nabrit Jr.

1969–1989
James E. Cheek

1990–1994
Franklyn Jenifer

1995–2008
H. Patrick Swygert

2008–2013
Sidney A. Ribeau

2013–present
Wayne A.I. Frederick

text: The first sitting president to speak at Howard was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. His graduation speech was entitled, "The Progress of a People," and highlighted the accomplishments to date of the blacks in America since the Civil War. His concluding thought was, "We can not go out from this place and occasion without refreshment of faith and renewal of confidence that in every exigency our Negro fellow citizens will render the best and fullest measure of service whereof they are capable."[23]

text: In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered a speech to the graduating class at Howard, where he outlined his plans for civil rights legislation and endorsed aggressive affirmative action to combat the effects of years of segregation of blacks from the nation's economic opportunities.[24] At the time, the Voting Rights bill was still pending in the House of Representatives.[25]

text: In 1975 the historic Freedman's Hospital closed after 112 years of use as Howard University College of Medicine's primary teaching hospital. Howard University Hospital opened that same year and continues to be used as Howard University College of Medicine's primary teaching hospital with service to the surrounding community.

text: Recent history[edit]

text: In 1989, Howard gained national attention when students rose up in protest against the appointment of then-Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater as a new member of the university's Board of Trustees. Student activists disrupted Howard's 122nd anniversary celebrations, and eventually occupied the university's Administration building.[26] Within days, both Atwater and Howard's President, James E. Cheek, resigned.

text: In April 2007, the head of the faculty senate called for the ouster of Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert, saying that the school was in a state of crisis and it was time to end "an intolerable condition of incompetence and dysfunction at the highest level."[27] This came on the heels of several criticisms of Howard University and its management. The following month, Swygert announced that he would retire in June 2008.[28] The university announced in May 2008 that Sidney Ribeau of Bowling Green State University would succeed Swygert as president.[29] Ribeau appointed a Presidential Commission on Academic Renewal to conduct a year-long self-evaluation that resulted in reducing or closing 20 out of 171 academic programs.[30] For example, they proposed closing the undergraduate philosophy major and African studies major.[30]

text: Six years later, in 2013, university insiders again alleged that the university was in crisis. In April, the vice chairwoman of the university's board of trustees wrote a letter to her colleagues harshly criticizing the university's president and calling for a vote of no confidence; her letter was subsequently obtained by the media where it drew national headline.[31][32] Two months later, the university's Council of Deans alleged that "fiscal mismanagement is doing irreparable harm," blaming the university's senior vice president for administration, chief financial officer and treasurer and asking for his dismissal.[33] In October, the faculty voted no confidence in the university's Board of Trustees executive committee, two weeks after university president Sidney A. Ribeau announced that he would retire at the end of the year.[34] On October 1, the Board of Trustees named Wayne A.I. Frederick Interim President.[35] In July 2014 Howard's Board of Trustees named Frederick as the school's 17th president.[36]

text: Campus[edit]

text: The 256-acre (1.04 km2; 0.400 sq mi) campus often referred to as "The Mecca" is located in northwest Washington.[37] Major improvements, additions, and changes occurred at the school in the aftermath of World War I. New buildings were built under the direction of architect Albert Cassell.[38] Howard's buildings and plant have a value of $567.6 million.[37]

text: Howard University has several historic landmarks on campus, such as Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, Fredrick Douglass Memorial Hall, and the Founders Founders Library.

text: The Howard University Gallery of Art was established in 1928 by the University's Board of Trustees. Since its inception, the gallery's permanent collection has grown to over 4,000 works of art and continues to serve as an academic resource for the Howard community.[39]

text: Howard University has nine residence halls in which students can live: Drew Hall (male freshmen), College Hall North (female freshmen), Tubman Quadrangle (female freshmen), Bethune Annex (co-ed, undergraduates), Cook Hall (co-ed, undergraduates), Plaza Towers West (co-ed, for juniors and seniors only), Slowe Hall (co-ed), College Hall South (co-ed), and Plaza Towers East (co-ed, undergraduate honors program students, graduate students).

text: Howard University Hospital, opened in 1975 on the eastern end of campus, was built on the site of Griffith Stadium, in use from the 1890s to 1965 as home of the first, second and third incarnations of the MLB Senators, as well as the NFL's Washington Redskins, several college football teams (including Georgetown, GWU and Maryland) and part-time home of the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League.

text: Howard University is home to WHUR-FM 96.3, also known as Howard University Radio. Howard is also home to WHUT-TV, which is a television station located on campus beside WHUR-FM.

text: The Interdisciplinary Research Building (IRB) opened in 2016 is Howard's most prominent research building. The multi-story, 81,670 square foot, state-of-the-art research facility was completed for $70 million. The IRB was designed to cultivate more collaborative and innovative research on campus.[40]

text: Organization[edit]

text: The university is led by a Board of Trustees that includes a faculty trustee from the undergraduate colleges, a faculty trustee from the graduate and professional colleges serving 3-year terms, two student trustees, each serving 1-year terms, and three alumni-elected trustees, each serving 3-year terms.[37]

text: Academics[edit]

text: Schools and colleges[edit]

text:
College of Engineering and Architecture
College of Nursing & Allied Health Sciences
College of Pharmacy
Howard University College of Arts and Sciences
Howard University College of Dentistry
Howard University School of Business
Howard University School of Communications
Howard University College of Medicine
Howard University School of Law
Middle School of Mathematics and Science
School of Divinity
School of Education
School of Social Work

text: Honors programs[edit]

text: Howard offers three honors programs for its most high-achieving undergraduate students: the College of Arts & Sciences Honors Program, the Executive Leadership Honors Program in the School of Business, and the Annenberg Honors Program in the School of Communications.[41]

text: Howard University West[edit]

text: In 2017, Google Inc. announced it established a residency program named "Howard University West" on its campus in Mountain View, California to help increase black representation in the tech industry. Beginning in fall 2018, the program will be expanded from a three-month summer program to a full academic year program. Rising juniors majoring in computer science participating in the program will learn from senior Google engineers, practice the latest coding techniques, and experience tech culture in Mountain View for course credit towards their undergraduate degrees.[42][43]

text: Research[edit]

text: "The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) is recognized as one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the world. The MSRC collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of resources chronicling black experiences."[44]

text: NASA University Research Center (BCCSO)[edit]

text: The Beltsville Center for Climate System Observation (BCCSO) is a NASA University Research Center located at the Beltsville, Maryland campus of Howard University. BCCSO consists of a multidisciplinary group of Howard faculty in partnership with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Division, other academic institutions, and government. This group is led by three Principal Investigators, Everette Joseph, also the director of BCCSO, Demetrius Venable and Belay Demoz. BCCSO trains science and academic leaders to understand atmospheric processes through atmospheric observing systems and analytical methods.[45][46]

text: Publications[edit]

text: Howard University is home to The Hilltop, the award-winning (Princeton Review) student newspaper. Founded in 1924 by Zora Neale Hurston, The Hilltop enjoys a long legacy at the university, providing students with the ability to learn the newspaper industry.

text: Howard University is the publisher of The Journal of Negro Education, which began publication in 1932. The Howard University Bison Yearbook is created, edited and published during the school year to provide students a year-in-review. Howard University also publishes the Capstone, the official e-newsletter for the university; and the Howard Magazine, the official magazine for the university, which is published three times a year.

text: Howard University Libraries[edit]

text: Howard University Libraries (HUL) is the library system of Howard University and is composed by eight branches and centers:

text:
The Founders Library, the main library, founded in January 1939.[47][48][49]
The School of Business Library
The School of Divinity Library
The School of Social Work Library
The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
The Channing Pollock Theatre Collection
The Patent and Trademark Resource Center
The Undergraduate Library (UGL).[50]
Afro-American Studies Center.[51]

text: Student life[edit]

text: Athletics[edit]

text: Students[edit]

text: The U.S. students come from the following regions: New England 2%, Mid-West 8%. South 22%, Mid-Atlantic 55%, and West 12%.[37] Nearly 4% of the student body are international students. Howard University is 86.1% African-American/Black.[52]

text: Howard is one of the top five largest HBCUs in the nation with over 10,000 students.[53]

text: Howard produced four Rhodes Scholars between 1986 and 2017.[7] Between 1998 and 2009, Howard University produced a Marshall Scholar, two Truman Scholars, twenty-two Fulbright Scholars and ten Pickering Fellows.[8][9]

text: There are over 200 student organizations and special interest groups established on campus.[54]

text: The student/faculty ratio at Howard is 10 to 1.[55] Howard is a selective admissions institution.[56]

text: As of 2006[update], Howard's six-year graduation rate was 67.5%.[57] In 2009, 1,270 of the 1,476 full-time freshmen enrolled were found to have financial need (86%). Of these, Howard could meet the full financial aid needs of 316 freshmen.[58] Howard's average undergraduate student's indebtedness at graduation is $16,798.[58]

text: Faculty[edit]

text: Howard faculty include: member of Congress from Maryland Roscoe Bartlett, blood shipment pioneer Charles Drew,[59] Emmy-winning actor Al Freeman Jr.,[60] suffragist Elizabeth Piper Ensley,[61] civil rights lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston, media entrepreneur Cathy Hughes, marine biologist Ernest Everett Just, professor of surgery LaSalle D. Leffall Jr., political consultant Ron Walters, novelist and diplomat E. R. Braithwaite,[62] filmmaker Haile Gerima, and psychiatrist Francis Cress Welsing.

text: Greek letter organizations[edit]

text: Howard University is the founding site of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and five of the nine NPHC organizations. The first chapters (Alpha Chapters) of Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908), Omega Psi Phi (1911), Delta Sigma Theta (1913), Phi Beta Sigma (1914), and Zeta Phi Beta (1920) were established on Howard's campus.[63] However, the Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha was the first to appear in 1907.[64] Also in 1920, the Xi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi appeared on campus, followed by the Alpha Phi Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho in 1939, and the Alpha Tau Chapter of Iota Phi Theta in 1983.

text: Other notable Greek letter organizations registered at Howard include Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Delta Sigma Pi, Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Phi Omega, Alpha Nu Omega, Alpha Kappa Psi, Phi Sigma Rho, Gamma Iota Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha, Sigma Alpha Iota, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma and Phi Alpha Delta.

text: Howard Homecoming[edit]

text: Howard Homecoming week is the most highly publicized and richest cultural tradition of the institution. Over 100,000 of alumni, students, special guests, and visitors are in attendance to patronize the many events and attractions affiliated with the festive week on and near campus. While the specific calendar of events changes from year to year, many of the traditional homecoming events include the Homecoming Football Game and Tailgate, the Pep Rally, the Coronation Ball, the Greek Step-Show (Howard Greeks only), and the Fashion Show. After a two-year hiatus, the Yardfest also returned in 2016 as one of the cherished traditions.[66][67][68]

text: Howard's first official homecoming was held in 1924 and it takes place every fall semester with a new theme developed by the homecoming committee.[69][70]

text: Springfest[edit]

text: Springfest is an annual tradition that officially began by members of the Undergraduate Student Association (USA) to celebrate the new spring season. Springfest is similar to Howard's homecoming week in the fall but on a smaller scale and more emphasis on the student body. For Springfest, normally planned is a Spring Fashion Show, Greek Step-Show (Howard Greeks only), Vendor Fair, Poetry Showcase, Beauty Conference, Charity Basketball Game, and a major community service event. The official schedule of events slightly changes every year.[71][72]

text: Bison Ball[edit]

text: The Bison Ball and Excellence Awards is an annual black tie gala hosted by the Howard University Student Association (HUSA). A select number of students, faculty, organizations, and administrators from the Howard community are honored for their exceptional accomplishments. This event takes place near the end of every spring semester.[73][74]

text: Resfest[edit]

text: Resfest week is a Howard tradition where students living in freshmen residence halls on campus compete in various organized competitions for awards and bragging rights; arguably the most coveted award is winning the Resfest Step-Show which normally involves elaborate themes and productions. This event is held every spring semester.[75]

text: Notable alumni[edit]

text: Howard is the alma mater of many notable individuals, including:

text:
Ben Ali, co-founder and owner of Ben's Chili Bowl restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Debbie Allen, choreographer, actress and singer
Anthony Anderson, Emmy Award-nominated actor and star of the TV show Black-ish
Nnamdi Azikiwe, first president of Nigeria
Ras J. Baraka, mayor of Newark, New Jersey
Antoine Bethea, NFL player
Chadwick Boseman, actor
Stokely Carmichael, an activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power movement
Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer, MacArthur Fellow
Sean Combs, Grammy Award-winning rapper
Elijah Cummings, congressman from Maryland
Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence, Grammy Award-winning producer and writer
Ossie Davis, actor, member of American Theater Hall of Fame
Cheick Modibo Diarra, former Malian prime minister and NASA engineer[76]
David Dinkins, the first African-American mayor of New York City
Rachel Dolezal, activist
Mike Espy, the first African-American U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Adrian Fenty, former mayor of the District of Columbia
E. Franklin Frazier, sociologist, namesake of Howard University E. Franklin Frazier Center for Social Work Research
Ray Goodlett, soccer player and pastor
Lance Gross, actor
Kamala Harris, first African-American, and first Asian-American female Attorney General & US Senator from California
Patricia Roberts Harris, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and first African-American woman United States Ambassador
Taraji P. Henson, Oscar and Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress[77]
Shauntay Hinton, beauty pageant winner
Gus Johnson, sports broadcaster
Vernon Jordan, attorney, former president of National Urban League
Laraaji, new-age musician and performer
Ananda Lewis, television personality
Thurgood Marshall, first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize–winning author
Shauneille Perry, stage director and playwright
Phylicia Rashad, actress and singer
Charlotte E. Ray, first African-American woman lawyer
Kasim Reed, 59th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
Wendy Raquel Robinson, actress
Clarissa Sligh, book artist
Richard Smallwood, award-winning gospel artist
Lori Stokes, television journalist
Stan Verrett, anchor on the ESPN and ESPNews networks in the United States
Josephine Turpin Washington, educator and writer
Walter Washington, former mayor of Washington, D.C.
Crystal Waters, recording artist
Marlon Wayans, actor
Nikki Woods, Tom Joyner Morning Show producer
Tanekeya Word, artist
Andrew Young, United States Ambassador

text:
Notable Howard University alumni include:

Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize–winning novelist

Thurgood Marshall, United States Supreme Court Justice

Andrew Young, United States Ambassador

Elijah Cummings, United States Representative

Taraji P. Henson, Academy Award–nominated actress

Chadwick Boseman, actor

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
Andre Johnson in the TV show Black-ish is a Howard University alumnus.
Randall, a character on the TV show This is Us, toured Howard University as a prospective student in a 2017 episode.[78]
In the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, linguistic expert Gabe Jones of the Howling Commandos attended Howard before joining the Army.
Captain Hero in the TV show Drawn Together attended Howard University.
Queen Latifah and Erika Alexander, actresses on the hit TV show Living Single, were Howard University alumnae.
Many episodes of A Different World were inspired by Debbie Allen's experiences as a Howard student. Debbie Allen served as a producer of the show following the first season.[79]