New ground: Palace’s first-ever matches in competitions

But that’s the feeling that Palace fans will enjoy this afternoon as the Eagles, as a reward for our FA Cup-winning exploits at Wembley back in May, step out at Wembley for our first-ever participation in the FA Community Shield.

The competition does in fact boast a unique connection to Palace's roots – but with May’s triumph over Manchester City marking our first-ever FA Cup victory, we're all set for our inaugural participation in the traditional annual fixture.

Ahead of the match, then, let’s take a look at some of Palace’s previous competition debuts…

First… ever match

When it comes to declaring our first-ever match, definition comes into play, so to clarify early: we'll recount the story of the first-ever football match played by the amateur Crystal Palace Club, prior to us turning professional in 1905.

It was at 2.30pm on the afternoon of Saturday, 15th March, 1862, when a momentous footballing event took place on a football pitch... in Leytonstone, Essex.

It was momentous because it was the first reported football match of the Crystal Palace Club – the club’s amateur identity – against a team called The Forest Club.

It was also the first reported match between two clubs who, the following year, would become founder members of the new Football Association, and lay down the first rules of what we now call Association Football.

The match was played 15-a-side, and lasted an astonishing two-and-a-half hours, with The Forest Club – with details understandably lacking – reputedly 1-0 winners after the mammoth fixture (find out more here).

Nonetheless, it was a start – our start.

First… Southern League match

Now heading into our professional era, which was kickstarted ahead of 1905/06, our first game by definition was in the United League – a midweek competition set up to provide Southern clubs with additional matches, which ultimately became defunct in 1909 – and saw us defeat New Brompton (who later morphed into Gillingham), 3-0.

But again, a more comparable competition for first-ever 'league' match would be our first game in the more prestigious Southern League, which is where we’ll focus our attentions.

Indeed, our first game arrived just 24 hours after that win over New Brompton, as Palace... fell to Southampton Reserves, 4-3!

That Palace played such opponents can largely be attributed to club politics of the time – as historian Peter Manning here explains regarding our initial placement in the Second Division – but with Palace not able to gain election to the Southern League, then a competitor to the Football League, the club were forced to begin in the Second Division, which largely comprised reserve teams.

Nevertheless, following that initial shock defeat, Palace then went on to suffer no further losses for the rest of the season, duly gaining promotion to the First Division anyhow – quite the turnaround!

We would spend a total of 15 years in the Southern League before joining the expanded Football League in 1920/21 – although it admittedly would take another 64 years before we played our…

First… top-flight match

As a newly promoted side, a gentle introduction to the top-flight is always a bonus. Less welcoming – although altogether more exciting – is facing some of Europe’s best on the opening day.

But that’s exactly what Palace encountered on 9th August 1969, as Manchester United – with some of the greatest stars of the era – arrived in South London to take on the First Division’s newboys.

Just months earlier, Bert Head had taken the Glaziers to the promised land for the first time in the club’s 100-year-plus existence. Victory in the penultimate game of the season, in front of more than 36,000 supporters at Selhurst Park, had sealed promotion.

Just 10 years prior, Palace had been a fourth-division club. Now they were preparing to face the best.

As is so often the case in Palace’s history, they refused to let the underdogs tag get the better of them. Mel Blyth put the hosts ahead after just 11 minutes, forever etching his name into history as the club’s first top-flight goalscorer.

Bobby Charlton equalised soon after, but Palace went ahead again just before half-time via Gerry Queen.

Unfortunately holding on for a famous victory proved too much, with Willie Morgan’s second-half equaliser meaning the points were shared that day – a 2-2 draw which has gone down in club folklore.

First… Premier League match

To some supporters it seems like only yesterday that the Premiership – as it was then known – got underway.

For Palace, it did so on the opening day of 1992/93, with the Eagles one of 22 founding members in the competition’s inaugural season.

Blackburn Rovers were the visitors to Selhurst Park on Saturday, 15th August ’92 – and Mark Bright was, of course, the man to get Palace off the mark in the competition, with what ended up being his 113th and final goal for the club.

After a cagey start to the game from both sides, Bright struck after 37 minutes – Palace's first-ever Premier League goal. “It was a header at the far post,” he would later recall. “I think [Richard] Shaw came inside and crossed, and I just headed it down. Hand in the air, back to the halfway line and start again.”

The match ended in a 3-3 thriller as Stuart Ripley scored for Blackburn; Gareth Southgate restored Palace’s lead; and then a young Alan Shearer struck a brace for the visitors.

Simon Osborn answered for Palace at Selhurst in injury-time: a sign of the top-flight rollercoaster to come in SE25.

First… League Cup match

Established in the 1960/61 season as the Football League Cup – now, of course, referred to as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons – Palace admittedly needed time to find their feet in the competition.

A Division Four side at the time of its creation, the then-Glaziers were eliminated in the first round for its first four seasons in-a-row – initially losing 2-0 away to Darlington on 12th October 1960.

Our League Cup duck was thankfully eventually broken as a Division Three side in 1964/65, winning twice – against Tranmere Rovers and Southampton – to reach the fourth round, where we fell to Leicester City.

First... Intertoto Cup match

The Intertoto Cup was an accompanying tournament to the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup. It initially hosted teams who had initially failed to qualify for either of those competitions but, in 1995, became a route for teams for the UEFA Cup.

Clubs earned entry to the summer-long tournament through application rather than merit, and so many do not count it as a major European competition.

But with Palace having been relegated from the Premier League the previous season, the Eagles still secured a brief one-tie European stint in July 1998, playing home and away against Turkish outfit Samspunspor.

By the time the game came around, financially-troubled Palace walked out against a side who had recently finished fifth in the Turkish 1.Lig. The Eagles line-up had a youthful sheen to it – but, firmly underdogs, they fell to consecutive 2-0 defeats.

First… FA Cup match

We have to end on the big one – the competition Crystal Palace Football Club are so deeply tied to, and a fitting reason for us to return to Wembley today.

Another occasion to fall during our amateur era, our first-ever FA Cup tie coincided with the first-ever draw in the FA Cup – with Palace held 0-0 by Hitchin Town in the first round, back on 11th November, 1871.

A report from the time paid much attention to the weather – strong winds and rain – and described a spirited, even game with “impetuous” Palace forwards and Hitchin having “slightly the best of it towards the end”.

Despite the game finishing 0-0, in an intriguing difference to modern-day rules, both teams duly went through to the second round! Find out more about the match here.

Palace would ultimately go on to reach the semi-finals, where another draw yielded the first-ever instance of an FA Cup replay – eventually resulting in a 3-0 defeat to the Royal Engineers.

It would be 154 years before we finally got our hands on the trophy, winning a competition we helped found.

But wasn’t it worth the wait?

Match Details

Crystal Palace v Liverpool

• Sunday, 10th August
• 15:00 BST
• FA Community Shield
• Wembley Stadium
• Live audio commentary on Palace TV+.