English Cup (Christchurch)

The English Cup, is an annual New Zealand knockout football competition for Mainland Football men's first teams. First played during the 1913 season, it has been running on for 10 years longer than the Chatham Cup. It is organised by and named after Mainland Football. It has been known as the Morrison Mitsubishi English Cup after its headline sponsor. A concurrent Women's Cup has been held since 1974 called Reta Fitzpatrick Cup.

The tournament consists of 1 randomly drawn round followed by the quarter-final, semi-finals and the final. All quarter-final, semi-finals and final games are hosted at English Park during the week, generally on a Tuesday at 7:00pm. Entrants are not seeded, and depending on the amount of teams there are, teams can receive byes.

History
The cup is named after Robert English (1874-1934). Robert English was born in England and arrived in Christchurch in 1903 to work as an engineer for the Christchurch Gasworks and was president of the Canterbury Football Association from 1911 until 1928. He was largely responsible for the acquisition of English Park for the Canterbury Football Association code and the park was given his name in 1915 as a compliment to his work. He donated the English Cup for the knock-out competition in Canterbury first-grade Association football.

The first Cup Final, between Sydenham and Burnham, was played at the Canterbury Show Ground and required a replay before the Sydenham came back from 1 - 0 down at the break to win 3 - 2 to become the first name engraved on the trophy.

Winners
Since its establishment, the English Cup has been won by 23 different teams. Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence.