11am 18 October 2025
Arthur Dunn Cup, First Round
Old Kimboltonians 2 Old Cholmeleians 0 (att 28)
Old Kimboltonians play their regular Arthurian League homes games on a hired pitch in Hertfordshire. But, by tradition, clubs host Arthur Dunn Cup ties at their schools, so this was in the Cambridgeshire village of Kimbolton.
The venue was listed as Kimbolton School, where I was one of several groundhoppers searching in vain for the match. Eventually we learned it was actually being played a few hundred yards away, in the grounds of Kimbolton Preparatory School.
The Arthur Dunn Cup has a history going back more than a century, having been set up by public school old boys teams as an alternative to the FA Cup, once they realised professionalism meant they were never again going to be competitive in the latter.
On paper this looked likely to be an away win, with Cholmeleians - alumni of Highgate School in North London - in the Arthurian League's top division and so a level higher than the hosts.
But it was a tight game and, for a long time, one of few chances. Kimboltonians had been the more positive of the two, and had a goal ruled out for offside before they eventually took a deserved lead about midway through the second half.
Cholmeleians pressed for an equaliser, which would have meant extra time and so a change of plan for my afternoon game, but in the final minute the home side netted a decisive second, to set up an way tie in the next round at either Old Berkhamstedians or, and much more likely, Old Carthusians.
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