The
Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an
association football team representing the
Corps of Royal Engineers, the "Sappers", of the
British Army. In the 1870s it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the
FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup Finalists in four of the first eight seasons of the competition, including three of the first four. The Engineers were pioneers of the "
combination game", where team-mates passed the ball to each other rather than kicking ahead and charging after the ball.