A rare match programme from the last FA Cup final to take place before competitive football was suspended in Britain for WW1 is expected to fetch £15,000 at auction.

Sheffield United beat Chelsea 3-0 at Old Trafford in Manchester on April 24 1915, but the match was more notably for the 'sea of khaki' amongst the 50,000 spectators.

Dubbed the 'Khaki Cup Final' due to the thousands of soldiers in the stands, it was played while the Second Battle of Ypres was under way on the Western Front.

Many were angered at the time that the match was going ahead and felt football was distracting young men from signing up to fight.

The match programme from the 1915 FA Cup final

Two days before the game, around 200 people attended a protest meeting at Manchester's Albert Hall.

One speaker claiming professional football was "the greatest hindrance to recruiting in the United Kingdom".

But many troops at the front line reportedly said they wanted football to continue as it gave them something to look forward to during breaks from the fighting.

After the game, the 17th Earl of Derby presented the trophy to the Blades and told fans that anyone not yet in uniform should now play "a sterner game for England".

The FA suspended the Football League and the FA Cup later that summer and football only continued on an amateur basis until 1919.

A programme from the match is to go on sale among other sports memorabilia next month with an estimate of £10-15,000.

Adam Gascoigne, CEO of Graham Budd Auctions, said: “Known as the Khaki Cup due to the large amount of uniformed soldiers at the match, the attendance was in the region of 50,000 which was lower than previous years as so many young men were involved in the First World War.

"This was the last F.A. Cup final to take place before competitive football was suspended in Britain because of the war and, to avoid too much disruption, it was moved from its pre-war location of Crystal Palace (South London) to Old Trafford.”

Graham Budd Auctions’ sale of Sports Memorabilia will be held on September 6 and 7.

An autograph from England's first ever football captain Cuthbert Ottaway, and Bobby Charlton's childhood Holy Bible will also go under the hammer.

Rare Chelsea v Sheffield United match programme expected to sell at auction for £15,000