On Saturday 25 February 1899, in the 1898–99 FA Amateur Cup quarter-finals, Royal Artillery defeated Harwich & Parkeston 1-3 in Dovercourt, Essex. Harwich & Parkeston jealously protested Royal Artillery's win and their supposed "amateur" status, accusing them of actually being professional players. A Football Association enquiry later found that the Royal Artillery players went away for a week's training at The White Lion Hotel in Aldeburgh, Suffolk before the cup-tie. The Royal Artillery players, as British army soldiers, had not individually paid for the hotel and training themselves, the army had - which the FA deemed as "professionalism". The FA Amateur cup committee agreed and Royal Artillery were disqualified from the FA Amateur Cup, and awarded the match victory to Harwich & Parkeston. Royal Artillery appealed the decision at a special FA meeting, but the FA confirmed by a majority that the Royal Artillery disqualification would stand. The law defining amateur and professional players was further amended by the FA. Royal Artillery were publicly seen as either a strong innocent team who were naive victims of unclear rules, or by some, a professional army team who purposely played in a grey area between the definitions of "amateur" and "professional".