for the third year running, the football association decided the shield should be contested not by club sides but by teams of amateur and professional players selected by the fa's international selection committee. while the amateur xi was made up of the top players in amateur football, including several with international experience, the professionals were chosen from among those who had taken part in the fa xi's tour of australia from may to august, so included only players whose clubs had been prepared to release them for several months and risk their exhaustion or injury. the match was to be played in the afternoon of monday 5 october 1925 at white hart lane, the north london ground of tottenham hotspur f.c.