ARSENAL CAST A SHADOW OVER HUDDERSFIELD.

April 26th 1930 saw Arsenal and Huddersfield Town at Wembley again in the FA Cup Final. Huddersfield were a seriously top team managed in the 1920s by Herbert Chapman. Chapman was now the Arsenal manager. Chapman brought in several influential players to boost the Gunners, who made their mark in the 1930s (League winners 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938) (Cup Winners 1930, 1936).

The crowd at Wembley was 93,000 strong and they watched the two teams run onto the pitch together, the first time this happened. The Yorkshire team were hot favourites having won the league three times (1924, 1925, 1926) been runners-up twice (1927,1928) won the FA Cup once (1922) and been losers in the final twice also (1920, 1928). But this was the 30s and times were a changing.

Arsenal's Alex James, who had played for Raith Rovers and Bolton Wanderers previously, had got used to taking free kicks quickly, something allowed in Scotland but not in England. In the Cup Final, after 17 minutes, a foul on James gave him the opportunity to "try out" the referee, who allowed play to carry on with a quick free kick. James passed the ball to Bastin who passed it back to James who rifled the ball into the net; 1-0. No questions asked? The Yorkshire folk were fed up.

At the beginning of the second half the sky was filled with the German airship, Graf Zeppelin, It drifted overhead, casting a shadow on the pitch, making a deafening engine noise and the pilot, Captain Lehmann noted the thousands of fans looking up at his airship. It may have distracted the Terriers who never settled and eventually lost the game 2-0, Jack Lambert scoring the other goal.

Arsenal won the cup that year and their reserves also won the London Combination Cup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8jPUdwD1g