THE GRAF ZEPPELIN

Having seen Arsenal make a "bog" of their cup tie last night and seeing as now I live within a crowd's cheer of Huddersfield Town and considering that both clubs were lucky enough to be manged by the legend Herbert Chapman, it seemed appropriate to write about the two clubs who on April 26th (yesterday) 1930 played each other in the FA Cup Final, a match interrupted briefly by the Graf Zeppelin.

Chapman had set Town on a remarkable winning streak between 1921-5, when they might have been consider the best in the land.
Chapman was then lured to Highbury (1925-34) where his bust sat in the players entrance for years and is now on show in the Emirates. Heaven knows what Chapman would say about Gunners' matters today.

93,000 were in Wembley when just after half time the German airship hovered 200 feet above the pitch dipping its nose to King George VI, casting a shadow over the famous turf. Captain Lehmann, the pilot, noted that the crowd stared upwards, went quiet and the game was stopped. Town fans jeered, convinced that their team was being distracted and indeed they were, as they lost 2-0.

Town had been Division One (top) Champions for three years (1924, 1925, 1926) runners up twice (1927, 1928) and FA Cup winners once (1922) and runners up four times (1920, 1922, 1930) (and later in 1938, his legacy?). He also managed Northampton Town and Leeds City.

In 1934 having been to watch a game in Yorkshire, where next opponents Sheffield Wednesday were playing, he went back to Kiveton Park, his a home town and first club in 1896. He then travelled to Guildford City FC to watch his 3rd team play. He was suffering from pneumonia, the travelling didn't help much and died at home in Hendon on January 6th 1934.