FA CUP FINAL 1933: The first time players wore numbers.

 

Some of us will remember this BBC triumph when Emlyn Hughes and Princess Anne came together, during an appearance on the original form of "A Question of Sport", on November 5th 1969. Known as "Crazy Horse", Hughes carried the name during his playing career, as a TV pundit and of course in the quiz programme as a "Team" captain. Another person on the panel was also crazy about horses, Princess Anne. She and Emlyn came together over a moment in their team decision making and Anne swiped Emlyn with her handbag, hidden beneath the panel desk. 

Emlyn made his debut playing for England v Holland in an Amsterdam friendly, a game England won 1-0. Hughes won 62 caps for England and played in three decades for England 1960s, 70s and 80s. Princess Anne won the European Eventing Championship and was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971. She represented GB in the 1975 individual and team Europeans and later in the 1976 Olympic Equestrian event in Montreal.

On the same day in 1932, Arsenal beat Wolves 7-1 at Molyneux. The previous week Arsenal had beaten Leicester City 8-2 at Highbury, when the Tube station was renamed from Gillespie Road to Arsenal.

At the end of the 1932-3 season, Arsenal were top: P 42, W 25 D 8 L 8 F 104 A 61 Pts 58 (2 pts for a win). Aston Villa came runner-up 4 pts behind. The Gunners, however, bowed out of the FA Cup on January 14th, in the Third Rd, losing to Walsall 0-2 away, a huge upset at the time. The cup tie caused some controversy when the potential First Division Champions were bullied by a team from the Third Division North. One of Walsall's goal scorers that day, Gilbert Alsop, had a stand named after him at the new Walsall Stadium nearly 60 years later                      

Walsall then lost to Man City (with a young Matt Busby in their team) in Rd 4 2-0. City went to the final losing 3-0 to Everton. The Toffees had been Second Division champions in 1931, League Champions in 1932 and easy FA Cup winners in 1933. No wonder, with William Ralph "Dixie" Dean leading their line. Dean scored 473 goals in 502 games including 37 hat tricks. The "Royal Season", 1927-8, saw Dean, aged 21, score 60 league goals, a feat not to be beaten yet.

The 1933 Final, on April 23rd at Wembley, saw each player have a number on his back; Everton 1-11 and City 12-22 (no subs). By chance, Everton centre-forward, Dixie Dean, wore number 9 on his back.

The Christmas and New Year period did not go well for Arsenal: Boxing Day home to Leeds lost 1-2; 27th December (yes, the next day) Leeds away 0-0; on New Year's Eve home to Birmingham City 3-0 win at Highbury and January 2nd Sheffield Wednesday away lost 2-3; 7th January lost 2-3 away at Sunderland. Remember this is 1933, transport not great. BUT all is well that ends well, as Arsenal recovered and won the title.