TWO DAYS LATE sorry, but......On April 28th 1923, The "Dark Grey Horse" Cup Final was played out at the brand new Wembley Stadium. The stadium was commissioned as part of a complex to house the 1924 British Empire Fair, promoting trade between signed on members. Building began in January 1922, obviously a boost for the nation, post the First World War and it took 300 days to complete. The FA, of course, were looking for a prestigious venue to hold internationals and the FA Cup Final (maybe to make money to help pay for all the FA outgoings?). An agreement between the British Empire Exhibition Inc. and the FA realised the funds and the 1923 FA Cup was to be the "debut" game.
Constable George Scorey (a suitable name for a copper on his way to a football match!) had been trotting down Oxford Street on the 13 year old police horse "Billy", when he was ordered to head 8 miles up the Edgeware Road to sort out a crowd issue at the major football match of the season.The FA made the decision not have an "all ticket" game, assuming that the new stadium would hold 127,000. Somewhere between 200,000 to a quarter of a million crowd apparently turned up, challenging the new turnstiles and their operators, who one way and another managed to let everyone in. By 3pm kick off time, the pitch was swarming with spectators and no way could the referee start the game. (the official total was 126,047).
The "Grey Horse Final", (I always thought it was called the "White Horse Final" but in truth Billy was "a grey"), was called to BECAUSE Billy appeared on the pitch and started in the centre-circle, working his way in ever-increasing circles, moving the crowd gently back behind the touchlines. The horse was actually dark grey, and on an overcast day, officially, the film was over exposed, enabling viewers to pick out Billy in photos. There were other horses on the job too! Kicking off 45 minutes late, the pitch was surrounded by a human wall, standing close to the touchline.
Throw-ins were only given if the ball bounced over the seated fans heads and if it bounced off their bodies, it was "play on"!!
Billy's well shod hooves (and the others) did mess up the pitch a bit and West Ham supporters used this as an excuse for their demise. They lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers, whose David Jack and J.R.Smith scored. Jack scored after 3 minutes, clearly the Hammers couldn't adjust to the early conditions. The players stayed on the pitch at half time and Smith's goal was protested by West Ham, who claimed that a Wanderers' fan had used his "trotter" to pop the ball back into play before Ted Vizard crossed the ball for Smith to score.
West Ham asked for the game to be abandoned but the referee, D.H.Asson, denied their request. Since 1923, all Finals have been all ticket.
As of 2023, 44 clubs have won the FA Cup. The record for the most wins is held by Arsenal, with 14 victories.The cup has been won by the same team in two or more consecutive years on ten occasions, and four teams have won consecutive finals more than once: Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Spurs and Arsenal. The cup has been won by a non-English team once: Cardiff City in 1927. The current holders are Manchester City who won the Manchester Derby!
