The 1923 FA CUP
In 1923 the FA Cup Final moved
to a new home. Wembley Stadium was built in under a year
and was ready just four days before the Final between
Bolton and West Ham. With a London team in the Final, and
the interest in the new stadium, an enormous crowd came to
the stadium.
The official attendance
was 126,047, but thousands more fans climbed into the
ground. By the time of the kick-off there were at
least 200,000 inside the stadium. Thousands of people
were on the pitch itself.
White Horse
The situation was very
dangerous, but a policeman on a white horse called Billy
came to the rescue. He rode into the stadium and into the
centre of the pitch. Slowly crowd moved back to the
touchline
The game finally started - forty minutes late - but it very
difficult for the players. Over time the ball left the
pitch it disappeared into the crowd. One West Ham player
was lost in the crowd when Bolton scored their first goal.
Bolton eventually won 2-0.
New Wembley
Since 1923 entrance to the Cup
Final has always been by ticket only, and there have been
no crowd problems. On October 7, 2000 the last match played
at the original Wembley Stadium. England lost to Germany in
a World Cup qualifier and England manager Kevin Keegan
resigned.
It was a sad end to great stadium. But in 2007 the new
Wembley was finally opened