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