Cardiff City 1 – 0 Arsenal
The FA Cup Extra Preliminaries kick-off this coming weekend so the thoughts and dreams of many aspiring football club members and fans will be focussed on the beckoning glory of Wembley next May. However, I’ve been looking backwards, through Cup Finals past, and my focus has settled upon one of the most notable of those, the match between Cardiff City and Arsenal on Saturday 23rd April 1927.
There are a number of reasons why this particular game stands out in the annals of the competition.
The primary reason has to be the fact that this was, and is, the only occasion that the English have allowed the treasured Cup to slip, almost literally, over the line which separates their “green and pleasant land” from the “land of song”. That year alone the Cup was won by a Welsh club. The single goal which allowed this quite unexpected event to happen was scored by Cardiff’s Hughie Ferguson in an unlikely pot-shot at goal which Arsenal’s goalie, Dan Lewis, seemed to easily come to grips with. The ball though, with a bit of a spin on it, wormed its way between the poor Dan’s arm and body to be knocked off his elbow and into the net. The crowd of 91,206, mostly Londoners, were stunned. Lewis later blamed the goal on his brand new jersey which he claimed had been too slippery and to this day Arsenal have a tradition of always washing the goalkeeper’s shirt before it’s worn in defence.
Almost incidentally, but also worth noting, is that those 91,206 spectators were the first to sing Abide with Me prior to Cup Final kick-off, a practice which became a tradition and is, of course, still sung each year albeit by a professional soloist.
Another notable fact of this match, and the reason why it lived long in the memories of the more remote lovers of the sport, was that it was the first ever FA Cup Final to be covered live on the radio. The whole wireless outside broadcast thing was still very much in its infancy and this was only the second match to be broadcast ( the first had gone out a little earlier in the year, also involving Arsenal – a home match against Sheffield United). A grid system had been devised for the pitch and the imaginary squares were displayed on a diagram published in the Radio Times. By this method, one of the commentators could describe the route and position of the ball on the ground whilst the other concentrated on the physical action of the players. It was apparently quite a success and gave listeners a good mental picture of play.
It’s worth, too, mentioning those commentators for they were George Allison who went on to become Arsenal’s second-longest serving manager and non-other than Derek McCulloch. He later became Uncle Mac of Children’s Favourites and Children’s Hour and is fondly remembered by kids of the ’50s like myself. I believe he was also the voice of Toytown’s Larry the Lamb; quite an eclectic broadcasting CV.
For me, however, that match of 1927 has one other point of interest; it was the year that my mother’s Great Uncle Will, on the maternal side, achieved what was considered to be the greatest honour the FA could bestow upon its officials, that is to referee the Cup Final. The other week I came across a video clip of the game (which would’ve been shown in the news theatres of the day) on which he briefly appears and is mentioned by the newscaster, “…and, with the referee’s bow tie impeccably straight, a game of international quality is expected”.
1927: Cardiff City captain, Fred Keenor (right), shakes hands with the Arsenal captain before the kick off of the 1927 FA Cup final at Wembley stadium, London. Cardiff City won the cup with a 1-0 victory and the trophy left English soil for the first time since the inception of the competition. (Photo by H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Take a bow, Great granduncle William Bunnell.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHu5gsj–kU&w=420&h=315]
innpictime 