‘The Battle of Footerloo’ -The First FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, 28 April 1923

Guest post by Janet Kear

 

Some of the most iconic sporting photographs in history are of a police officer on a white horse, clearing the crowd from the Wembley pitch so that the 1923 Cup Final could take place.

 

 

 1.      PC Scorey and Billie in the middle of the crowds on the pitch. (Image from the internet)

 

PC George Scorey, with his horse Billie, would later be recognised as the man that saved the game, and it is often referred to as the White Horse Final. Although, as can be seen from this photograph of the match, there was more than one horse involved!  It was just that all the other horses were dark in colour. But this article is not intended to discuss the action on the pitch - the result is well known - but rather to look at the events leading up to and after the match.

 

 

It was the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VIII, who’d proposed in 1921 that the British Empire Exhibition, to be held at Wembley Park, should include ‘a great national sports ground’. The stadium would be capable of holding 125,000 spectators, and the FA had already signed a deal for its Cup Final to be played there for 21 years, commencing in 1923.  The first turf for the Stadium was cut and the foundation stone laid by the Duke of York, on 10 January 1922.  This also symbolised the start of the building work for the exhibition site.

 

 

  

2.     The Duke of York, cutting the first turf for the stadium in January 1922.

 

 

It had been intended to open the surrounding British Empire Exhibition in 1923. However, once construction started, it became clear that the 13 months was not long enough to complete the work. So the opening date was delayed until 1924. 

 

 

 

 3.     In February 1923 they still had a considerable amount of work to complete.

 

 

In April 1923 the completed stadium stood in isolation on the Wembley Park site, with building works going on around it.  You can see from the plan below that it was surrounded by a hoarding, which was only 5’ 8” feet high, with just three entry points to the circulating area, at the bottom of the steps that gave access into the stadium itself.

 

 

 

 4.     A plan of the stadium and its approaches, as it was for the 1923 Cup Final.

 

 

This was the first “National” Stadium. It was considerably bigger than any other stadium in the country, and building work had only been completed four days before the final was to be held.  Unlike the new Wembley, there had been no test events where the facilities and systems could be tested by gradually increasing crowd sizes.  Therefore, any planning work for the big match on 28 April could only be based on assumptions. That being said, a lot of planning work was undertaken. 

 

 

Documents in the National Archives demonstrate that the Stadium had prepared, what we would call today, an Event Manual.  It covered all sorts of issues including identifying people for specific roles and even detailed where to store the footballs when they were received from the FA.

 

 

The British Empire Exhibition Authority had had extensive discussions with the Metropolitan Police about the police presence at the event, both inside and outside of the Stadium.  Initially it was planned to have a total of 334 police present.  Control Staff wrote to the Police on Monday 23 April asking for more police resources as, on the previous Sunday, a number of people had been found to be ‘nearly entering the Stadium by way of the Great Central Railway Embankment’ and ‘at a few points along the temporary fencing’. 

 

 

They also expressed concern that there was the need to ‘make some provision in the possible event of a large number of people arriving after the Stadium is full.  It is, of course, possible that there may be 10,000 people, or more, who may have to be shut out because the Stadium is full, and the turnstiles barriers in themselves may not prove sufficient protection’. As a result of the letter an additional 56 police were provided, ‘which together with a CID contingent furnished from Scotland Yard made the total 428.’

 

 

 

 5.      Turnstiles under construction for the 1923 FA Cup Final. (Image from the internet)

 

The Stadium arrangements were inspected in the morning and afternoon of Friday 27 April and defects were noted and repaired. A third inspection took place at 9am on Saturday 28 April at which it was noted that the numbers outside the turnstiles were ‘negligible’.

 

 

The turnstiles opened at 11:30am as planned, with the match due to kick off at 3:00pm. By midday the area was packed. 45,000 tickets had been sold in advance.  The remining 80,000 tickets had been advertised for sale on the day and it seemed that everyone thought they were going to get in.

 

 

 

6.      Crowds outside the turnstiles for FA Cup tickets on the day. (Image from the internet)

 

 

There were 153 turnstiles of which 73 were for cash visitors and the remainder for ticket holders.  Boy Scouts were at each turnstile to count the numbers passing through.  It was later estimated that at one point 1,000 people were entering per minute.

 

 

People were entering the Stadium from everywhere and the staff and police were overwhelmed and helpless.  At 1:45pm, when the returns showed that the standing accommodation was nearly full, instructions were given to close the turnstiles. This then led to people breaking through the turnstiles and climbing over the hoarding, some using ladders from the surrounding building site.

 

 

 

7.      Football supporters climbing over the closed turnstiles to get to the Stadium. (From an old film)

 

 

   

8.      West Ham fans between the barriers and the Stadium before the match. (From an old film)

 

 At 2pm the police were asked to phone Scotland Yard to request a large force of mounted police.  Calls went to the local police stations to send more officers. At 2:15pm the crowd broke through all the barriers. Between 2pm and 2:45pm it was estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 entered the Stadium by climbing in. By 2:40pm the whole of the interior of the Stadium was full of people. Stadium Control had to phone the Railway Companies and ask them to stop sending trains to the area, so as not to add to the crowd that was already there.

 

 

 

9.      The packed stadium, with crowds across the pitch, before the match. (Image from the internet)

 

The King arrived at 2:45pm to a rapturous welcome and somehow the bands of the Irish and Grenadier Guards managed to play the National Anthem, which appeared to ease the tension in the crowd.  At some point the mounted police arrived.

 

 

The teams had been due on the pitch at 2:40pm but it took till 3:10pm for them to make their first appearance, they were immediately swallowed up by the crowd.  At one point the Stadium authorities gave serious thought to abandoning the game, although this was balanced against the protest that might happen if they did.

 

 

 

10.   The crowd being pushed back to the edge of the pitch. (Image from the internet)

 

 

Eventually at 3:43pm the match kicked off, but it was not without its difficulties.  Balls that would have naturally left the pitch rebounded off the spectators straight back into play.  All the corners required a path to be cleared with the help of the police, so that a run up could be taken. Thirty minutes into the game the crowd surged onto the pitch and the mounted police had to be called back into action, this caused another 12-minute delay.  At half time the players and the officials decided to stay on the pitch, leaving not really being an option. The final score was Bolton Wanderers 2, West Ham United 0.

 

 

 

11.   The Cup Final match in progress, with crowds up to the touchlines and people watching from the roof.  (Image from the internet)

 

After the event there were many reports in the press. National and local papers all had a view. The crowd was estimated in various places between 150,000 and 200,000 although the official attendance was recorded as 126,047. The Police estimate, immediately after the match had finished was 300,000!

 

 

 

12.   Headlines from The Guardian (broadsheet) and Daily News (tabloid) on 30 April 1923.

 

The Home Secretary was asked questions in the House of Commons about the adequacy of the arrangements that had been made and whether the event needed licencing, which it did not. Unlike today, where sports grounds need an individual licence and a Safety Certificate from the Local Authority in which they are located. In answer to a question about how many police were present the reply given was 12 inspectors, 53 police sergeants, and 530 police constables, more than at any other Cup Final (a considerable increase in the numbers agreed in the planning stage).

 

 

There was a lot of speculation in the press about the number of spectators that had been injured at the event.  Most reports settled around the 900 figure.  The Exhibition Authority’s report after the event states that the actual number could not be confirmed, as the Red Cross had not been counting the cases they had dealt with on the spot, which were mainly fainting.  There were 22 cases which the Red Cross sent to Willesden Hospital.

 

 

  

13.   Reports on the crush and casualties in The Times (broadsheet) and Daily News (tabloid), 30 April 1923.

 

 

Immediately after the event the FA issued a statement saying ‘The FA greatly regret the inconvenience caused to the spectators at the match, but wish to assure the public that the arrangements were not in their hands, and therefore they cannot accept responsibility.’  There was friction between the British Empire Exhibition Authority and the FA as to who was responsible for crowd control and at which point.  Letters went to and fro between the organisations, each criticising the other for the role it had played in the event.  Eventually though the FA refunded ticket holders who were not able to get to their seats.

 

 

  

14.   Who was to blame? Headlines from the Daily News, 30 April 1923.

 

It is difficult to know what caused so many people to descend on Wembley that day.  I suspect a combination of factors influenced people. The Stadium had been advertised as ‘the finest in the world’, and ‘the largest in the world, the most comfortable, best equipped’.  Did people just turn up to “see inside” as evidenced by the ones that had tried to get in the previous Sunday?  Would it have been different if there had been two northern teams? If West Ham had lost the semi-final to Derby?  Perhaps the factor that influenced people the most was the sale of tickets on the day? 

 

 

But they did turn up and the problem then became how to manage the situation. Had the Cup Final been held in a Stadium that was finished?  Were the turnstiles of a sufficient construction?  Were the stewards inexperienced? Were the police arrangements sufficient to deal with the disruption?

 

 

These are all questions we will never know the answers to.

 

 

In June 1923, a Commons Committee was formed to inquire into ‘the arrangements made to deal with the abnormally large attendances at athletic grounds.’ The resulting 1923 Shortt Report concluded it was ‘safe to leave it to the sport’s governing bodies.’

 

 

By 1924 the temporary hoarding had been removed from around the Stadium and the turnstiles had become part of the Stadium structure. The Stadium itself had become part of the wider British Empire Exhibition site.

 

 

As late as February 1924 the matter of not allowing ticket sales on the day for that year’s FA Cup was still being discussed.  The FA were against the plan put forward by British Empire Exhibition Authority and supported by the police for all tickets to be sold in advance. But eventually they conceded after receiving a letter from the Home Secretary (at the request of the Exhibition Authority), but in their acceptance they declared that they ‘accepted no responsibility for the decision.’

 

 

The British Empire Exhibition opened on 23 April 1924 and the 1924 Cup Final was held 3 days later, on 26 April, finishing Newcastle United 2, Aston Villa 0. It passed without incident.

 

 

Janet Kear,
April 2023.

With thanks to Philip Grant and Graham Cooksley (Twitter: @wembleyarchive) for their help with fact checking, pictures and editing.

 

 

Resources / References:

 

The National Archive

The Times Newspaper

Hansard

The Lads of ’23: Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and the 1923 Cup Final – Brian Belton