With scores of others, I made my way across a grass field, crossed a railway, scaled a high wall, and then found my way into the enclosure obstructed by corrugated iron hoardings with three rows of barbed wire above them.
Some of the more daring spirits surmounted this formidable obstacle, whilst others less venturesome burrowed under the hoardings only to find more difficulties ahead. Nobody seemed to know how to get inside the enclosure, and there were thousands of people shut out. It was my good fortune to reach the Press seats at the top of the north stand at , and then greatly to my relief I learned that the match had not started. Dozens of Bolton people saw none of the game.
None of the directors saw the first goal, and several of them did not get as much as a glimpse of the game. Scores of people who had paid a guinea for a seat never got it. Never in the history of the game has there been such a tragedy, and for the credit of those who are responsible for the good government of Soccer, the most popular of all pastimes, it is to be hoped it will never be repeated.
The Football Association have since disclaimed any responsibility for what happened. They point out that all the arrangements were in the hands of the Wembley authorities. I venture to suggest the FA are merely begging the question by taking such an attitude. The public look up to the FA, and indeed to every football body, to keep faith with them, and such a debacle as this will do unquestionable harm to the game.
The invasion of the playing field was due, it is alleged, to the snapping of the barriers when the in rush of spectators followed the breaking-in of the gates. This bald statement represents the result of the football side of a matter which has been discussed from many points of view for months. The fact that the Wembley Stadium has been advertised as the greatest of its kind had much to do with the enormous crowd which came from all sorts and conditions of places to see the first Cup Final to be played there.
The claims made for the Stadium were not in the slightest degree extravagant. It was built to hold , people in comfort and to give to each and every one of that huge total a fair view of the football ground and track.
The Stadium can hold even more than that number, and yet give to all the spectators a fair view, but no building and ground could accommodate , people, and at least that number must have turned up on Saturday at Wembley.
The reasons for the mammoth congregation were many. The opening of the Stadium for the first Cup Final might become - as in fact it has become - an historic occasion.
There was the fact that a London club were in the Final Tie; the day was perfect; and, by the irony of fate, the superb organisation of the many railway lines converging on the stations round the Stadium was the crowning factor in producing such a crowd that it was impossible for any arrangements there to be carried out according to plan.
Except on two important points - the spirit of the people and of the police, and the absolute loyalty, of a very mixed congregation, to the King - the day was an ugly one. Many ticket-holders never reached their seats; others got to their seats in plenty of time and were pushed out of them; whirled away like straws on a stream by the sheer weight of numbers sweeping irresistibly forward from behind.
The crowd was out of hand, very often most unwillingly. The playing-ground on Saturday morning was a beautiful picture. Later on, there must have been tens of thousands of people on it at one time. It was defiled with orange peel and papers and refuse, but the surface stood the trampling of the mob, the police, and the hoofs of the horses of the mounted police most astonishingly well.
Many of the thousands on the field of play were not there of their own volition - they were whirled away from seats and places of vantage secured by patient waiting. By the help of large reinforcements of police, mounted and unmounted, and the players, who appealed right and left for fair play, the ground was gradually cleared, the people being pushed back to the touch-lines.
That play could ever be begun and continued seemed, at one time, quite impossible. That the seemingly impossible could and did happen was, one must believe, owing to the presence of the King, whose reception when he reached the ground was an event to remember.
It was after "God Save the King" had been sung with boundless enthusiasm that the people began, slowly enough, it is true, to help rather than to hinder in the clearing of the ground. Some eleven minutes later, a part of the crowd were squeezed on to the ground, but play was again possible after ten minutes' patient work on the part of the police.
The Bolton Wanderers were leading at the time by one goal to none, having scored in the first two minutes; but, five minutes before the second interruption, West Ham United had nearly equalised, Watson missing a chance which he would have taken with absolute certainty on an ordinary occasion.
Taken merely as an Association Football match, the play at Wembley on Saturday was rather disappointing. No doubt, the long wait and the doubt as to the possibility of the game being finished, even if begun, had an effect on players already keyed up to a high state of tension. To win a Cup-tie medal is preferred, by quite a many, to winning an international cap. West Ham United had not only been preparing to win the Cup, they had also, if possible, to force their way into the League Championship next season.
The double event has proved beyond their powers, but they certainly deserve promotion on the season's play. They were a good side for the first ten minutes of the great final, but, afterwards, they were never convincing.
When the sun was against them in the first half both the backs and the half-backs kicked too high and too hard. In the second half, when the sun was shining in the faces of the Bolton Wanderers' defence, the high kicking, followed by a rush, with all the forwards in something like a line, might have proved extremely good tactics. The Bolton Wanderers' backs and half-backs, however, seldom had to use their heads for safety in the second half.
The game was started at a great pace, and the Bolton Wanderers scored after just two minutes play. Nuttall dribbled up the field, half drew a man, and passed perfectly to Jack. Jack took the ball along slowly and feinted to pass out to Butler; when the pass looked as good as made, he dribbled inside to the left, went through the West Ham United defence at a great pace and scored from close in with a hard high shot into the right-hand corner of the net.
Hufton could strike only at the direction in which he hoped the ball would take, and he cannot be blamed for letting the ball pass him. Three minutes later came the great chance for West Ham United to equalise. Pym, misjudging a perfectly taken corner by Ruffell, came out of goal and missed the ball.
West Ham United were every bit as good as their opponents until the second stoppage of play occurred. Even when the match was continued the crowd were actually on the touch-line and sometimes over it. The West Ham United outsides never showed confidence near to the crowd ; one was reminded constantly of the speech of the Maltese Cat on the subject of crowding in Rudyard Kipling's wonderful polo story, called after the great pony.
Now Vizard seemed to enjoy the human wall which marked or obliterated the touch-line. On an ordinary day Bishop might have held him; in the circumstances his mentality was at fault, for which he is scarcely to blame.
Richards made one brilliant dribble and break through for West Ham United and Pym fumbled a clever shot, though he eventually cleared comfortably. A little later a beautiful centre by Vizard was headed just wide by J. Bolton Wanderers continued to attack, and J. Smith scored from a clever centre from Butler. Smith was ruled offside, although he appeared to be well behind the ball when it was kicked.
The Press Stand, however, is some distance in mere yards from the field of play, and the angle was not easy to judge. Until half-time Bolton Wanderers were always the more dangerous combination, and, but for the magnificent game which Henderson played at right full-back, they would probably have scored again on at least one occasion.
The teams did not leave the field at half-time - if they had done so, the match would not have been finished on Saturday - but crossed over and resumed play after a five-rninutes' interval. West Ham United began the second half well, and Watson had a good chance from a centre of Kay's, the centre-half having worked out on to the wing with a clever individual effort.
Watson, however, misjudged the flight and direction of the ball and did not start for it in time. Pym saved two shots quietly and confidently and then came the movement that settled the result of the match. Vizard niggled the ball down the wing, very close to the touchline. Suddenly he kicked and ran, passed Bishop and centred right across the goal mouth. Smith got to the ball and shot immediately.
The ball hit the inside of the cross-bar and bounced out again into play. It was, however, a goal and the referee had not the slightest hesitation in ruling it as such. Even before this goal was scored a rivulet of spectators were leaving the ground; now this rivulet swelled to a steady stream.
The match, to all intents and purposes, was over. Bolton Wanderers, on the day's play, were always the better side after the first ten minutes. They did not realise the hopes of the big contingent of their supporters, whose Saga, after the second goal was scored, "One, Two, Three, Four, Five", was repeated mechanically and at brief intervals until the finish. Seddon, the Bolton Wanderers centre-half-back, carried off the honours of the match.
He called the tune to his side, and generously they piped. All of them could be picked out for good work, at times for brilliant work; but the other ten would be the first ten to award merit where merit was due, and would fasten on Seddon as the ultimate winner of the F. At the finish of the match the King presented the Cup to J. Smith, the captain of the Bolton Wanderers, and the medals to the different players. He drove away amidst a scene of heartfelt enthusiasm.
Comments on the collective and individual merits of the players must be brief. By general consent, West Ham were conquered by a team which played with superb confidence, plainly conscious of its ability to win through. The Wanderers went about their work right from the outset in a manner which seemed to suggest "We are bound to beat the best team in the Second Division if only we play our natural game. Suffice it to say that in a comparatively quiet afternoon, Pym made one thrilling save, and displayed fine judgement and anticipation; that the two young backs, Haworth and Finney, never faltered; that Seddon, a giant in every phase of the game, had two polished wing halves as colleagues, and that the whole forward line worked together untiringly and with no little skill to lead and lure the "Hammers" rear-guard into false positions.
There was nothing of the "hammer-your-way-though" policy about the Bolton attacks. There was every prospect, under normal conditions, of witnessing one of the finest exhibitions ever seen in a final for the Cup, but in the circumstances neither side showed its best form.
They were better together as a team, and displayed more understanding. Their passes did not go astray so much as those by the West Ham players, on whose part generally there was a singular lack of enterprise. It was fairly obvious that they were upset by the day's happenings, and the two wingers, Richards and Ruffell, only occasionally showed flashes of speed.
They did not at all relish playing on top of the spectators. On the other hand, Vizard, the clever Bolton left winger, seemed not in the least perturbed, and it was from him and J. Smith that most of the trouble came for the West Ham defence.
Bishop and Henderson stuck to their task against these two with great perseverance, without always being able to stop their progress. Generally, however, the defence did well, although two goals were scored against it. The real reason of the side's downfall was because of the weakness in finishing and lack of enterprise on the part of the inside forwards. It is in sharp contrast to older emblems that one way or another were always inspired by the old Bolton County Borough Council coat of arms.
On the first insignia we see two gold and diagonal bendlets to represent the shoulder-belt of a soldier; this was in use before the arms were officially granted. Finally, we see the red rose, symbolic of Lancashire. The link goes back to the middle of the 13th century when Bolton Church was annexed as a prebend to the Cathedral Church of Lichfield and came under the authority of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, suggested by the mitre on the tapping, which bears the Coventry civic colours of red and green.
Can you tell me why Raikes Lanes was called such when Raikes Lane was miles away over by where they built Burnden Park? The current club badge is a slightly modified version of the one which emerged in the early 70s — the result of a public competition for ideas if I remember correctly. Can anyone confirm this as none of my friends believe me. Comments RSS. You are commenting using your WordPress.
You are commenting using your Google account. Aston Villa FC. The season was abandoned after three rounds and is therefore excluded. Ground Location -- Bolton, England. Club's Owner -- Inner Circle. Club Chairman -- Ken Anderson. Current Manager -- Phil Parkinson. Current League -- Championship. Last Season -- League One, 2nd place promoted to Championship.
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