England’s national stadium celebrates its centenary in April. Ever since it opened in 1923, it’s hosted great football history, from the iconic to the downright weird...
Words Chris Flanagan
BOLTON 2-0 WEST HAM 1923
When Wembley Stadium was first built, it was only due to remain open for a year.
Officially known as the Empire Stadium, it was constructed amid the fields of Wembley Park for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition but was ready ahead of schedule, and so it opened for the FA Cup final on April 28, 1923. The showpiece fixture had previously been held at various venues including The Oval, Crystal Palace and Old Trafford, and Stamford Bridge for the previous three seasons.
Around 53,000 people had turned up to Chelsea’s ground to watch Huddersfield beat Preston in the 1922 final. This time, an estimated 250,000 wannabe spectators flooded to the new stadium in north-west London – far more than the official capacity attendance of 126,047, which is still a record at Wembley. King George V’s motorcade just about found its way through the hordes; no such luck for the Bolton team, who had to walk the last mile of their journey.
Thousands of ticketless fans climbed over walls to get in and 10,000 had spilled onto the pitch come 3pm, the scheduled kick-off time. Crowds were pushed back by mounted police, one of them riding a light grey horse called Billie, which looked white on Pathé’s monochrome footage – hence the White Horse Final, as the match became known.
The game finally started 45 minutes late. Bolton’s David Jack scored the stadium’s first ever goal within three minutes, when a West Ham player got tangled up with pitchside spectators after taking a throw-in; Jack’s shot was so powerful that it knocked out a fan stood right behind the goal. Jack Smith added a second – West Ham complained that the shot had hit the post, but the referee adjudged that it had gone in before being kicked out of the goal by a spectator. Now that would be an entertaining VAR interlude.
The match was halted for a time as injured fans were treated, with reports that as many as 1,000 people were wounded that day. MPs blamed hooliganism as Parliament debated whether the disorganised scenes meant that Wembley should never host a football match again. Thankfully, that didn’t come to pass.
ENGLAND 1-1 SCOTLAND 1924
In stark contrast to the White Horse Final, only 37,250 people watched Wembley’s first ever international match. There was a full First Division fixture list on the same day.
England had already lost to both Ireland and Wales in that year’s British Home Championship when Scotlan
