1960 FA Cup Final

The 1960 FA Cup Final took place on 7 May 1960 at Wembley Stadium and was won by Wolverhampton Wanderers, beating Blackburn Rovers 3–0.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were favourites going into the match, having won the league title two seasons in a row and finishing the 1959-60 season in second place, pipped at the post by just a single point by Burnley. Blackburn Rovers, on the other hand, had not had a great season, finishing in 17th place in only their second season back in top flight football.

Match summary

Wolverhampton Wanderers were gifted their opening goal on 41 minutes, as Stobart's cross was deflected past Blackburn's goalkeeper by his own unfortunate defender, Mick McGrath. If Wolves had been dealt the upper-hand with the goal, two minutes later Blackburn's woes heightened as full-back Dave Whelan fractured his leg, and the underdogs faced the prospect of playing the whole second half with only 10 men.

Midway through the second half, Norman Deeley scored from Horne's cross to all but seal the victory for Wolves. Murray and Flowers both had goals disallowed for offside before Deeley hit his second to make it 3–0 after Stobart had nearly uprooted the goal posts with a ferocious shot.

Bill Slater then led the players up the famous Wembley steps, and the Cup was heading back to Molineux for a then-record fourth time.

The performance of Norman Deeley was all the more remarkable for the fact that he picked up an injury early in the game, which was made worse through the clash which resulted in Whelan's broken leg. Deeley was clearly in distress for much of the first half and came back onto the field for the second half still labouring and showing signs of discomfort. Although Deeley's injury seemed to pass during the second half he was again hobbling badly when the team climbed the steps to collect the cup.

Coverage and background

The game was broadcast live on television on the BBC Grandstand programme with commentary by Kenneth Wolstenholme with only four cameras used for the entire broadcast while use of on screen score captions, which had been adopted for the first time the previous year was dropped. Wolstenholme described the game early on as the 'white shirt final' due to the breathless heat within Wembley stadium, which lead to the vast majority of spectators to remove their jackets. As it was still the custom to attend the cup final in 'Sunday best' this led to an arena dominated by white shirted spectators. As the game drew to a conclusion the commentator attached the new title of 'The offside final' for the high proportion of offside calls made during the game. Both sides employed the offside trap where the defence charged out to catch the opposing forwards offisde. Both team's attempts to use the trap were very crude and poorly organised by modern standards but were largely effective. Curiously neither of the Wolves' goals that were disallowed for offside were as a result of the trap being used with Murray's goal being ruled out because Stobart had strayed offside in the build up to the goal while Flowers was clearly offside when presented with a simple tap in. The first decision, though correct, was quite harsh as Murray was making no effort to do anything other than shoot while Stobart was not interfearing with play. In the 1989 final a goal created in an almost indentical situation by Everton was allowed to stand.

The press however adopted neither title to describe the game, opting instead for 'The dustbin final' due in part to thr feeling that the game had been 'rubbish' but also for the bad reaction by Blackburn fans to the victorious Wolves team as they paraded the cup being pelted with match programmes, paper cups and other rubbish accumulated in the stands during the game.

The match indeed was one of the warmest cup finals recorded, which led to the game being played at a very sedate pace yet amazingly none of the twenty-one players who completed the game required treatment for cramp, by contrast many spectators in the terracing had to be treated for fainting.

The crowd at the 1960 cup final were also noted for their lack of vocal support for the teams with very little singing coming from the two sets of supporters and a high proportion of booing, especially in the second half.

As well as television the game was also broadcast live on BBC radio while black and white newsreel footage from both Pathe and Movietone was screened in cinemas that evening.

In a clever piece of editing the Saturday evening edition of the Morcambe & Wise show was introduced with Eric and Ernie congratulating Wolves on their cup final victory. The show was recorded before the semi finals took place, although its screening date was obviously known so it can only be presumed that such congratulatory openings to the show were filmed for all four semi finalists to cover every permutation. Whether or not the possibility of the game ending in a draw was considered is not known.

Match details

footballbox
date=1960-05-07 15:00 BST
team1=Wolverhampton Wanderers
score=3 – 0
team2=Blackburn Rovers
report= [http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1960.htm (Report)]
goals1=McGrath goal|41|o.g.
Deeley goal|67 goal|88
goals2=
stadium=Wembley, London
attendance=98,954
referee=Kevin Howley (Billingham)

Road to Wembley

External links

* [http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1960.htm Match report]