The 1934 FA Cup Final was won by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in a 2–1 win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. The match is most remembered for a young

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with local clubs near his home town of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed b ...

's heroics in goal and the predictions of City forward

Fred Tilson Samuel Frederick Tilson (19 April 1904 – 21 November 1972) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward for England along with Barnsley, Manchester City, Northampton Town and York City. With the Sky Blues he won the ...

. The match was also refereed by future FIFA president

Stanley Rous Sir Stanley Ford Rous (25 April 1895 – 18 July 1986) was an English football referee and the 6th President of FIFA, serving from 1961 to 1974. He also served as secretary of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962 and was an international ...

, in his penultimate game as an official.

Route to the final

Both Manchester City and Portsmouth entered the competition in the third round, the entry point for First Division clubs. The third round draw saw an unusual number of contests between First Division clubs; twelve top-flight teams faced a fellow First Division club. Manchester City were among this number, with a home tie against six-time cup winners

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. Manchester City won 3–1 in front of the largest crowd of the round. The ''Manchester Guardian'' described City's win as "notable... ...for the surprising ease with which it was gained". The wing play of

Eric Brook Eric Fred Brook (27 November 1907 – 29 March 1965) was an English footballer who played in the outside left position. Brook was also an England international. He was a muscular player with 'one of the fiercest shots in pre-war football' p25 a ...

and Ernie Toseland was central to the victory. Brook scored the first goal on a rebound after his shot from a free-kick was blocked. Blackburn then equalised, but Toseland scored either side of half-time to make the score 3–1. City were then drawn away against Second Division

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. Two quick goals shortly before half-time gave Manchester City a 2–0 lead, but Hull regrouped in the second half. First

Jack Hill Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works. Early life Hill was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Mildred (n� ...

headed a goal from a corner, then, under pressure from Bill McNaughton, Bill Dale diverted a Hull cross into his own net for the equalising goal. Following the 2–2 draw, the Blues resoundingly won the replay 4–1.

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

were the opponents in the Fifth Round. Once again a score draw was fought out. However, Manchester City won the replay by two goals to none. The Sixth Round was a home tie with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, a match seen by 84,569 fans, which is still the record highest attendance at an English club ground. The Potters were beaten 1–0, setting up an intriguing semi-final against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, who had knocked out the three-time champions

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the previous round. The game was played at

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 season. It was the home of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. from 1908 to 1994 and was ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, and produced a big shock. The Blues won 6–1. Portsmouth started away to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, who at the time of the match were in the relegation zone of the Second Division. Following a 1–1 draw, Portsmouth won the

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

replay 4–1. Under the guidance of

Jack Tinn John William Tinn (20 January 1878 - 13 March 1971) was an English football manager. He managed South Shields in the early 1920s and Portsmouth from 1927 until 1947. Career Tinn became manager of South Shields in 1919, the year they were elec ...

, Portsmouth managed to only concede five goals in the whole competition, two of those in the First Round. After defeating

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

and Swansea Town 2–0 and 1–0 respectively, they faced

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in the quarter-finals. Bolton had scored 12 goals in three FA Cup games thus far, however they could not get a goal against Portsmouth, who won emphatically, 3–0.

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

were the opponents in the semi-final, held at St Andrew's,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, in front of a record crowd for the venue. Portsmouth took an early lead, when a Jack Smith free kick was received by Rutherford, who set up the scoring chance for

Jack Weddle John Robson Weddle (5 November 1905 – 1979) was an English footballer. He played for Portsmouth as a centre forward during the interwar and post war period. He is best remembered for Portsmouth's Cup run in the 1933/34 season, scoring a hat-tr ...

. 15 minutes later Weddle scored again, from a

Fred Worrall Frederick J. Worrall (8 September 1910 – 13 April 1979) was an English footballer born in Warrington, Lancashire, who played as an outside right in the Football League for Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth and Crewe Alexandra. He was capped twice fo ...

cross. After a flurry of chances Leicester got a goal back before half-time, but Portsmouth had the better of the second-half. First Weddle completed his hat-trick, then Rutherford took advantage of poor positioning from the Leicester defence to score a fourth Portsmouth goal, to make the final score 4–1.

Build-up

In the days leading up to the match, Manchester City stayed in a hotel in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

.Maddox, Saffer and Robinson, ''Manchester City Cup Kings 1956'', p. 16. The team travelled south on the Friday, and stayed in

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the ...

the night before the game. Before travelling, Jackie Bray and Jimmy McLuckie had one-hour fitness tests, but both were passed fit. Portsmouth opted not to go to a training retreat, and remained in Portsmouth. Of the 93,000 tickets available for the final, 53,000 were standing places, and 40,000 were seats. Prices ranged from 21 shillings to 2 s 6 d. However, in the week of the final tickets changed hands for well in excess of their face value. Standing tickets were priced at 16s, more than six times their original value. Speculators priced 5 shilling tickets at 25s, 7s 6d tickets at 29s, 10s 6d at 34s, 15s at 39s, and 21s at 45s. The issue was raised in Parliament by

Westhoughton Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.Rhys Davies, who voiced his concern that such resale was an evasion of Entertainments Duty. Catering arrangements took into account the teams involved. In the words of a Wembley official: "It is curious that when we get two Northern teams in the Final there is always an exceptional demand for meat pies. They are a Northern delicacy, but as there is a Southern team this year there should be a 50-50 demand for meat pies for Northern visitors and sandwiches from the South." 50,000 bottles of beer were also available. The

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

put on 65 special trains to London for the match, of which "14 or 15" were scheduled to run from Manchester.

Final

The Manchester City team contained eight players who had started the 1933 final. The superstitious Portsmouth manager

wore white spats over his shoes, as he had done throughout the cup run. The 1934 final was played in wet conditions. On 26 minutes,

aimed a pass over the head of Cowan to

Septimus Rutherford Septimus Eric "Sep" Rutherford (29 November 1907 – 1975) was an English footballer. Career Rutherford played in the Football League for Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth. His brothers Bob and Jock were also professional footballers as well as ...

. The winger's shot was touched by Swift, but not strongly enough to prevent a goal for Portsmouth. The goalkeeper recounted his disappointment at conceding in his 1949 autobiography: "Rutherford, the Pompey outside-right, came coasting in and fired a ball across the goal to my right hand. I dived and the ball slithered through into the net off my fingers. I was desolate, and as I picked the ball out of the net, thought "Just another Wembley goalkeeper.""Swift, ''Football From The Goalmouth'', pp. 38–9. Swift blamed the goal on his decision not to wear gloves in the wet conditions; the teenage goalkeeper had opted to imitate the choice of his opposite number, the more experienced Jock Gilfillan. With seventeen minutes to go, Jimmy Allen, Portsmouth's tall defender, temporarily left the field injured. While Manchester City had the man advantage, Busby took a throw in and played the ball to Brook. Brook played the ball through to Tilson, who put the ball across Gilfillan and into the goal. There was more to come however, as, with three minutes to go, Tilson latched on to a cross from Herd, to rifle the ball home. At the other end of the pitch, Frank knew that all his team had to do was hold on for another two minutes and they would win. A photographer behind the goal was making him more nervous by counting down the seconds on his watch. When the game ended, Frank fainted in relief. The young goalkeeper went on to captain

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the future, his goalkeeping error forgotten. The gate receipts for the match were £24,950, a slight increase on the previous year.Ward, ''The Manchester City Story'', p. 33.

Aftermath

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

, who later achieved great successes as manager of City's rivals

, was the last surviving player on the winning side by the time of his death in January 1994, at the age of 84. Jimmy Allen, on the losing side, died a year later at the age of 85 and was believed to be the last surviving player from the game. Frank Swift, who moved into football journalism after retiring from playing, was killed in the Munich air disaster in February 1958 along with 22 other people, including eight Manchester United players. Matt Busby was seriously injured in the crash but survived.

Match details

Match rules *90 minutes. *30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. *Replay if scores still level.

Road to Wembley

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Match report at www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk
{{Portsmouth F.C. matches FA Cup Finals

FA Cup Final 1934 The 1934 FA Cup Final was won by Manchester City in a 2–1 win over Portsmouth. The match is most remembered for a young Frank Swift's heroics in goal and the predictions of City forward Fred Tilson. The match was also refereed by future FIFA ...

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...