NEW ARRIVALS

1923 FA Cup Final Bolton Shirt

The Museum is delighted to have on loan from a private collector a Bolton Wanderers shirt worn by full-back Alex Finney in the famous 1923 FA Cup Final. Bolton won the cup for the first time in this match when they defeated West Ham 2-0. Alex Finney was the youngest member of the Wanderers team that day and he went on to have a distinguished career with the Lancashire side. Finney also played in Bolton’s 1929 FA Cup final win over Portsmouth and represented the Football League against the Irish League in 1928. He left Bolton in 1937 after making 483 league appearances for the club.

The 1923 Cup Final is one of English footballs most iconic games as it was the first final to be played at Wembley. This is the only match shirt known to have survived from the final (although perhaps others will one day come to light). The game was marred by crowd trouble as prior to kick-off an estimated 100,000 people rushed the gates, burst the barriers, and swarmed on to the field of play. This meant that approximately 200,000 spectators squeezed into a space designed to accommodate 125,000. The game kicked off 45 minutes later than scheduled as mounted police struggled to clear the pitch. Cameras captured the image of a policeman on a white horse called Billy pushing back the crowds, and the match became known as ‘the White Horse Final’.

The shirt had a starring role in the National Football Museum's national touring exhibition on the FA Cup when at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery from March to May 2009.