[Archived] Wolves V Blackburn Rovers, Fa Cup Final, 7Th May 1960

[JohnD]

Original footage of the game

How many fans never returned after the ticket scandal?

[AJW]

Wow that is amazing footage ... I am having to watch this on mute as the Mrs watches Corrie and I don't recognise many of the players , but who is the rovers number 5 ? He looks an absolute mountain and he's just put in an fantastic tackle on their number 7 ... Also the blond haired left winger is that Ally Mccleod ? He looks pretty decent too

[Billinge End Blue]

Amazing the press pitch invasion after Dave Whelan has broken his leg. The St Johns Ambulance stretcher bearers managed without one of those daft Ewood trolley contraptions too!

[oldjamfan1]

My older brother, God rest his soul, was born on this very day. Amazing footage. It is quite baffling as to why it took so long for substitutes to be allowed when a game could be effectively spoilt as a contest due to injury(ies).

Does anyone know whether the Whelan incident was what finally persuaded the suits to do something?

[knobblybottom]

but who is the rovers number 5 ? He looks an absolute mountain and he's just put in an fantastic tackle on their number 7 ...

Matt Woods, unlucky never to get an England cap.

[AllRoverAsia]

Great quality recording.

Feck Dougan lanky git.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

How much slower and cumbersome is some of play..overall fitness and the power game has changed the face of Football so much.

Didn't the Press label this the 'Rubbish Final' after Rovers fans pelted the Wolves team as they paraded the Cup around the pitch?

Nowty buggers!

[MCMC1875]

How much slower and cumbersome is some of play..overall fitness and the power game has changed the face of Football so much.

Didn't the Press label this the 'Rubbish Final' after Rovers fans pelted the Wolves team as they paraded the Cup around the pitch?

Nowty buggers!

To this day, 'A northerne horde of uncouth garbe and strange oath' (Pall Mall Gazette). You can take the boy out of Blackburn.....

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I've got the cd somewhere that I've watched from time to time. The impressions I got watching it much later- how easy it was to referee the game in those days. No arguing and no diving. How quickly the ball was back in play at free kicks and corners, throw ins etc. How the ball went forward much more quickly than in modern football.

I remember the day pretty well as an 11 year old. It was baking hot back in Lancashire. Playing in that heat with effectively what was 9 men all the second half with not much chance of winning must have been tough,

I went out with my football at the end of the game, just kicking it against a wall. I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.

What a colossus Matt Woods was at centre half. He was very unlucky not to get a cap or two when Billy Wright called it a day and England were looking for a replacement.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

My older brother, God rest his soul, was born on this very day. Amazing footage. It is quite baffling as to why it took so long for substitutes to be allowed when a game could be effectively spoilt as a contest due to injury(ies).

Does anyone know whether the Whelan incident was what finally persuaded the suits to do something?

The Whelan injury was just one of a run of injuries that spoiled several successive finals. Roy Dwight of Luton broke his leg the year before and Len Chalmers of Leicester finished the game hobbling on the wing the year after the Rovers final. It took a while after our game for subs to be allowed.

[47er]

It was baking hot at Wembley too, I can assure you.

Such a sad end to a wonderful Cup campaign.

To this day I cannot bear to watch any of it.

Set off from Blackburn station with such optimism. Came home in misery.

[dave birch]

It was baking hot at Wembley too, I can assure you.

Such a sad end to a wonderful Cup campaign.

To this day I cannot bear to watch any of it.

Set off from Blackburn station with such optimism. Came home in misery.

You got tickets?

After all that happened.

Took years for it to fade into history.

I was 14 at the time, and I'm still sad about that day.

I always reckon that Mc Parland (?) who tackled Whelan did it with intent, probably wrong, but it felt thus at the time.

[47er]

I was a season ticket holder so, yes, me, my Mum and Dad and Uncle were all there.

That McParland was a dirty sod but I would have to look at it again and I won't!

Someone took Dougan out in the first second, though I suspect he wouldn't have lasted long anyway. Just ran into him, knee raised, straight after the kick-off. That dirty left-half I think whose name I remember not.

57 years ago, I wonder how many of us are left?

[JAL]

Asked the great Ronnie Clayton what happened that day and he was scathing of Dougan for declaring himself fit in the days of NO substitutes when he wasn't leaving Rovers playing with only ten fit men.

But even then Ronnie believed that with ten men and Dougan they could still beat the Wolves team but unfortunately Dave Whelan broke his leg.

Was this the only Rovers team to ever lose a cup final ?

[yoda's brother]

I was a season ticket holder so, yes, me, my Mum and Dad and Uncle were all there.

That McParland was a dirty sod but I would have to look at it again and I won't!

Someone took Dougan out in the first second, though I suspect he wouldn't have lasted long anyway. Just ran into him, knee raised, straight after the kick-off. That dirty left-half I think whose name I remember not.

57 years ago, I wonder how many of us are left?

i was eleven and watched on telly, remember getting told off for swearing at a wolves player. think it was deeley.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

You got tickets?

After all that happened.

Took years for it to fade into history.

I was 14 at the time, and I'm still sad about that day.

I always reckon that Mc Parland (?) who tackled Whelan did it with intent, probably wrong, but it felt thus at the time.

I remember seeing the Whelan incident years ago on TV from an angle I've never seen before or since. Whelan came in to slide tackle Norman Deeley and Deeley hurdled the tackle but caught Whelan's tackling leg with his trailing leg as he jumped over the tackle. Sorry to spoil the story but for me it was a pure accident.

I was a season ticket holder so, yes, me, my Mum and Dad and Uncle were all there.

That McParland was a dirty sod but I would have to look at it again and I won't!

Someone took Dougan out in the first second, though I suspect he wouldn't have lasted long anyway. Just ran into him, knee raised, straight after the kick-off. That dirty left-half I think whose name I remember not.

57 years ago, I wonder how many of us are left?

I think it was Eddie Clamp who sorted Dougan out very early on. He shouldn't have played if he wasn't 100 % fit.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Can you fellas who were there confirm that Rovers fans gave the Wolves team a 'Rubbish' reception?

Quite funny if true.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Could somebody also explain just what happened regarding the ticketing issue ?

[Hanks]

Asked the great Ronnie Clayton what happened that day and he was scathing of Dougan for declaring himself fit in the days of NO substitutes when he wasn't leaving Rovers playing with only ten fit men.

But even then Ronnie believed that with ten men and Dougan they could still beat the Wolves team but unfortunately Dave Whelan broke his leg.

Was this the only Rovers team to ever lose a cup final ?

Dougan also asked for a transfer on the day before the final. We got beat 1-0 by Old Etonians in the 1882 cup final.

[bazza]

I was 17. I watched it on TV. It takes a lot to put me off my food. For the one and only time in my life I couldn't eat the meal my mum put in front of me.

I've never been so gutted or felt so humiliated as a Rovers fan.

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff made up for it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

All season ticket holders were entitled to a ticket, those with stand ticket got a seat. Non season ticket holders (along with anyone who had never been to a football match) could apply by post for one of the remaining tickets, to do this you had to send in a blank postal order and SAE to apply. Very few were successful and some didn't even get their postal orders back (lost in the post??). At the same time some players seemed to have plenty of tickets if you bought a service,at a premium, from businesses they were connected with. All allegedly of course.

I remember being in a pub in Rochdale on the night of the Cup Final. It was one of the finals in the early 1970's. A guy came in who'd just got back from the final. While we were chatting about the game I asked him how he got a ticket. He said " It's easy, in fact I've got one for next season's final now "

I said " You can't have, they haven't been printed yet. "

He said " Mine has, here have a look."

With that he pulled out a £20 note.

He said " I go up to a certain turnstile, put that down and they take it and let me in ".

[jim mk2]

Many Rovers fans never went inside Ewood again after the tickets scandal. It caused immense damage to the club for years afterwards - very similar to today's situation.

McParland was a dirty beggar - when he was at Villa he bundled ManU goalkeeper Harry Gregg (I think) into the net for a "goal" in one of the 1950s finals. He'd be sent off today.

Closest we've got to Wembley since then was Pedersen''s missed header in the semi- v Chelsea at Old Trafford - still have nightmares about that one.

[rigger]

Closest we've got to Wembley since then was Pedersen''s missed header in the semi- v Chelsea at Old Trafford - still have nightmares about that one.

Well, apart from the full members cup!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Many Rovers fans never went inside Ewood again after the tickets scandal. It caused immense damage to the club for years afterwards - very similar to today's situation.

McParland was a dirty beggar - when he was at Villa he bundled ManU goalkeeper Harry Gregg (I think) into the net for a "goal" in one of the 1950s finals. He'd be sent off today.

Closest we've got to Wembley since then was Pedersen''s missed header in the semi- v Chelsea at Old Trafford - still have nightmares about that one.

You're convoluting two separate incidents into one Jim.. It was Bolton's Nat Lofthouse who shoulder charged Harry Gregg into the back of the net for a goal in the 1958 Final.

It was Ray Wood who was in goal and ended up with a fractured cheek bone in that incident with Mc Parland the year previously Jim. No goal arose from that incident. You're right to say both incidents would have led to an instant red card today. If it had been Harry Gregg he would have got up and planted Mc Parland. I remember him doing just that to Mike England at Old Trafford.

I was right behind the goal when Pedersen headed that one wide. I thought it was in all the way, until it slipped past the post. Then people used to say what a good header of the ball he was ! I didn't think so.

Regarding the ticket issue. There were wrangles about Cup Final tickets every year then as there are now. The demand was always greater than the supply. Why were Rovers different ? In those days of the minimum wage it was a welcome extra source of income for the players.

[jim mk2]

You're convoluting two separate incidents into one Jim.. It was Bolton's Nat Lofthouse who shoulder charged Harry Gregg into the back of the net for a goal in the 1958 Final.

It was Ray Wood who was in goal and ended up with a fractured cheek bone in that incident with Mc Parland the year previously Jim. No goal arose from that incident. You're right to say both incidents would have led to an instant red card today. If it had been Harry Gregg he would have got up and planted Mc Parland. I remember him doing just that to Mike England at Old Trafford.

I was right behind the goal when Pedersen headed that one wide. I thought it was in all the way, until it slipped past the post. Then people used to say what a good header of the ball he was ! I didn't think so.

Regarding the ticket issue. There were wrangles about Cup Final tickets every year then as there are now. The demand was always greater than the supply. Why were Rovers different ? In those days of the minimum wage it was a welcome extra source of income for the players.

Yep, got those two confused - it happens with age.

Pedersen was a good header of a ball - for a winger, but he should have scored that one. I was up in the air celebrating then came the horrible realisation he had missed.

Lots of stories in the town of players cashing in big time and lots of fans missing out on tickets. It didn't go down well. Blackburn people don't forgive easily.