Celebrating one of the greatest moments in our sporting history
90 years after Cardiff City lifted the FA Cup following their historic 1-0 win against Arsenal, an exhibition opens in the Welsh capital. Huw Silk reports...
THE year 1927 holds a fabled position for every fan of Cardiff City. And now, nine decades after the Bluebirds became the first – and so far only – Welsh team to lift the FA Cup, a new exhibition full of mementoes from that famous Wembley day has opened in the capital.
It is made up of items including the winner’s medal belonging to the legendary Fred Keenor – Cardiff ’s captain that day and who is now immortalised in a statue standing outside Cardiff City Stadium – as well as match-worn shirts and even a full-size replica of the trophy. The exhibition is open for six months from today.
Watched by King George V, the Welsh former Prime Minister David Lloyd George and future PM Winston Churchill, Scot Hughie Ferguson notched the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win over Arsenal to give the Welsh side the win.
And the occasion, which prompted the competition to shed its common moniker of the “English Cup”, saw its first Welsh winners crowned – on St George’s Day.
The match was also notable for being the first to be broadcast live on BBC radio and the first at which now-traditional hymn Abide With Me was sung.
Fifteen thousand Cardiff fans later packed into Cathays Park in the city to welcome their heroes home.
Memorabilia from the match which has been donated by fans are also included in the exhibition, which has been given the seal of approval by the club itself.
Ken Choo, the Bluebirds’ executive director and chief executive, who attended the launch event yesterday, said the club hoped to set up something similar at Cardiff City Stadium itself once the current exhibition had closed.
He added: “The year 1927 is such an important one for the club and the city.
“We are so proud of this important chapter of our history and it continues to be an inspiration to players and supporters alike.”
He also paid tribute to Cardiff council for having organised the event, saying: “For the very beginning we felt we should be a part of it. I know how important [the FA Cup win] is for the city.”
Adrian Kingston-Jones, the grandson of captain Fred Keenor, and the player’s nephew Graham, both attended yesterday’s event.
“My grandfather would have been incredibly proud,” Mr KingstonJones said.
“I believe that, if he were alive today, nothing would delight him more than if the FA Cup came back to Wales.”
Football historians Ceri Stennett and Richard Shepherd were also at the launch. Mr Stennett said: “For me, this is a dream come true, and for many years I have thought it would be wonderful to put some of the items in my own collection on display to mark the winning of the 1927 FA Cup.”
Peter Bradbury, Cardiff council’s cabinet member for community development, and a season ticket holder since 1990, said: “As a lifelong fan of the Bluebirds I am delighted that Cardiff Story Museum are celebrating the club’s greatest achievement in this way.
“[It is] celebrating not just one of the greatest days in our club’s history but in the history of Welsh sport.
“You don’t know where you are going as a football club – or in life – unless you know your past.
“We have six months to celebrate what was, aside from last year [Wales reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals] is perhaps the finest moment in Welsh sporting history.”
And he claimed that without a Welsh side having won the competition, the Millennium Stadium (now named the Principality Stadium) would probably not have been chosen to host the FA Cup final in the early 2000s during the redevelopment of Wembley.
Cardiff City came closest to getting their hands on the iconic trophy again in 2008, where they reached the final before being beaten by then-Premier League side Portsmouth.
No other Welsh team has reached the FA Cup final – although Swansea City did lift the League Cup at Wembley in 2013.
The exhibition “From Wembley to Wales: Celebrating Cardiff City’s 1927 FA Cup Victory” runs from today until September 4, at the Cardiff Story Museum in the Old Library in The Hayes, central Cardiff. Anyone who wants to let the museum know of their own stories of the cup final to add to the exhibition can email cardiffstory@ cardiff.gov.uk