1960 FA Cup final

1960 FA Cup Final
Event	1959–60 FA Cup
Date	7 May 1960
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Kevin Howley (Billingham)
Attendance	98,954
	← 1959 1961 →

The 1960 FA Cup Final was the 79th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. It took place on 7 May 1960 at Wembley Stadium in London. The match was contested by Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves won the game and the cup after a 3–0 victory, with a Norman Deeley double after Blackburn defender Mick McGrath had scored an own goal. This was Wolves' fourth and most recent FA Cup success.

This was the first time the FA Cup winners would be given a berth for European competition, into the newly formed Cup Winners' Cup.

Road to Wembley

Blackburn Rovers

3rd Round	Sunderland	1–1	Blackburn Rovers
3rd Round (Replay)	Blackburn Rovers	4–1	Sunderland
4th Round	Blackburn Rovers	1–1	Blackpool
4th Round (Replay)	Blackpool	0–3	Blackburn Rovers
5th Round	Tottenham Hotspur	1–3	Blackburn Rovers
6th Round	Burnley	3–3	Blackburn Rovers
6th Round (Replay)	Blackburn Rovers	2–0	Burnley
Semi-final	Sheffield Wednesday	1-2	Blackburn Rovers
	(at Maine Road)

Wolverhampton Wanderers

3rd Round	Newcastle United	2–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers
3rd Round (Replay)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	4–2	Newcastle United
4th Round	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–1	Charlton Athletic
5th Round	Luton Town	1–4	Wolverhampton Wanderers
6th Round	Leicester City	1–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Semi-final	Aston Villa	0–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
	(at The Hawthorns)

Background

Wolverhampton Wanderers were clear favourites going into the match, having won the league title in the previous three seasons and only being denied a third successive championship during this season, after being pipped 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. Both league games between the two during the season had been won by Wolves (3–1 and 1–0).

If current form favoured Wolves, Blackburn had the better FA Cup pedigree historically, with six triumphs already to their name, compared to Wolves' three. They had already displayed their cup strength by eliminating three of the top four clubs that season en route to the final – Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday.

Match

Summary

First half

The match was one of the warmest cup finals recorded, with many spectators having to be treated for fainting, leading to the game being played at a very sedate pace throughout. The opening 15 minutes set the tone for the contest in both pace and with both teams ruthlessly applying the offside trap to nullify their opponent (leading the TV commentator to eventually dub it 'The Offside Final').

As the half progressed Wolves began to gain control and seemed most likely to open the scoring, with Jimmy Murray mis-hitting with the goal before him. Despite this it was Blackburn who eventually had the most dangerous shot on target when Peter Dobing jinked through Wolves defence to fire at goal, but goalkeeper Malcolm Finlayson was able to block the shot.

Failing to take that opportunity soon proved costly for Blackburn when they suffered a disastrous few minutes. A low cross driven in by Stobart was deflected past Blackburn's goalkeeper by his own unfortunate defender, Mick McGrath to break the deadlock on 41 minutes. Then, two minutes later Blackburn's woes heightened as full-back Dave Whelan fractured his leg in a challenge with Norman Deeley. Though initially overlooked by the referee who allowed play to continue, both men needed substantial treatment. Whelan was eventually stretchered off, and, without the use of substitutes, left his team to complete the game with only 10 men.

Second half

When the team re-emerged after the interval, Deeley was still labouring and showing signs of discomfort from his clash with Whelan. The continued use of the offside trap, crude and poorly organised by modern standards but largely effective, saved Blackburn falling further behind in the 50th minute when Murray slotted home after Blackburn goalkeeper Harry Leyland fumbled a low Des Horne cross only for Barry Stobart – in modern terms not interfering with play – to be flagged.

Murray came close to getting himself a legitimate goal on 68 minutes when he was left free on the edge of the penalty area, only for Leyland to block his swivelling shot with his legs. From the resulting corner Wolves worked the ball for Horne to pass across the face of the goal, finding Deeley at the far post who drove the ball in to all but seal victory. Wolves then had the ball in the net for fourth time seven minutes later when Ron Flowers tapped-in which was again flagged offside.

Blackburn offered little resistance and failed to create any goalscoring opportunities throughout the second half leaving Wolves to complete the scoring two minutes from time when the Blackburn defence was hesitant in clearing the ball, allowing Deeley to shoot high into the top corner from five yards.

Bill Slater then led the Wolves players up the famous Wembley steps to be presented with the trophy by The Duchess of Gloucester, and the Cup was heading back to Molineux for a fourth time (as of 2020) and last time.

After the death of Gerry Harris in July 2020 Ron Flowers is the only remaining survivor from the winning team. Dave Whelan, Mick McGrath, Louis Bimpson, Peter Dobing and Bryan Douglas are the remaining player from the Rovers team in the 1960 FA Cup Final.

Details

7 May 1960

15:00 BST

Blackburn Rovers	0–3	Wolverhampton Wanderers
	Report	McGrath 41' (o.g.) Deeley 67', 88'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 98,954

Referee: Kevin Howley (Billingham)

Blackburn Rovers

Wolverhampton Wanderers



	1	Harry Leyland
	2	John Bray
	3	Dave Whelan 43'
	4	Ronnie Clayton (c)
	5	Matt Woods
	6	Mick McGrath
	7	Louis Bimpson
	8	Peter Dobing
	9	Derek Dougan
	10	Bryan Douglas
	11	Ally MacLeod
Manager:
Dally Duncan



	1	Malcolm Finlayson
	2	George Showell
	3	Gerry Harris
	4	Eddie Clamp
	5	Bill Slater (c)
	6	Ron Flowers
	7	Norman Deeley
	8	Barry Stobart
	9	Jimmy Murray
	10	Peter Broadbent
	11	Des Horne
Manager:
Stan Cullis

Coverage

The game was broadcast live on television on the BBC Grandstand programme (12:45pm to 5pm) with commentary by Kenneth Wolstenholme. 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 led 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.

The press dubbed the game 'The Dustbin Final' due in part to the 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.

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

v t e FA Cup
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Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
History List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

v t e Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1889 1893 1896 1908 1921 1939 1949 1960
Football League Cup Finals	1974 1980
Football League War Cup Final	1942
FA Charity Shields	1949 1954 1958 1959 1960
Football League play-off finals	1987 Fourth Division 2003 First Division
Football League Trophy Final	1988
UEFA Cup Final	1972
Other matches	Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–2 Budapest Honvéd (1954)

v t e Blackburn Rovers F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1882 1884 1885 1886 1890 1891 1928 1960
League Cup Final	2002
FA Charity Shields	1912 1928 1994 1995
Full Members' Cup Final	1987
Football League play-off Finals	1989 Second Division 1992 Second Division
Other matches	1940 Football League War Cup final