Sheffield United vs Bristol City

UTB 47
▲ Pc Scorey and Billy attempting to clear the playing surface. Wembley’s first
football match eventually kicked off 45 minutes late with a human touchline
We all know about the Wembley exploits
of Stanley Matthews, Geoff Hurst and
others – including the Lionesses last
summer – but the stadium’s very first
character to achieve legendary status in
the world of football was someone who
never played the game. Indeed, George
Scorey had very little interest in the sport
at all. His main passions in life were horses
and playing the trumpet!
However, 100 years ago, the FA Cup
final on April 28th saw George, a police
constable, take centre stage when a
crush of upwards of 200,000 supporters
threatened to see the West Ham
United versus Bolton Wanderers fixture
abandoned before a ball was kicked.
A World War One hero, Pc Scorey was
on crowd control duty at Wembley in the
saddle of an 11-year-old horse called Billy.
Together with almost 600 other
police officers, including eight more on
horseback, they persuaded the huge
crowd to move off the pitch and something
of a human touchline was formed around
the playing surface. Pc Scorey’s efforts
were perhaps no grander than any of the
other officers on duty, but because Billy
was a grey horse, it was this duo that
stood out in the remarkable Pathe News
black and white movie footage and in the
following day’s newspapers. So, although
Bolton were the first team to be presented
with the famous silver trophy, the match
has forever been known as the ‘White
Horse Final’.
The Blades narrowly missed out on the
honour of being one of the first teams
to play at the stadium when their 1923
FA Cup journey was halted by Bolton
Wanderers at the semi-final stage. In those
days of course, teams reaching the last
four of the competition played at neutral
venues and the Trotters triumphed 1-0 at
Old Trafford.
However, United only had to wait a
further two years before enjoying their first
trip to the Empire Stadium, beating Cardiff
City 1-0 in the FA Cup final on April 25th,
1925 – still our last success there!
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs BRISTOL CITY