Memories of the 1965 Cup Final

30 Oct 2013 08:00 am, by Gandalf

In 1965 one of our forum members Gandalf was taken to London by his uncle to watch both the FA Cup Final and the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final. Here are his memories of going to watch Leeds versus Liverpool in the 1965 FA Cup Final at Wembley…

If you can imagine how excited a 12 year old could be when being told that his uncle had got tickets for the 1965 Cup Final and that he was taking me. Well, then add that he had also got tickets for the Challenge Cup Final, which that year was Hunslet v Wigan, AND we would be staying in London for the whole week, a place that I had never been, I was close to passing out with delight.

We only had a few days notice, so it went fairly quickly. I had been going to both Elland Road and Parkside on a fairly regular basis, but I had never travelled to an Away game. Setting off at Midnight on the Friday night, the journey to London, by bus, seemed to take forever. There was no M1 then, and the bus stopped at places that I recognised from the football scores on a Saturday - Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Luton.

The bus was full, and when we stopped nobody got on or off, so I could never figure out why we stopped at all these places, but eventually we arrived at Victoria Coach Station. The place was swarming with Leeds and Liverpool scarves. My mum had embroidered all the names of the players onto my scarf - I always remember she couldn't fit Johanneson onto it, so he became just Albert. It was also my first encounter with a broad Scouse accent, which sounded so much different to the Beatles - I couldn't understand a word.

The next excitement was the journey on the Tube to Wembley - everybody crammed in, both Leeds and Liverpool, and it seemed to take an age before we arrived at Wembley Park station. Then it was the long walk down Wembley Way, and the first sight of the famous twin towers. We were nearing the time to get in the ground for the build up, and to be honest, having stayed up all night on the journey down, I was beginning to get very tired.

However, in we went, and found a perch at the tunnel end. The pre-match entertainment started, and we were singing along with Abide With Me, and then the players were introduced to the Queen, before finally the match itself. To be honest, I think all the players were as tired as I was. Casting back in my memory, I cannot remember a single good chance in the 90 minutes. Both defences were on top, and the Bremner / Collins axis was not functioning as it usually did. It was just my luck that the first final to ever go to extra time was this one.

Liverpool started the brighter in extra time, and they quickly took the lead. Roger Byrne overlapped down the left, and crossed a perfect ball for Roger Hunt to slam it into the net. Remarkably, Byrne had played since early in the second half with a broken collar bone - no substitutes in those days. I was pretty distraught, playing as we were, I never thought that we could come back from that.

As usual, I underestimated the Mighty Whites. Albert (as he is now known) slung over a looping cross, Big Jack nodded the ball down, and Little Billy crashed in his trademark half volley, which flew into the top corner of the net. The Leeds fans erupted, and I was bundled over in the mayhem. Several friendly hands lifted me up and dusted me down.

Sadly, it wasn't to be. Both teams were visibly tiring on the sapping Wembley turf, but with seven minutes to go, Liverpool launched another attack on the Leeds goal. Callaghan made a lung bursting run down the right, and floated over a cross. Ian St John threw himself at the ball and fired a perfect diving header past the stranded Gary Sprake. There was no coming back from this one. Liverpool had won the cup, and I was devastated. I didn't want to hang around to see Liverpool raise the cup, but my uncle said we would be disrespecting the Queen - different times, eh ?.

We cheered the Leeds lads as they collected their losers medals, and gave them a rousing reception as they trudged dejectedly down the tunnel - Billy looking as though he wouldn't make it as far as the dressing room. We gave a more muted, but still very fair, round of applause to the Liverpool players as they came past us with the Cup, then at last my uncle said that we could leave, and try and find our lodging. I remember nothing after getting back on the Tube - I was immediately asleep. I was awoken back at Victoria Station, from where we walked to our B&B in Pimlico, which sounded like somewhere in Yugoslavia to me, but was actually a very nice area close to the river. All I remember of that night was that the bed was very comfortable.

I woke with a feeling that I was going to get to know well in the coming years. That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that meant we had lost again.

Want to look like one of your heroes from the 1972 FA Cup Final or the 1975 Eurpoean Cup Final? Why not enter our competition to win a retro Leeds United shirt.

View all Showing latest two comments of two...

YorkshireSquare wrote on 30 Oct 2013 02:05 pm

Great post oldlufc!

oldlufc wrote on 30 Oct 2013 01:14 pm

I too remember the 1965 Cup Final having attended the game as an 11 year old with my father and 12 year old brother. The 1965 season was a 'new' experience for Leeds supporters as the club had no history of success, particularly in the FA Cup.

The Cup run started with Southport being beaten 3-0 at ER in pouring rain on a quagmire of a pitch, something rarely seen these days, followed by a rematch with Everton in Round 4, having played the Toffees in the same round in the 1963-64 Season. The 50,000 All Ticket game ended 1-1 as in 1964, Everton equalising in both games with a penalty. Leeds winning the replay 2-1 before a crowd of 66,000 at Goodison Park. Next up, Shrewsbury Town in Round 5 with FA Cup fever mounting in and around Leeds. A comfortable 2-0 win in front of 47.000 at ER made the draw for the 6th Rd, always relayed by radio at lunchtime on the following Monday, keenly awaited.

Crystal Palace away, a giant killer having knocked out Southampton and Nottm Forest, looked a tricky tie. The game was scheduled for Saturday 6th March but a snowfall in London resulted in the game being postponed and played the following Wednesday. As Wednesady was a work day for Dad we were unable to get to the Palace game but Leeds turned in a professional performance to win 3-0. So a first ever FA Cup Semi-Final with Manchester Utd at Hillborough saw a huge following descend on Sheffield to witness a dour game ending 0-0. The Replay, attended by my father and brother, remains one of the most famous victories in LUFC history with Billy Bremner scoring a very, very late winner.

The scramble for Final tickets caused previously unseen hysteria in Leeds, and yours truly made a tidy sum selling tokens from Home programmes and covers from Away programes to neighbours. Having been at the front of the queue for an all night wait at ER with completed Token Sheets, and having a photograph on the front page of the YEP, the precious tickets were obtained. Travel to London by train was a great adventure but my memories of the game itself are of a dour game played on an overcast grey day with a steady drizzle falling in the latter stages of the game.

That 1965 season alongside the 1971/72 (Super Leeds) season ranks as one of the very best for me. A season that saw Leeds Utd emerge as a big club but also start the trend of near misses so common during the Revie era.

I have only ever attended one Rugby League game and it was the Hunslet vs Wakefield Trinity Cup Semi-Final at Headingley with Hunslet winning 8-0. The Final with Wigan has always been considered to be one of the best Finals ever.