1927 FA Cup Final - The Final and The "Howler"

The Final and The "Howler"

The final is remembered as the time that "The Cup was let out of England". 1927 is the first and so far only time the FA Cup has not been won by an English club. Arsenal were by far and away the favourites for the tournament. Arsenal, who had just been taken over by the famous Herbert Chapman, were expected to keep the cup in England and win by some margin.

The Cardiff goal remains one of the most famous FA Cup Final goals ever. The move started with a throw-in. Cardiff's Hughie Ferguson received the ball and had little space to run or make a pass, thus instead he attempted a pot-shot at goal. The ball ran low across the ground, but Arsenal goalkeeper Dan Lewis had the shot well covered. He knelt down and attempted to gather the ball. However, as he did so, the ball squirmed out of Lewis' hands and slipped in between the crook of his left elbow and body. With a couple of Cardiff City forwards closing in, Lewis desperately tried to reclaim the ball but only succeeded in knocking it into the net with his elbow. Lewis later blamed the error on his jersey, which being brand new was greasy and made it difficult to grip the ball.

Cardiff's Ernie Curtis, who died in November 1992 at the age of 85, was the last surviving player from the final.