1931 FA Cup Final - Build-up

Build-up

Demand for cup final tickets far exceeded supply. West Bromwich Albion received 80,000 ticket applications from supporters but their allocation was only 7,500. Those who were successful travelled to Wembley on one of several excursion trains along the GWR and LMS routes, or else by road.

In the days leading up to the final, both teams made use of mid-week games to test players who were doubtful due to injury. Following Birmingham's reserve match against Huddersfield Town's reserves, George Briggs and Jimmy Cringan were pronounced fit to play in the final, but centre forward Joe Bradford's fitness was not decided until the Thursday morning. An injured knee had kept Bradford out of action since mid-March, and he played with the knee well bandaged during the match, which was played in front of "about 12,000" spectators at St Andrew's. Full back Bert Trentham was a doubt for Albion, but came through the first half of their friendly against Headingly "quite satisfactorily". The Birmingham team prepared for the final at Bushey, while the West Bromwich Albion team were based in Harrow. Both teams visited The Cenotaph in the week before the final, in order to lay wreaths.

The clubs had met in the FA Cup on four previous occasions, with Albion victorious each time. The first meeting of the two teams in the competition was in the 1885–86 semi-final, which was the furthest that Birmingham had progressed prior to their first FA Cup final in 1931. Neither club had played a match at Wembley before, though Albion had experienced success in the FA Cup, having appeared in the final on six previous occasions and having won the cup twice, in 1888 and 1892. The two goalkeepers for the 1931 final, Harold Pearson and Harry Hibbs, were cousins. Pearson's father and Hibbs' uncle, Hubert Pearson, had kept goal for Albion during their last appearance in the final in 1912. Birmingham outside forward Ernie Curtis had already gained a cup winners medal with Cardiff City in 1927, while the club's trainer Archie Taylor had played in the Barnsley team that defeated West Bromwich Albion in the 1912 final.

Typical of the era was that the final had little effect on the weekend's Football League fixtures. Although the scheduled league matches of both finalists had been postponed, there were still nine First Division games and ten Second Division games played on the day of the final, as well as a full programme of matches in the Third Division North and South.

Prior to kickoff, T. P. Ratcliff led the crowd in community singing, backed by the band of His Majesty's Welsh Guards. Songs included "Daisy Bell", "John Brown's Body" and "Poor Old Joe".