1961 Fa Cup Final

Match summary

Leicester frustrated Tottenham Hotspur in the early exchanges but when full-back Len Chalmers damaged his right leg twenty minutes into the match, Tottenham looked to capitalise. They were unfortunate to see Cliff Jones' goal disallowed for offside in the 38th minute and the first half ended goalless.

The second half kicked off in the same vein as the first had ended until the deadlock was broken in the 66th minute. England striker Bobby Smith latched on to a pass from Terry Dyson, turned neatly and smashed the ball past Gordon Banks. The goal naturally lifted Spurs and nine minutes later victory was sealed, when Smith returned the compliment and crossed to Dyson to head home the second to complete the Double.

Coverage

The match was broadcast live by the BBC with live coverage to twelve other European countries. In the United Kingdom the match commentator was Kenneth Wolstenholme, former player Walley Barnes was also pitchside with a radio cameraman to capture the atmosphere before the game and also interview the players during the buildup. He was called upon only once during the match itself to comment on the injury to Chalmers. Many other countries broadcast either a full delayed match cast or edited highlights. The telecast was shown in its entirety in the United States by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on Wide World of Sports two weeks later on 20 May. The contest was the first overseas event to appear on the sports anthology series. The Chalmers storyline was played up to the point that "Poor old Chalmers" became a familiar phrase among fans of the television program.

Almost all the television, radio and newspaper commentators predicted a comfortable Tottenham victory but in post game reports all agreed that Spurs had looked out of sorts during the opening fifteen minutes and it was only when Chalmers was injured that they began to dominate the game, again leading to cries for the introduction of substitutes in future. For their part Leicester were considered a little unlucky, though few reporters were willing to go as far as to say that the result would have been any different had the injury to Chalmers not occurred.

Chalmers himself left the field with ten minutes of the game remaining, at which point Tottenham were comfortably in front and any likely chance of a Leicester victory had evaporated. He was unable to return to collect his loser's medal.

The match was broadcast in black and white as a cup final special edition of the Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand however cinema viewers experienced a first when the traditional pre movie newsreels of both Pathé and Movietone broadcast their match reports in colour.

Match details

6 May 1961

Tottenham Hotspur	2–0	Leicester City
Smith   66' Dyson   75'	(Report)

Wembley, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: J. Kelly

Tottenham Hotspur

Leicester City

1   Bill Brown 2   Peter Baker 3   Ron Henry 4   Danny Blanchflower (c) 5   Maurice Norman 6   Dave Mackay 7   Cliff Jones 8   John White 9   Bobby Smith 10   Les Allen 11   Terry Dyson Manager:   Bill Nicholson

1   Gordon Banks 2   Len Chalmers 3   Richie Norman 4   Frank McLintock 5   Ian King 6   Colin Appleton 7   Howard Riley 8   Jimmy Walsh (c) 9   Hughie McIlmoyle 10   Ken Keyworth 11   Albert Cheesebrough Manager:   Matt Gillies

References