The 1956 FA Cup final was contested between Manchester City and Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 5 May 1956. The match is best remembered for the heroics of Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, who continued playing despite breaking a bone in his neck in a collision with Birmingham City’s Peter Murphy. The final was watched by a crowd of 100,000 and a television audience of five million.
About 1956 FA Cup Final in brief
Two-time winners Manchester City were appearing in their sixth final. Birmingham City were seeking to win the competition for the first time. The match is best remembered for the heroics of Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, who continued playing despite breaking a bone in his neck in a collision with Birmingham City’s Peter Murphy. Manchester City became the first team to reach an FA Cup final without playing at home. The final was watched by a crowd of 100,000 and a television audience of five million. The game is often referred to as ‘the Trautman final’ because of the goalkeeper’s heroics in the match. It was the final match of the 1955–56 staging of English football’s primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup. The showpiece event was contested between Manchester City and Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 5 May 1956. Manchester City took an early lead through Joe Hayes, but Noel Kinsey equalised midway through the first half. Second half goals from Jack Dyson and Bobby Johnstone gave Manchester City a 3–1 victory. Birmingham City made more comfortable progress: they scored eighteen goals while conceding only two, and won each match at the first attempt despite being drawn to play on their opponents’ ground in every round. Each club needed to win five matches to reach the final, and Manchester City’s victories were close affairs, each settled by the odd goal, and they needed a replay to defeat fifth-round opponents Liverpool.
In the quarter final Manchester City again played opposition from Liverpool, facing Everton at Maine Road. City overcame the deficit in the second half with goals from Hayes and Johnstone. Further controversy followed in the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, when in the final minutes of the match, with the score at 1–0 to Manchester City, Tottenham were denied a penalty after goalkeeper George Robb’s leg was grabbed by George Robb. The game finished in controversial circumstances when the referee blew his whistle for full time as Liverpool’s Billy Liddell put the ball in the net, but unbeknown to him the goal did not count as the match was already over. The players complied; leading 4–0 at half-time, they finished as comfortable 7–1 winners. Eddy Brown added two more goals to his hat-trick at Torquay United, who who had beaten Birmingham at the same stage four years earlier. A local derby game followed on a snow-covered frozen pitch at the Hawthorns. West Bromwich Albion faced Arsenal on a muddy pitch to relieve the tension on the way to the final. The Scotsman used the Scotsman to encourage the players to sing in order to relieve tension in the important matches to relieve order on the pitch. The result was a 1-0 win for West Brom. The next day, West Brom beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in the Capital One Cup quarter-final, and the final was held at Wembley.
You want to know more about 1956 FA Cup Final?
This page is based on the article 1956 FA Cup Final published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
