1929 FA Cup final

1929 FA Cup Final
	Programme cover
Event	1928–29 FA Cup
Date	27 April 1929
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	A. Josephs (South Shields)
Attendance	92,576

The 1929 FA Cup final was an association football match between Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth on 27 April 1929 at Wembley Stadium.

Match details

Bolton won 2–0, with goals by Billy Butler and Harold Blackmore. It marked the 54th final of the Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup), the world's oldest football cup competition. It was Portsmouth's first FA Cup final and Bolton's fifth. En route to the final, Bolton defeated Oldham Athletic, Liverpool (after a replay), Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers (after a replay) and Huddersfield Town; Portsmouth beat Charlton Athletic, Bradford City, Chelsea (after a replay), West Ham United and Aston Villa.

The match was played in a front of 92,576 spectators and was refereed by Arnold Josephs. After a goalless first half, two late goals in the second half from Billy Butler and Harold Blackmore secured Bolton the FA Cup. For Bolton this meant that they had won their third FA Cup title.

No live radio commentary of the match was broadcast by the BBC, as permission to do so had been refused by the Football Association.^[1] Instead, the organisation sent various reporters to the ground, who each left the match at 15-to-20-minute intervals to go to a nearby house where a broadcasting set-up had been arranged. From there, they transmitted accounts of the game as they had seen it up to the point of their departure.^[2]

Road to the Final

Bolton Wanderers

Round	Team #1	Score	Team #2
3	Bolton Wanderers	2–0	Oldham Athletic
4	Liverpool	0–0	Bolton Wanderers
Replay	Bolton Wanderers	5–2	Liverpool
5	Leicester City	1–2	Bolton Wanderers
6	Blackburn Rovers	1–1	Bolton Wanderers
Replay	Bolton Wanderers	2–1	Blackburn Rovers
Semi-Final	Bolton Wanderers	3–1	Huddersfield Town

Portsmouth

Round	Team #1	Score	Team #2
3	Portsmouth	2–1	Charlton Athletic
4	Portsmouth	2–1	Bradford City
5	Chelsea	1–1	Portsmouth
Replay	Portsmouth	1–0	Chelsea
6	Portsmouth	3–2	West Ham United
Semi-Final	Portsmouth	1–0	Aston Villa

Match details

27 April 1929

15:00 BST

Bolton Wanderers	2–0	Portsmouth
Butler 79' Blackmore 87'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 92,576

Referee: Arnold Josephs (South Shields)

Bolton Wanderers

Portsmouth



GK		Dick Pym
DF		Bob Haworth
DF		Alex Finney
MF		Fred Kean
MF		Jimmy Seddon (c)
MF		Harry Nuttall
FW		Billy Butler
FW		Jim McClelland
FW		Harold Blackmore
FW		George Gibson
FW		Willie Cook
Manager:
Charles Foweraker



GK		Jock Gilfillan
DF		Alec Mackie
DF		Thomas Bell
MF		Jimmy Nichol
MF		Johnny McIlwaine (c)
MF		David Thackeray
FW		Fred Forward
FW		Jack Smith
FW		Jack Weddle
FW		David Watson
FW		Fred Cook
Manager:
Jack Tinn

Match rules

90 minutes.
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
Replay if scores still level.

References

^ "Cup Final Hustle". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne. 24 April 1929.
^ Anderson, Jess (17 May 2025). "Oh how times have changed..." BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2025.

External links

"Match report". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009.
FA Cup Final lineups
FA Cup Final kits
F.A. Cup Final Match Cards

[1] "Cup Final Hustle". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne. 24 April 1929.

[2] Anderson, Jess (17 May 2025). "Oh how times have changed..." BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2025.

[1]

[2]

FA Cup
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Qualifying rounds	1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
History List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

Bolton Wanderers F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1894 1904 1923 1926 1953 1958
League Cup Finals	1995 2004
FA Community Shields	1958
EFL Championship play-offs Finals	1995 1999 2001
EFL League One play-offs Finals	1991 2024
Football League Trophy Finals	1986 1989 2023
Football League War Cup Finals	1945 (north) 1945 (play-off)

Portsmouth F.C. matches
FA Cup Finals	1934 1939 2008 2010
FA Community Shields	1949 2008
EFL Trophy Finals	2019 2020
Other matches	Portsmouth 7–4 Reading (2007)