| Event | 1956–57 FA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 4 May 1957 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Referee | Frank Coultas (Hull) | ||||||
| Attendance | 99,225 | ||||||
←1956 1958 → | |||||||
The1957 FA Cup final was afootball match played on 4 May 1957 atWembley Stadium betweenAston Villa andManchester United. Villa won 2–1, with both of their goals scored byPeter McParland.Tommy Taylor scored United's goal. It was Villa's first major trophy for 37 years and prevented United from doingThe Double, Matt Busbys' side having been crowned Football League champions having won the First Division.[1]
The final was marred by a collision after only six minutes between Villa forward Peter McParland and United goalkeeperRay Wood, which left Wood unconscious with a broken cheekbone. Wood left the pitch andJackie Blanchflower took over in goal for United. Wood eventually rejoined the game in an outfield position as a virtual passenger (slang for a player that is on the field but not proactively participating) before returning to goal for the last seven minutes of the game.
Villa's victory gave them their seventh FA Cup title, a record at the time, but since passed by three clubs including Manchester United, who have thirteen wins. They reached the final in2000, when they lost toChelsea, and in2015, when they lost toArsenal.
Six of the 11 players who took to the field for United in this game died in theMunich air disaster nine months later; as did a further two players who did not appear in the game, while two others (who both appeared in the game) were injured in the crash to such an extent that they never played again. The only United players who appeared in the final a year later were full-back Bill Foulkes and forwardBobby Charlton. The death of Foulkes in November 2013 and of Charlton in October 2023 leaves no surviving players from the United team, while the deaths of Nigel Sims in January 2018 and Peter McParland in May 2025 leaves no surviving players from the winning Aston Villa team, the latter being the last surviving player to have won the FA cup with Aston Villa, and the last surviving player from the match overall.
In December 2007,BBC Four'sTimeshift series screened a documentary,A Game of Two Eras, which compared the 1957 final with its2007 counterpart.[2]
| Round 3 | Luton Town | 2–2 | Aston Villa |
| Round 3 replay | Aston Villa | 2–0 | Luton Town |
| Round 4 | Middlesbrough | 2–3 | Aston Villa |
| Round 5 | Aston Villa | 2–1 | Bristol City |
| Round 6 | Burnley | 1–1 | Aston Villa |
| Round 6 replay | Aston Villa | 2–0 | Burnley |
| Semi-final | Aston Villa | 2–2 | West Bromwich Albion |
| (atMolineux) | |||
| Semi-final Replay | West Bromwich Albion | 0–1 | Aston Villa |
| (atSt Andrew's) | |||
| Round 3 | Hartlepools United | 3–4 | Manchester United |
| Round 4 | Wrexham | 0–5 | Manchester United |
| Round 5 | Manchester United | 2–1 | Everton |
| Round 6 | Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic | 1–2 | Manchester United |
| Semi-final | Manchester United | 2–0 | Birmingham City |
| (atHillsborough) | |||
| Aston Villa | 2–1 | Manchester United |
|---|---|---|
| McParland | Report | Taylor |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Aston Villa | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Manchester United |
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