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| Event | 1960–61 FA Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 6 May 1961 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium,London | ||||||
| Referee | John Kelly (Eccleston) | ||||||
| Attendance | 100,000 | ||||||
←1960 1962 → | |||||||
The1961 FA Cup final was the 80th final of theFA Cup. It took place on 6 May 1961 atWembley Stadium and was contested betweenTottenham Hotspur andLeicester City.
Tottenham won the match 2–0, withBobby Smith andTerry Dyson scoring the goals. Having already won theLeague, Spurs became the first club to achieve theDouble sinceAston Villa in1897.
Tottenham Hotspur[edit]Home teams listed first. Round 3 Tottenham Hotspur 3–2Charlton Athletic Round 4 Tottenham Hotspur 5–1Crewe Alexandra Round 5Aston Villa 0–2 Tottenham Hotspur Round 6Sunderland 1–1 Tottenham Hotspur
Semi-final Tottenham Hotspur 3–0Burnley (atVilla Park,Birmingham) | Leicester City[edit]Home teams listed first. Round 3 Leicester City 3–1Oxford United Round 4 Leicester City 5–1Bristol City Round 5Birmingham City 1–1 Leicester City
Round 6 Leicester City 0–0Barnsley
Semi-final Leicester City 0–0Sheffield United (atElland Road,Leeds)
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Leicester frustrated Tottenham Hotspur in the early exchanges but when full-backLen Chalmers damaged his rightleg twentyminutes into the match,[1] 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 strikerBobby Smith latched on to a pass fromTerry Dyson, turned neatly and smashed the ball pastGordon 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.
The match was broadcast live by the BBC with live coverage to twelve other European countries. In the United Kingdom the match commentator wasKenneth Wolstenholme, former playerWalley 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 theUnited States by theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) onWide World of Sports twoweeks later on 20 May. The contest was the first overseas event to appear on the sportsanthology series. The Chalmers storyline was played up to the point that "Poor old Chalmers" became a familiar phrase amongfans of thetelevision program.[1]
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 programmeGrandstand however cinema viewers experienced a first when the traditional pre movie newsreels of bothPathé andMovietone broadcast their match reports in colour.
![]() ![]() Tottenham Hotspur | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Leicester City |
Match rules
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