When Arsenal and Chelsea were drawn against one another in a 1950 FA Cup semi-final clash at White Hart Lane, there was a feverish demand for tickets.
Estimates suggested that the game could have been sold out four times over, and the crowd was a gigantic 67,752. Several of the Gunners players knew the venue very well, having played there during the war years when Highbury was requisitioned for the conflict, and in November 1945, when we faced Dynamo Moscow on a foggy London day, losing 4-3 in a famous contest.
The semi-final against Blues was the first game of the cup run in which Tom Whittaker’s side played away from N5, having defeated Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea Town, Burnley and Leeds United at home en route to the last four.
Memories of the first match burned brightly in the mind of former Gunners goalkeeper George Swindin, who’d predicted to skipper and roommate Joe Mercer that we would be drawn at home on four occasions, and go on and lift the trophy. Mercer became more and more incredulous as Swindin’s bold prophecy came true.
“Joe was open-mouthed when the quarter-final draw was made,” Swindin told me during our interview. “We were described as 'lucky' Arsenal. I was later told that in the entire course of our FA Cup run, we travelled less than 20 miles, but the whole thing really boiled up with the Chelsea game. People seemed to be talking about the game for weeks.”
It was a thrilling spectacle, and the key moments are splendidly preserved on Pathe News. Chelsea, seeking to reach Wembley for the first time in their history, raced into a two-goal lead within 40 minutes, thanks to two excellent finishes from Roy Bentley.
Watching on nervously was striker Reg Lewis. “Chelsea galloped in front, and we were by far the second best. Then luck was on our side.” Freddie Cox curled in a corner with the outside of his right foot, which flew straight in just before half-time. “We all told him that he was lucky,” Lewis recalled, “but he’d try to score from corners in training, so perhaps it was a case of practice making perfect.” Cox’s strike was known as an ‘Olimpico’, named after the first recorded instance of such a goal by Argentina's Cesareo Onzariin at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
As we piled on the pressure in the later stages, a driven corner from Denis Compton saw his brother – and fellow Middlesex cricketer - Leslie head powerfully home, who had ignored Mercer’s insistence that he remain back in his own half. We were off the hook, and were certainly the undisputed set-piece masters that day. Chelsea's rumoured tactic of keeping rabbits' feet in their pockets to ward off 'lucky' Arsenal hadn't worked.
In another tightly contested match at White Hart Lane, Cox’s winner was enough to see off Chelsea in the replay, and send us to Wembley. As Arsenal supporters swarmed onto the pitch to celebrate with their heroes, it was premonition time again - Cox’s wife had told anyone who cared to listen that she had dreamed her husband would score the winner and send his team to Wembley to face Liverpool, who had defeated city rivals Everton in the other all-Merseyside semi-final.
In the final, a Lewis double saw our veteran team, many of whom were in their 30s, bring the cup back to Highbury for the third time.
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April 29, 1950: Lewis double wins FA Cup](https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gallery-fa-cup-winners-1950?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
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