The Empire Stadium, more commonly known as the original Wembley, was opened on 24th April 1923. Just 4 days later the first match was played there - The 1923 FA Cup Final.
Uncle of Bryn Hughes, Richard Richards played in the game for West Ham against Bolton Wanderers.
All players were awarded with a commemorative medal for playing. Bolton won the game by 2 goals to nil. Richard Richards was awarded this gold medal with "Football Assosiation Challenge Cup Runner Up" on the reverse of it.
The official attendance for the game was a little over 126,000, however it is believed that there was actually around 300,000 people in the stadium that day. The crowd was so large that they spilled over onto the playing surface, delaying kick off for around 45 minutes.
Now remembered as an iconic image of the time - a policeman on a white horse had to force the crowd back to allow the match to begin, and so the final is now commonly remembered as "White Horse Final."
When the new Wembley stadium was finished in 2007 one of the access bridges was named "The White Horse Bridge" in honour of the 1923 FA Cup Final.
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