Scrapping cameramen! Leaky balls! Margaret Thatcher and June Whitfield? The Top 10 weird FA Cup final moments

Published 16:01 13/05/11

Ah, the FA Cup final: English football's showpiece occasion, and a day where legends are born - both on AND off the pitch.

As this list of the competition's Top 10 most bizarre moments proves..

1) Before their 1969 final against Leicester, Manchester City’s players accepted a sizeable donation to their players’ fund from ITV and agreed to speak exclusively to the commercial network. However, the BBC’s Stuart Hall managed to intercept star players Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee en route to Wembley and delivered a live telly interview.

Furious, ITV took their revenge later as Hall was broadcasting live from Wembley Way. As the fans poured past him, Hall was punched in the face by a man from the other side, his own technicians responding in kind. A full-scale fistfight broke out. “It was marvellous,” said Hall. “ITV were kicking the crap out of the BBC and we were beating the shit out of them.”

2) As the teams lined up for the 1988 final, Vinnie Jones informed Liverpool’s Steve McMahon of his intention to “rip your ear off and piss down the hole”. After Wimbledon’s shocking victory, they were visited in the dressing room by Terry & June actress June Whitfield, who felt Dave Beasant’s muscles live on camera.

3) Newcastle fan Lee Clark attended their 1999 final defeat wearing a T-shirt bearing the Sunderland-taunting slogan SMB, short for ‘Sad Mackem Bastards’. Alas, midfielder Clark was then in the employ of said Sad Mackem Bastards, though naturally he never played for them again.

4) On surviving video of a live ITV interview from Manchester United’s Hertfordshire hotel on the morning of their 1976 upset defeat to Southampton, manager Tommy Docherty can be seen enjoying a pint of mid-morning lager.

5) Sunderland credited their relaxed attitude at the 1973 final to a ‘laughing box’ bought for a few pesetas in Tenerife. During a live pre-match interview with the BBC’s Barry Davies, the cheap device which played a recording of laughter was deployed when Davies asked Dave Watson if he was as good a centre-forward as he was a defender. The ensuing mayhem lasted 90 seconds.

6) When a high-ranking member of the Royal Family attended the 1981 final, Manchester City fans chanted, “There’s only one Queen Mother”.

7) Margaret Thatcher, then leader of the opposition, was among the guests of honour at the 1978 final between Ipswich and Arsenal. Asked by TV afterwards to name her man of the match, she responded: “I thought the No.10, Whymark, played very well.” Alas she’s been guilty of the old sin of not writing in the team changes on her programme. Whymark had dropped out of Bobby Robson’s side with injury and David Geddes took his shirt instead.

8) Liverpool legend Tommy Smith’s decision to play in a veterans’ penalty shootout before the Anfield outfit's 1996 final against Manchester United proved costly. Smith was claiming incapacity benefit at the time but after seeing him tuck away his spot-kick, the local dole office cut his payments from £132 to £13 a week.

9) Promoted to chief celebrity greeter on the old Wembley’s Olympic Gallery in 1999, a young Gabby Yorath excelled herself by asking referee Peter Jones who he wanted to win the match.

10) The match ball used for the 1976 FA Cup final was put together by a youngster who had written to TV’s Jim’ll Fix It asking whether he could have the honour. Unfortunately – and probably due to no fault of the lad’s – it sprung a leak in the opening 10 minutes and had to be replaced.

Fancy winning £3,000 for FREE this month? Play Mirror Football Streak for your chance to win cash prizes! Start predicting now!