1970 FA Cup final

1970 FA Cup final
Event	1969–70 FA Cup
	Chelsea won after a replay
Final
	After extra time
Date	11 April 1970
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Referee	Eric Jennings (Stourbridge)
Attendance	100,000
Replay
	After extra time
Date	29 April 1970
Venue	Old Trafford, Manchester
Referee	Eric Jennings (Stourbridge)
Attendance	62,078
	← 1969 1971 →

The 1970 FA Cup final was contested by Chelsea and Leeds United. The match took place on 11 April 1970 at Wembley Stadium and ended 2–2, making it the first FA Cup final to require a replay since 1912. The replay was staged at Old Trafford and played on 29 April; after four hours of fiercely contested football, Chelsea eventually won 2–1. To date, this is the last time both the final and replay were scheduled to be played in April; all subsequent FA Cup final ties have been scheduled to be played in May, with only the 2020 FA Cup final delayed and played later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leeds and Chelsea were two of England's top teams that season, having finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the First Division. The match marked a clash of footballing contrasts: Chelsea were regarded as "flamboyant"^[1]^[2] southerners, whereas Leeds were seen as uncompromising northerners. Neither had won the FA Cup before, though both had recently been runners-up, Leeds in 1965 and Chelsea in 1967.

It was the only time between 1923 and 2000 that an FA Cup Final was played at a stadium other than Wembley. The replay attracted a British television audience of more than 28 million, the second highest UK audience for a sports broadcast (behind the 1966 World Cup Final), and the sixth highest audience for any UK broadcast.^[3] It has been ranked among the greatest ever FA Cup finals,^[4] and named as the "most brutal game" in the history of English football, due to the large number of fouls committed by both teams.^[5]

The match was the first FA Cup final to be reported on by a woman, as Mary Raine provided a match report for Radio 4’s 6 o'clock news.^[6]

^ "I grew up a Chelsea fan" Blackburn Citizen, 13 April 2007
^ "Chelsea’s where are they now?" Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine FootballFanCast.com, 23 July 2010
^ "Dave Sexton obituary". The Guardian. 26 November 2012.
^ THE 20 GREATEST FA CUP FINALS OF ALL TIME
^ "1970 FA Cup final: The most brutal game in English football history". BBC Sport. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
^ "Female Football Pioneers: Mary Raine and Patricia Gregory". BBC. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2023.

[1] "I grew up a Chelsea fan" Blackburn Citizen, 13 April 2007

[2] "Chelsea’s where are they now?" Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine FootballFanCast.com, 23 July 2010

[3] "Dave Sexton obituary". The Guardian. 26 November 2012.

[4] THE 20 GREATEST FA CUP FINALS OF ALL TIME

[5] "1970 FA Cup final: The most brutal game in English football history". BBC Sport. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.

[6] "Female Football Pioneers: Mary Raine and Patricia Gregory". BBC. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2023.

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