Wolves celebrate Cup centenary

The 100th anniversary of Wolves' remarkable FA Cup victory over Newcastle United could not be more timely. As Wolves battle it out to make the promotion play-offs, the squad may draw strength from the inspiring story of the 1908 FA Cup final which the club started as absolute no-hopers and finished as valiant and deserving winners.nextpage

The club is hosting a Centenary Cup Final dinner to commemorate the victory with relatives of the game's hero Kenneth Hunt and club captain Billy Wooldridge as guests of honour. Wolves historians Pat Quirke, who has written a book on Hunt, and Roy Caddick describe Newcastle as "the Manchester United of their time", fielding a team studded with stars.nextpage

By contrast Wolves had finished ninth in the old Second Division that season, and were made up of experienced old professionals with a nucleus of local lads, many of them steelworkers by trade. Roy Caddick says: "It was an impossible mismatch. It would be like Man United playing Barnsley now."nextpage

Geordie confidence was so high that the club had requested permission to have the team photographed with the Cup before the game had been played. But, as in the best FA Cup stories, the underdogs won, and won by a convincing 3-1, with Kenneth Hunt, an Oxford undergraduate one year off being ordained as a vicar, credited with inspiring the victory.nextpage

Hunt, whose parents lived in Chapel Ash, went on to earn two Olympic gold medals, in 1908 and 1920, and was the last of only three amateur players to win an FA Cup winners' medal. Pat Quirke says: "Hunt was the archetypal Edwardian hero. His display of grit and determination against great odds endeared him not only to Wolves fans but to the English people."nextpage

The team travelled to London on the day of the match in a train decorated with flags and bunting, and a banner announcing 'Here Come The Wolves'. Wolves began shakily and were under pressure for the first half-hour, then Hunt scored, his first for the club that season, and the tide of the game turned in their favour. The team was given a heroes' welcome home, carried shoulder high to the Molineux Hotel.