The First Wembley Programme, 1923
programme printers for the Empire Stadium, 1923
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 19% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyThe programme printed for the first Wembley final — Bolton Wanderers against West Ham United, 28 April 1923 — and sold, optimistically, to a crowd of a hundred and twenty-six thousand so tightly packed that opening one was an achievement. The cover carries the Empire Stadium in its first spring, the twin towers barely dry. Most copies were pulped underfoot that afternoon, which is why a survivor reads like a relic of the day itself: the team sheets, the advertisements, the kick-off hour of a match that famously started forty-five minutes late. The ephemera outlived the emergency.
- Maker
- programme printers for the Empire Stadium
- Date
- 1923
- Medium of the original
- Poster
- Original held by
- The Football Association, 1923 · Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- The Football Association, 1923 · Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-01090
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 8 x 12 in | 127 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 18% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | 85 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 63 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 51 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 42 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 25 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,020 x 1,583 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 40, lights 228 of 255; 0.1% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 75.63
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
The Terraces
Before television, the game was ink.
All 53 pieces from The Terraces
