On 29 April 1950 at Wembley, Denis Compton — already England's leading cricketer — won the FA Cup with Arsenal. He played the entire match on the left wing as Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0, both goals scored by Reg Lewis. His brother Leslie played centre-half. Six weeks later Denis was again at Lord's. He remains one of the few sportsmen to have played a senior football final and a Test match in the same calendar year.
Compton had played first-team football for Arsenal during the war as a guest and as a regular thereafter. The Compton brothers — Leslie at centre-half, Denis on the wing — were Arsenal stalwarts. Both were Middlesex cricketers; Leslie kept wicket and was capped 12 times by England.
Arsenal's cup run had been steady rather than spectacular. The semi-final 1-0 win over Chelsea was settled by an Lewis header. Liverpool came in as marginal favourites with Bill Jones in form.
Compton had played for Arsenal since 1936 as an amateur and signed professional terms after the war. By 1950 he was 32, on his last legs in football, and had signed for one more season. The FA Cup run took Arsenal through Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea, Burnley, Leeds and Chelsea. Manchester United's manager Matt Busby had publicly tipped Arsenal as worthy winners.
The 1950 final was played in front of 100,000 at Wembley. Liverpool, captained by Phil Taylor, were favourites. Arsenal's Tom Whittaker chose Compton on the left wing, a position he had held all season. Reg Lewis scored after 17 minutes, drilling a low shot past Cyril Sidlow. He added a second in the 64th minute. Compton spent the match probing and crossing; his brother Leslie marshalled the back line. Arsenal won 2-0.
Denis collected his FA Cup winners' medal in the same season he topped the Middlesex batting averages. He retired from football at the end of the season at his brother's insistence after a pre-match brandy joke that became a Wembley legend ('I'm fine, just nervy — you take the dressing room'). His football career had been interrupted by the war, but he had played 60 league matches for Arsenal and won the league title in 1948.
17th minute: Reg Lewis opens scoring.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-0 up.
64th minute: Lewis adds second.
Compton plays full 90 on left wing.
Final whistle: Arsenal 2-0; FA Cup won.
Brothers Denis and Leslie collect medals together.
Six weeks later Denis is back at Lord's for Middlesex.
1936
Compton signs for Arsenal as an amateur.
1948
League title with Arsenal.
29 April 1950
FA Cup final won 2-0 against Liverpool.
May 1950
Compton resumes for Middlesex.
End of 1950 season
Retires from football due to knee injury.
1957
Final Test for England.
“I had not made a tackle in months and I was not going to start at Wembley.”
“Denis was a footballer who played cricket as a hobby; some weeks it was the other way round.”
Denis Compton retired from professional football in 1950 due to chronic knee problems — a legacy of a war-time injury. He continued as a cricketer for Middlesex and England until 1957. His Brylcreem campaign expanded immediately on the back of FA Cup publicity.
Arsenal won the league again in 1953 without him; Leslie Compton played until 1953. The Compton brothers remain the only siblings in the post-war era to have won an FA Cup and the County Championship in the same career.
One of the great dual-sport careers of the twentieth century. Compton's FA Cup medal and his unfinished cricket reputation gave him a platform unlike any other British sportsman of his era. The Brylcreem campaign and the Arsenal cup-winning year together made 1950 his peak as a cultural figure.
Compton's FA Cup medal sits alongside his Test centuries as a symbol of an almost-vanished era when major British sportsmen could play multiple sports professionally. His knee, repeatedly operated on, became a national health-news story.
The 1950 FA Cup final remains a cherished Arsenal day. Compton's name is inscribed on the Arsenal honours board at the Emirates Stadium, alongside his brother's. He is one of only three men since the war to win an FA Cup and play Test cricket — the others being Andrew Ducat and Willie Watson.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.