Ball from Cardiff’s 1927 Cup victory found on wardrobe

May 17 2008 by Lisa Jones, Western Mail

This piece of leather is a potent symbol of the hopes and dreams of thousands of Welsh football fans.

It is the ball which was played in the 1927 FA Cup final, when Cardiff City beat Arsenal at Wembley stadium.

Now City fans across the globe are hoping it will bring today’s team good luck as they face Portsmouth.

The ball takes pride of place at the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, based at St Fagans Museum, Cardiff, and was unwrapped from its tissue paper packaging in advance of the big match.

Geoff Bray, from the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, said it came to light when a reporter for ITV was interviewing a doctor in Tredegar, who pulled the ball from a cardboard box on top of a wardrobe.

He said: “Tom Farquharson, the goal keeper from the 1927 squad, acquired the ball after the match.

“He donated it to the church, who auctioned it.

“That’s how it came into the hands of the doctor’s wife.

“It had been there for more than 70 years.

“Seeing it makes the whole thing seem so much more alive.

“If we could acquire today’s ball, that would be even better.”