Chelsea history celebrated 80 years on after record attendance set for Moscow Dinamo game

Biggest ever crowd at a club ground in England came to watch Chelsea play the Russian side Moscow Dynamo in 1945 just after the end of World War Two

Exactly 80 years ago one of the most famous matches in football history was played. Just after World War Two Chelsea took on the Russian side Moscow Dynamo in an extraordinary game in front of well over 100,000 spectators.

There were incredible scenes with the match even being featured on the Daily Mirror front page – which was just unheard of in those days. Under the headline: “Dynamo crowd break into houses” was a photo of hundreds of fans on top of the stand at Stamford Bridge.

We reported how “soccer fans who failed to get in to see the Chelsea v Moscow Dynamo game at Stamford Bridge yesterday broke down the doors of nearby houses and ran upstairs in the hope of seeing the game from the roof. Police threw them out.” Now a new book “From Soviet Bouquets to Shed Banners”, by respected author and historian Tim Rolls, looks back at the iconic match.

He spoke to Chelsea supporters whose dads and grandads were actually at the game which ended in a 3-3 draw. It’s believed to be the biggest ever crowd played at a club ground in England.

Rolls described the crazy scenes to the Mirror: “Many of those locked out were not deterred, amidst scenes of utter chaos and near-hysteria, as a frenzied desperation to see the game took over.

“Servicemen and civilians burst through gates and police barriers, under police horses, blithely crossed live train and tube lines and stormed through a car park, using ladders and climbing spiked barricades, cemetery walls and girders to do so.

“Ten minutes after kick-off, the staff entrance at the Fulham Road end was forced open using gates torn from their hinges as a battering ram and thousands more stormed in.

“Estimates suggest that in addition to the 74,496 officially in the ground, maybe 30,000, maybe 40,000, maybe more, got in one way or another.

“It was almost certainly the largest ever at a game in England, with the exception of the equally chaotic 1923 FA Cup Final. The referee regularly had to ask the police to clear the touchlines so corners or throw- ins could be taken.

Chelsea’s official historian Rick Glanvill, who has just completed the epic “Chelsea FC The Official history”, said: “The Dynamo visit resonated down the decades among the fan base because it was simply sensational.

“It was the combination of the euphoria of peace, the mystique of a club filled with players from the country that stalled Hitler, unprecedented media hype at the first Russian club on these shores and an extraordinary mass of football-starved Londoners skipping work or school to see them live.”

Rolls went on to explain: “World War Two had ended a matter of months earlier. Families were still mourning lost loved ones. Cities and towns, including London, were still suffering from the devastating effect of bombing – bomb sites, wrecked houses and businesses, and the rest. “Men were still being demobilised from the armed forces. Rationing was still in place, and, for most, a grim austerity dominated the British economy.

“The populace was desperate for a return to some sort of normality as soon as possible, and that included watching live sport, particularly football. At relatively short notice, given the complexities, a Moscow Dynamo tour of the UK had been arranged.

“Slightly bizarre as it may seem now, the Russians were almost seen as exotic, and, certainly, very few London football supporters had ever seen an overseas team play. “They were the first Russian side ever to play in England. Russia had been Britain’s allies in the war, there was a wave of inquisitiveness, respect and admiration for them as a people and the British government were very keen that the visit be seen as an unqualified success.

“Interest in the game was enormous, and a crowd of around 60,000 was apparently anticipated, surely not a problem for a stadium with a record attendance of 82,905 against Arsenal a decade earlier.

“But anyone who thought that only 60,000 or so would turn up the following day to watch the game was in for a surprise. Supporters started arriving at the ground before 8.00am and hours before the 2.30pm kick-off. Fulham Road was completely rammed, as was the West London tube network. Traffic jams, in the days when car ownership was comparatively low, stretched two miles.

“Frank Porter, the oldest gate official on duty, told the Daily Mirror ‘I have never seen anything like it.’”

Frank Sarath was at the game, aged ten. His son Greig still has his personal written memory of that day which said. “Simply an unforgettable experience with ‘Pops’ (Frank’s father). He finished up on the halfway line against a crush barrier with three broken ribs, whilst I was against the back of the net at the Shed End. “The greyhound track was absolutely packed, no touchlines were visible as all four sides of the ground were a wall of people, mostly kids who had been passed over the heads of the crowd. Fantastic memories..”

Barry Cracknell’s grandad, Bill, took Barry’s dad Gordon and his Uncle Ken to the game. Barry still proudly owns the press cuttings his dad kept.

He said: My dad’s scrapbook has some unique pictures that he took from newspapers the day after the Moscow Dynamo game. It was the first game that my grandad took him too when dad was 12. He said the crowds outside were massive and everyone was excited to see the mysterious Russians. “I only found out towards the end of his life that he was at the game and that he had the amazing scrapbook. It is something that I now cherish. “

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