Brighton & Hove Albion 1932-33 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1932-33 Season Overview

The 1932-33 season was one of the most memorable in Brighton & Hove Albion history thanks to an astonishing FA Cup adventure. Back in March 1932, Brighton secretary Albert Underwood had forgotten to enter the competition for the following campaign, which meant that if the Albion wanted to take part then they would have to start with the country’s non-league clubs in the qualifying rounds.

What followed was an extraordinary adventure which started against Sussex County League side Shoreham in the first qualifying round and ended 11 matches later in a fifth round replay against West Ham United.

A crowd of 5,500 supporters turned up for the visit of Shoreham to the Goldstone Ground on Saturday 1^st October 1932, intrigued by the prospect of the professionals of the Albion taking on the amateur Musselmen. The result was Brighton’s biggest ever win in a competitive fixture as they ran out 12-0 winners with Arthur Attwood netting six, another club-record.

The second qualifying round paired the Albion with another County League side, Worthing on Saturday 15^th October 1932. The Rebels agreed to switch the game from Woodside Road to the Goldstone so that they might pocket a larger share of a bigger gate receipt and 5,952 were treated to another big Brighton win, this time 7-1.

Southern Amateur League outfit Hastings & St Leonards provided the opposition in the third qualifying round on Saturday 29^th October. Hastings declined the Albion’s offer to move the game to Hove, instead opting to host at the Pilot Field were a record crowd of 7,723 saw Brighton run out 9-0 winners.

The Albion’s final game of the qualifying competition took place on Saturday 12^th November 1932 away against Athenian League side Barnet. The Bees were one of the best non-league outfits in the country at the time but Brighton easily swatted them aside at Underhill, winning 4-0 to reach the first round proper.

A trip to Crystal Palace was next on the agenda on Saturday 26^th November 1932. Most people would have expected the Albion’s run to come to an end at Selhurst Park given that the sides had already met twice in the league with Palace winning 5-0 and 2-1. Brighton had other ideas though and won 2-1.

Two games were needed in round two for the Albion to eliminate Division Three North side Wrexham. A 0-0 draw at the Goldstone on Saturday 10^th December 1932 was followed by a 3-2 extra time win for Brighton at the Racecourse Ground four days later. Charlie Webb’s men had trailed 2-0 at the break, before launching a marvelous second half comeback to eventually win it in the 108^th minute.

Brighton’s reward for their efforts over the previous seven games was to draw the mighty Chelsea at home in the third round. The tie took place on Saturday 14^th January 1933 and Attwood scored after just 30 seconds to shock the Division One visitors. Tug Wilson added a second on 65 minutes and although Chelsea pulled one back, Brighton held on for a famous shock victory.

Bradford (Park Avenue) came to Hove in the fourth round on Saturday 28^th January 1933 and were easily swatted aside 2-1. Cup hysteria was by now at fever pitch for the visit of West Ham United in the fifth round and a Goldstone crowd of 32,310 packed in for the visit of the Hammers, an attendance record that would stand for the next quarter of a century.

When Reg Wilkinson and Attwood put the Albion 2-0 ahead with 30 minutes on the clock, it looked like Brighton were heading to the quarter finals of the competition for the first time. West Ham showed their quality though to level things up with 10 minutes remaining, before running out 1-0 winners in a Wednesday afternoon which required extra time. After nine rounds, 11 matches, two periods of extra time and 43 goals, Brighton’s FA Cup run was at an end.

Unsurprisingly, the Albion’s form in Division Three South suffered as a result of the extra games that the cup adventures foisted upon the fixture list. The campaign started well with three wins from the opening fives games. Gillingham were defeated 1-0 at the Goldstone on Saturday 27^th August 1932, Watford hammered 4-0 at Vicarage Road on Saturday 3^rd September 1932 and Cardiff City beaten 1-0 at home on Saturday 10^th September 1932

The Albion failed to win in their next seven games, slipping as low as 19^th following a 5-1 hammering away at Swindon Town on Saturday 2^nd November 1932. A run of 10 wins in 13 league games gave hope of an unlikely promotion bid and when Easter weekend, the Albion sat fifth in the table.

Because of the cup run, they faced a jam packed fixture list with seven games crammed into the final three weeks of the season – having already played up to 10 times more than their rivals. Fatigue crept in and the Albion lost the first five of those final seven, including back-to-back 2-1 reversals against eventual champions Brentford.

The season did finish with a flourish, a 2-2 draw away at Coventry City in the penultimate fixture on Saturday 29^th April 1933 being followed by a 7-0 victory over Bristol City on Saturday 6^th May but the damage had been done and the Albion had to settle for 12^th position, some 20 points behind Brentford.

Attwood ended the campaign as top scorer with 35 goals; 20 in Division Three South, four in the FA Cup proper and 11 in the qualifying competition. Bobby Farrell and Potter Smith missed just one match apiece in the bumper 53 game season.