{"id":20281,"date":"2026-02-04T13:49:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:49:35","slug":"john-lennon-and-the-1952-fa-cup-final-an-unlikely-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281","title":{"rendered":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rock and roll has always had an affinity with the beautiful game, whether it\u2019s Rod Stewart\u2019s undying love for Celtic or The Wedding Present and their affinity with George Best. Despite coming from one of the most football-crazed cities on the face of the Earth, though,\u00a0The Beatles\u00a0never espoused much of an interest in the sport, making John Lennon\u2019s connection to the 1952 FA Cup Final all the stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of you whose memories don\u2019t stretch that far back, or aren\u2019t lifelong Magpies fans, the 1952 FA Cup Final saw Newcastle United win their second consecutive FA Cup, thanks to an 84th-minute header from George Robledo, beating Arsenal\u2019s George Swindin. While the winner was hardly one of Robledo\u2019s most graceful goals, it was certainly among his most important. Not only did it keep the cup in the North East for another year, but it also inspired a future songwriting icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although in his adult years, the allure of music, drugs, and, eventually, activism tended to overshadow every other interest in John Lennon\u2019s life, he had not been immune from the pull of football during his childhood back in Woolton, Liverpool. When he wasn\u2019t being shot at for stealing apples, the young Lennon was quite artistically inclined and, as an 11-year-old, chose to immortalise Robledo\u2019s FA Cup-winning goal as a drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is not lovely strange for a young boy to draw scenes from football matches, it does seem rather odd that Lennon would hang on to that drawing for multiple decades, despite having no affinity to either Newcastle, Arsenal, or the sport of football in general, but nevertheless, the drawing ended up appearing on the album cover of his 1974 record Walls and Bridges<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the songwriter\u2019s most troubled, off-the-wall recording experiences, containing some of his most experimental and autobiographical offerings, Wall and Bridges<\/em> is rarely cited among Lennon\u2019s greatest efforts, but its strange album cover left many listeners scratching their heads for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Walls<\/a>
John Lennon\u2019s Walls and Bridges, 1974. (Credits: Album Cover)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After all, very few long-haired Lennon devotees would glance at the album cover and immediately identify its upper third as being a depiction of the winning goal in the 1952 FA Cup final \u2013 particularly because, back in 1974, there were few ways of rewatching that fateful final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only in 2013, in fact, that researcher Nestor Flores connected those dots while looking into the life and times of the Chilean footballer who had forfeited any need to buy a pint in Newcastle during his spell at the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether Lennon was consciously harking back to that 1950s cup final, or simply collating various childhood drawings that \u2013 for reasons unknown \u2013 he had kept in his possession, is ultimately unknown. It is worth noting, however, that Lennon lived at number nine, Newcastle Road, Liverpool for much of his childhood, and Newcastle\u2019s number nine, Jackie Milburn, appears alongside Robledo on that childhood drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no secret that Lennon had a\u00a0lifelong obsession\u00a0with the number nine, and Walls and Bridges contained one of the multiple songs in which he used that digit, \u2018#9 Dream\u2019. It could either be argued, then, that Lennon\u2019s obsession with the number was already present during his childhood, or that its appearance on the drawing was coincidental at the time, but deliberately used on the album cover by the songwriter for that very reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, the album cover of Walls and Bridges and its connection to the 1952 FA Cup final remains perhaps one of the strangest, most unexpected sporting connections in the history of rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fFXxcEArZpg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rock and roll has always had an affinity with the beautiful game, whether it\u2019s Rod Stewart\u2019s undying love…\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-musician"},"yoast_head":"\nJohn Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rock and roll has always had an affinity with the beautiful game, whether it\u2019s Rod Stewart\u2019s undying love…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArtGardenHub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ozzy Osbourne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ozzy Osbourne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ozzy Osbourne\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5\"},\"headline\":\"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\"},\"wordCount\":621,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"MUSICIAN\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\",\"name\":\"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/\",\"name\":\"ArtGardenHub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5\",\"name\":\"Ozzy Osbourne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ozzy Osbourne\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub","og_description":"Rock and roll has always had an affinity with the beautiful game, whether it\u2019s Rod Stewart\u2019s undying love…","og_url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281","og_site_name":"ArtGardenHub","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Ozzy Osbourne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ozzy Osbourne","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281"},"author":{"name":"Ozzy Osbourne","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5"},"headline":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection","datePublished":"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281"},"wordCount":621,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","articleSection":["MUSICIAN"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281","url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281","name":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection - ArtGardenHub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","datePublished":"2026-02-04T05:49:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-04T05:49:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","width":1200,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?p=20281#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Lennon and the 1952 FA Cup Final: An unlikely connection"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/","name":"ArtGardenHub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aa5286ae2e0f09b835a7027a6e5677f5","name":"Ozzy Osbourne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2be62656c7fbcc6bbb074dc244efa6410ae005d0581f2683567a31fd33d4e454?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ozzy Osbourne"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/John-Lennon-1952-FA-Cup-Final-Split-Far-Out-Magazine.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20283,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20281\/revisions\/20283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artgardenhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}