Wembley’s status as the home of English football was sealed with its very first match, the 1923 FA Cup final.

Wembley's status as the home of English football was sealed with its very first match, the 1923 FA Cup final.

But had it not been for a horse called Billy, the game might have been remembered for farce and tragedy.

Built on the site of “Watkins’ Folly”, a bungled attempt in 1891 to build a steel tower to rival the Eiffel Tower, the Empire Stadium, as it was originally named, was the centrepiece of the Empire Exhibition of 1924.

It took only ten months to construct, at a cost of £750,000 (around £30million today).

No tickets were issued before the final, between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham – the first and last time this would happen – and a tidal wave of fans poured into the new stadium in Northwest London.

Bright sunshine and the presence of King George V and a London team swelled the numbers to unmanageable levels.

The Times reported that, though Wembley was built to hold 125,000, “at least 300,000 must have turned up”.

As fans streamed through the gates, the crowd in the lower stands was forced further and further forward.

Soon thousands engulfed the pitch, while scores of police tried in vain to move them back.

Eventually they were pushed back – but only by the arrival of mounted police and in particular PC George Scorey on his horse Billy – a grey who appeared white in the newsreel footage.

“Don’t you want to see the game?” Scorey asked the crowd as he rode through them, urging that they “join hands and heave” backwards.

Billy pushed some fans back by nuzzling them with his nose. The photo of George and Billy, surrounded by an endless mass of spectators, is one of English football’s most famous images.

By 3.45pm the pitch had been cleared, but only just.

The game went ahead with fans standing on the touchline.

Ted Vizard, of Bolton Wanderers, said: “It was an unforgettable sight, with a solid wall of spectators round the touchlines. It felt as though we were going to play in a human box.”

Bolton won the Cup 2-0, with a goal in each half.

The game was halted twice when the crowd spilled on to the pitch.

It was a remarkable debut for Wembley, made all the more so by the fact no one died in the crush.

The stadium went on to host innumerable classic sporting encounters, including Rugby League Challenge Cup finals, the 1948 Olympics, European Cup finals and the unforgettable World Cup victory in 1966.

Only in the 1950s did it begin hosting regular England fixtures.

Before the visit of Argentina in 1951, the only internationals England played there were against the Scots, with others played at club grounds up and down the country.

In May 2000, the old Wembley hosted its final game, a 1-0 defeat to Germany.

Seven years later, a new Wembley opened. The iconic twin towers had been replaced by a 1,750-tonne steel arch towering 133metres above the pitch.

The capacity is now 90,000, the facilities state-of-the-art.

Billy lives on in people’s memories. In 2005, the new footbridge linking the rebuilt stadium to the local town centre was named the White Horse Bridge after a public vote.