1936 FA Cup Final - Pre-match

Pre-match

Arsenal had most recently appeared in the final in 1932, being defeated by Newcastle United, while their most recent FA Cup victory came two seasons earlier in 1930 against Huddersfield Town. Meanwhile, Sheffield United had won the title in their previous appearance, beating Cardiff City in the 1925 final. Arsenal had been the more successful team in recent years, having won three First Division titles in succession in the past few seasons; while Sheffield United were keen to win the trophy after the success of rival team Sheffield Wednesday in the 1935 Final.

Both teams had provided players to the England national football team earlier in the month for a match against Scotland, with Arsenal providing George Male, Jack Crayston and Cliff Bastin, while Sheffield United gave Bobby Barclay. Alex James, despite being Arsenal's captain and having previously played for the Scottish international team, was not chosen for that match, which resulted in a 1–1 draw, enabling Scotland to win the 1936 British Home Championship.

Wembley bosses were in dispute with newsreel companies over the broadcast rights for the 1936 final. Gaumont British Film Company initially had offered £900 to film inside the ground, but this was refused by the authorities who wanted a sum of £1,500. They later backed down and said that they would accept the initial offer, but the film company was now only willing to pay £500. A solution could not be reached, and the media were banned from inside of the stadium. To get around the ban and be able to report on the match, a number of autogyros were hired to fly the reporters over the stadium giving them a birds–eye view of the match, with the only filming inside Wembley conducted by the official stadium cameraman. Autogyros had been used to film the final in 1935, and also by the Metropolitan police for crowd control.

It was the first year that commentators were used in the broadcast of an FA Cup final, with the BBC describing it as an "experiment". The first commentators were Ivan Sharpe and Norman Creek, who broadcast from 2:30 pm onwards before the game to take in the pre–match entertainment.

Arsenal played in red and white shirts in an FA Cup final for the first time, on previous occasions in 1930 and 32 they wore fully red shirts. Additionally, before the 1967/68 season, Arsenal only wore team badges on their shirts on special occasions, such as FA Cup Finals. The 1936 cup final was the fourth occasion such a badge was worn. Sheffield United also wore crested red and white shirts, their vertical stripe design.