A dramatic sporting moment frozen in time 70 years ago remains as popular as ever with football fans, and even inspired a statue.
One of the finest players of his era – Tom Finney of Preston North End – was photographed during a deluge at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in August 1956.
Like a water-skier cutting through the wake of a speedboat, Finney somehow manages to stay upright and in control.
These days, there is little doubt that top-flight referees facing similar conditions would abandon the match.
But in August 1956, the Football League first division game – the equivalent of the Premier League – continued and the players were expected to roll their sleeves up and get on with it.
Decades before the advent of digital cameras and images appearing on readers’ screens within minutes of them being taken, the photographer who captured The Splash would also have had no idea of how amazing a picture he had just taken.
That would only have emerged later in the eerie light of a darkroom as his roll of film was developed.
‘Preston legend’
Finney had already played for England at two World Cups (in 1950 and 1954) and was a household name – the David Beckham of his day.
So many eyes – and photographers’ lenses – would have been trained on him that wet late summer’s day in 1956.
Marauding down the right wing, Finney slipped and slid through a massive puddle, sending water high into the air.
John Horton was there for the Press Association, which supplies photographs to media organisations around the country.
He somehow managed to catch Finney’s wave perfectly.
As one auction house which sells replicas of the image later put it: “Even though he was sliding in a sea of water, Finney still managed to maintain control of the ball.
“The photograph has become symbolic of football’s gritty, old-fashioned spirit, and it captures the essence of Finney as a player: resilient, skilful, and unwavering, no matter the conditions.
“It symbolises the tenacity and adaptability of players in the 1950s, who often played through difficult conditions that would see modern matches postponed.”
Finney, a one-club man who resisted offers to leave his beloved hometown team, only ever earned a maximum of £20 per week (about £400 in today’s money) because of Football League rules capping wages at the time.
To boost his income, the future knight of the realm famously continued to combine his football with being a plumber.
A year after he was demobbed as a tank driver in World War Two, Finney made the first of his 433 appearances for North End and went on to score 210 goals.
For England, he won 76 caps and found the net 30 times. His final World Cup appearance came in 1958.
At 31, Preston fan Jack Bridge is of course way too young to have ever seen Finney in action.
While Jack has watched a handful of videos, it is The Splash which holds a special place in his heart.
“He is our greatest player,” he said.
“I think of my Grandad, who used to tell me stories about him and how if he wasn’t playing people would leave the ground.
“That photograph is iconic of a man who is a Preston icon – when he died [in 2014 at at the age of 91] the crowds were five deep lining the streets.”
Finney said he was surprised by how much attention the photograph received at the time and in the years that followed.
The picture has been reprinted in countless football magazines and books and even adorned the Preston North End’s manager’s office, T-shirts and mugs.
And when Finney appeared on ITV’s This Is Your Life programme, The Splash provided the backdrop.
When North End redeveloped their Deepdale stadium in the 1990s it was clear that a stand would be named after him.
There was also a desire for a statue to be built in his honour.
Local sculptor Peter Hodgkinson said he had no doubt what it should look like.
“There’s not a pub in Preston that doesn’t have this picture on the wall,” explained the 61-year-old PNE fan.
His statue was finished in 2002, complete with fountains as a way of recreating the iconic photograph.
“It was a challenge on many levels,” Hodgkinson recalled.
“I was very young at the time and all I had to work on was some grainy photocopies.
“These days it would have been a lot easier.”
Looking back on his work, Hodgkinson said: “I always think I can do better but I am proud of it as a fan.”
Hodgkinson, who met Finney after the statue was unveilved, said: “He was a very humble man and was a bit overwhelmed that a statue had been created in his lifetime.”
Horton, who was 82 at the time, could not attend the event but he was said by his son to have been “flattered” and “amused” by all of the attention his photograph was continuing to receive so many years after it had been taken.
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