Considered to be the best tournament in world football, the FA cup has had its doubters over the past few years. With teams fielding out weaker and inexperienced players do the bigger teams really take it seriously anymore?
From the qualifiers to the 3rd round draw, non-league teams from all the over the country play for one thing, to draw an away tie against a Man United or a Liverpool. There’s nothing better than the 3rd round draw of the cup. Lower league teams finally getting the chance to play against the Premier league big boys and having the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to play in front of thousands of people.
But now with the Premier league being claimed to be the best and toughest, a lot of people say it’s not taken seriously by the bigger clubs as their more focused on the league title, champion’s league spots or fighting to stay out the relegation zone.
Many of the Cup’s criticisms are of its poor attendance’s. Attendance wise, many of the poorly attended games are actually due to the smaller clubs in the Cup, having tiny grounds that are filled to capacity for their big day out. But when we see a club like Stoke draw a lower league side the stadium is half full.
For occasions like this, reduced ticket prices should take place to help grab the attentions of families and people who can’t usually afford to see a Premier league game. This perhaps in the long run would help promote attendances for cup games and get more people in the clubs community to be involved.
Personally I still feel the FA cup has alot to offer. With clubs like Manchester City winning their first trophy in 35 years and Crawley Town going to Old Trafford and losing only 1-0 to Man Utd, there’s still much excitement within the teams and supporters and it offers a great day out for the club as a whole.
Overall I think this argument or discussion will carry on for years to come. Does it really matter if the likes of Sutton United play Arsenal reserves at the Emirates in front of 30,000? Not really. If anything it gives clubs a big boost in money and with the FA cup being internationally known, lower league teams are getting free advertising and recognition around the world.
Time will show whether the tournament is still one of the best but until then this will always be a topic where people will have to agree to dis-agree .
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