That treasured final in London was near guaranteed to be staged in the glorious Saturday afternoon sun. That likelihood is now diminished, not by the country’s worsening climate, but the commercial priorities which require a post-5pm kick-off. The eyes of the nation once focused in on that one match in May. Now, even the attention of the football supporter may be elsewhere with the Cup final having given up its status as the season’s concluding event. Instead, we have a round of top-flight matches a week on from the showpiece, and incredibly, have recently been forced to accept league action taking place on the same day as the cup winners were being crowned.
It has been suggested, with the intention of pacifying those in charge at the country’s elite clubs, that all replays could be scrapped. Already, the days of yore when teams could meet seemingly week after week in an attempt to separate them are long gone, with the introduction in 1991 of penalties after two deadlocked games.
The last ever semi-final replay in 1999 was one of the greatest F.A. Cup clashes those fortunate enough to behold it will have seen. After Roy Keane was sent-off, and Peter Schmiechel had saved a Dennis Bergkamp penalty, Ryan Giggs scored one of the goals of our time to take Manchester United another step toward their remarkable treble with a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Villa Park.
No matter that we’d been privileged to watch such a gargantuan contest, semi-final replays were history. Astoundingly, the F.A., desperate to curry favour with F.I.F.A. as they fruitlessly sought to host the 2006 World Cup finals, encouraged United to withdraw from the following year’s competition in favour of travelling to Brazil to partake in the glorified exhibition, ‘Club World Championship’.
The common theme running through this lament is that with every change imposed by the F.A., the English game’s governing body have blemished the lustre of their cup. Essentially, that damage need not be irretrievable. Along with Luton Town overturning Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Macclesfield Town’s late triumph over Championship high-flyers Cardiff City, the most joyous sight of 3rd round Saturday was the ecstatic eruptions among masses of away followers in response to each of Chelsea’s five strikes at Southampton, and most tellingly, Manchester United fans, so rich with success but not having seen their team lift the F.A. Cup since 2004, upon Robin Van Persie’s at the death equaliser at Upton Park.
The message is clear. The fans care about the F.A. Cup. Leave it alone.
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