FA Cup: What made the competition so brilliant back in its glory days?

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On FA Cup Third Round weekend, South Wales based writer David Collins looks at this famous old competition and why he finds it so unrecognisable from the glory days of his teens.

Modern football is hard work. 

In the earlier days, we had two channels, one live TV club game a year and matches kicked off at three o’clock. Clubs kept the same kit year on year and I could name every ground in the league without pausing for breath.

In the modern era though, well it is just so much to keep up with. Sky Sports, BT, social media, Monday Night Football, wall-to-wall football. This is great for the armchair fan but not so easy for those who go to games frequently.

For example, could not FA Cup matches commence at the proper, traditional time of 3pm on a Saturday?

Of the four 2021 quarter-finals, not one commenced at this time and how many did so from earlier rounds? Is the magic not lost somewhere with games buried away in the TV schedules? Is 6pm really a good time for football?

In 2016, Cardiff City played Shrewsbury Town on a Sunday morning. A crowd of just 4,782 watched two much-changed sides toil on a muddy, deteriorating pitch in a stadium that holds 33,280.

All games in the Sixth Round, at least, could commence at 3pm on a Saturday and they can still be live on TV. Many domestic games already take place amidst the Champions League TV schedules. Brighton was packed for the visit of the Bluebirds recently, despite the live draw of the Champions League for the armchair fan.

Next, the matchday experience itself.

I still have my yellow & black complimentary Cardiff City flag from the 2008 final and a similar Arsenal branded gift from 2015. However, are we taking the fun out of things here? I see very few, proper, homemade banners on poles these days.

In 1977, I made a great one for a Wales v Scotland game, and incidentally, I still have it. Come on guys, let us see a Birmingham City banner with the words “Troy Tempest” on and a mocked-up Stingray image or a Southampton one featuring a pun based on Ralph Hasenhüttl.

For those not lucky enough to make it to the big day, let us try to keep cup final day special. I know it is not 1974 anymore but we should maybe start the TV coverage at 10:30am again?

Don’t arrange other games on cup final day and consider a replay in the event of a draw, at a neutral venue under lights with 30,000 tickets for each side.

I enjoyed my trips to Wembley but is the lure of the day now fading as countless teams appear at the home of English football.

Newport County were there recently for what is essentially a League Two play-off final match. I can see that, for example, playing the semi-final at Wembley gives more teams a chance to appear at this special ground.

Barnsley, Brighton and Sheffield United have all had their day in the sun lately, but really, is not that walk-up to Wembley Way the stuff of real dreams?

The argument has always been that how many other stadiums could hold 70,000 fans for, say Wolverhampton Wanderers v Watford which is a fair point. Certainly not traditional semi-final venues like Villa Park or Hillsborough. Potentially playing at Old Trafford or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but most teams have already played there enough times so the magic would diminish.

A solution could be playing at The Principality Stadium in Cardiff. It is a massive stadium, smack bang in the middle of the city centre, not associated with any club and even has a roof. There could be one semi-final on Saturday, one on Sunday and the final at Wembley in May, at the usual three o’clock.

Let us return to cup final day in 2008. Glorious memories, the song Abide With Me by Audrey Assad, Wembley Way and the famous old trophy, untainted by the lure of sponsorship.

The absence of seeding had produced a most unlikely Portsmouth v Cardiff City FA Cup final, the stuff of dreams. The colours in the final are also amazing having one half of the stadium in blue and the other half in red or whatever the sides’ primary colours are.

Part of the attraction with football lies in its colour and traditions. Often, these coincide.

Whilst we may not recognise the multinational line ups of the modern game, teams could at least look like they get it. We want to see the famous old gold of Wolves, the imposing red ensemble of Liverpool and the almost sacred black & white stripes of Newcastle United, but we do not want to see Spurs in green.

Finally, can we just inject some fun back into the proceedings? I am not advocating a return to Liverpool white suits but recording a cup final song should at least be regarded as compulsory.

Watford could have recorded “Crocodile Rock” for their Wembley showpiece, accompanied by a video featuring the whole team dressed as Elton John. Platform shoes, crazy glasses, the lot. Leicester City could have covered “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”.

There is so much to love about the FA Cup. Childhood dreams, the pride and passion and the hope that kills, but the modern world is strangling it so let us put some magic back into it!

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