Does the FA Cup have any tradition left?
The 131st FA Cup final will take place in two and a half weeks’ time. The cup, steeped in history will see Chelsea and Liverpool battle to take home the silverware. However, this season’s final seems lacking in tradition with an evening kick off and Premier League matches taking place the day after. The question is, does tradition really mean much anymore?
Although I’m still relatively young, I still have some great memories of the FA Cup final. Even though my team (Sunderland) has never been in the final (or got anywhere near it), the FA Cup still had a great appeal, full of tradition. I still remember waking up excited to watch the game; that excitement seems lacking now.
The main traditional aspect of the final was when it would take place. The final would always take place the week after the end of the season. This meant that the FA Cup was almost a last goodbye for club football in the season, with internationals ready to take the football spotlight in the summer.
However, this season the FA Cup final will take place the week before the season finishes. The FA will try and explain that it’s because of the upcoming Euro’s, with the players needing rest before the tournament begins. If that’s the case, why isn’t the FA cup final taking place on the 12th of May, the last day of the season? There are plenty of chances in the season to have some midweek fixtures so the season can finish on the 5th of May instead.
The fact that there is still football to be played after the final almost undermines the importance of the FA cup, as Chelsea could almost have a bigger match the weekend after as they try to reach the Champions League final. Also, history has shown that the earlier season finish hasn’t helped England in its quest for international glory. Surely playing later in the season would keep the players fit and ready to go when the Euro’s arrive.
Another traditional aspect of the final was the kick off time. From when I could remember, the final always kicked off at 3pm. This year will see the later kick off time at 5:15pm. Why? Money. With ITV and ESPN pumping huge amounts of money into the competition to gain the rights, they want the football to kick off for when they feel they would have the highest viewing figures. Sadly, the FA aren’t going to argue against it.
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| An ITV FA Cup advert….. Money talks. |
In the semi-finals, Chelsea and Tottenham slogged out the match which kicked off at 6pm, again down to the choice of ITV. Television companies now have too much power in football and that doesn’t look like changing in the near future. Don’t be surprised if the match is decided by the Britains Got Talent judges or James Cordon runs into the picture to cut the winning manager’s interview short.
However, we can’t say that we didn’t see this coming. The tradition has slowly been oozing out of the cup, all because of money. The semi-finals have been at Wembley ever since the stadium was re-opened, mainly to get the back the money which the FA over spent on the stadium. Having the semi’s at Wembley takes away the special occasion of the final, as the fans of Chelsea and Liverpool had been to the stadium only three weeks before. Also, since 1998 the Cup has been sponsored by companies that aren’t English. Again, the only motive for this seems like money.
The final to take place in three weeks’ time seems seriously lacking in tradition apart from the fact it’s to take place on a Saturday at Wembley. But does tradition really matter? Other cup competitions such as the Champions League have shifted their final (midweek to Saturday nights) to attract more viewers and it worked.
At the end of the day, the final will still be an exciting match (hopefully) and we still get to see a winner at the end of it. But call me old fashioned, but not watching the FA Cup at 3pm on a Saturday when the season has finished just seems wrong to me.
Written by Craig Lishman
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