Over the coming months I will be writing about how football has changed, from a fans perspective. From growing up in the 70s and 80s in England how we manged to follow the game.
My first article is about the FA Cup, and my reasoning to why it has lost it’s sparkle.
I encourage all feedback and comments.
The Magic Of The FA Cup
The Magic of the FA Cup
The first FA Cup final I vaguely remember was 1975 when West Ham beat Fulham 2-0. I also have vague memories of 1976, but it’s from 1977 onwards, when I was 8, that FA Cup magic hit me. In recent times, maybe even the past 20 years the ‘magic’ of the Cup has been diminished somewhat, although us the fans, still love it as much as ever. Below are my views as to what has changed and why the Cup is just another game to some.
Television
TV is the major player in sport these days; the amount of money thrown at the game makes it what it is, truly massive and global. I can’t comment for certain about how many live games were on TV in England pre 1977 but around then we had a total of 3 live games each year guaranteed and the odd extra England live game if we were lucky. The rest of our coverage was from highlights and that was limited (the role of TV in sport will be another blog entry). The games that were live were the FA Cup Final, England v Scotland at either Wembley or Hampden Park and the European Cup Final; these three games were in an 8 day period in May. The FA Cup Final being shown on both BBC and ITV.
With the FA CUP final being the first live game of the three, excitement round the country was huge. BBC1 would cut Swap Shop short and at 11-15 Grandstand would start. We didn’t have Videos, PVR’s etc so we either watched it live or not at all.
From memory the running of the show was as listed below. It may have changed slightly year on year. In between a few of the items there were usually 2 or 3 horse races as well.
• Interviews with the players at the teams’ hotels
• Cup Final edition of Question of Sport
• The Road to Wembley
• On the Coach with the teams coming to Wembley
• The players sampling the atmosphere
• Abide with me
• Players meeting Royalty
• Game
• Presentation of the trophy
• Highlights of the Scottish Cup Final
That was 6 hours dedicated to the Cup Final almost exclusively.
Fast Forward to 2014 and that has now been cut dramatically, and whilst not everyone has Pay TV or access to it, there are now 154 league games alone shown live on UK TV. Therefore the FA Cup Final does become just another game to many neutral fans.
The Schedule
In years gone by, the first Saturday in January, FA Cup 3rd round day. Possibly the best weekend of football, loads of games, upsets, drama and it all unfolded on the radio or via the teleprinter on Grandstand. If you were at the game and your team drew you were busy planning how to get tickets (often not needed) or the trip to the replay on the Tuesday or Wednesday. And if that game was drawn the same thing happened time after time. Now we get one replay and penalties, something else that has taken the gloss off the Cup.
Now on a Saturday, we get very few games played involving the big teams, approximately half the games are moved to other days, again for TV and convenience for police and authorities. The games being played over a longer period has spoiled what was a great day for many.
Importance
With so much emphasis now on the league, getting promoted, avoiding relegation, CL qualification, all due to the financial side of the game, a lot of clubs choose to rest players, and play virtually a B team in the Cup. When fans go to a game and don’t see their main players the whole competition is devalued.
In 1999 Manchester Utd were ‘exempted’ from entering the Cup to go on a money spinning competition in South America. To me this was the start of the downfall of the cup, a top team, backed by the governing body letting a team miss it to make money.
Wembley
Playing at Wembley should be the pinnacle of fans and players season, by having the Semi Finals at Wembley and obviously on separate days, another bit of the appeal has gone.
Arsenal won their first competition in 9 years on Saturday, the joy showed by the players, and more importantly the fans, has been immense. I think the Clubs, TV companies and the authorities should do all they can to ensure that the oldest Cup competition in the World rekindles its magic and goes back, in some ways, to what it was.
The first change to get the cup back on track, is to have it kicking off at 3:00pm, and ensure it doesn’t move from the week after the league season finishes.
On Tuesday night I received the news I have been elected to the committee. I am still coming to terms with this, it’s a massive thrill. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and voted.
http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/147085-new-committee-trio-announced
Updates can also be found via my Twitter Account @mselbyLFCSC
My first meeting is November 10th 2013
This is how I dress for work on a Friday. Different LFC clothes each week.
UPDATE: TO VOTE click here http://www.liverpoolfc.com/fans/lfcsc-voting-for-vacant-positions
Voting on the Liverpool FC website (LiverpoolFC.com) goes live for the role of Liverpool Supporters Club Committee representative, International (East). I am one of the 3 candidates, the other 2 are from Dubai and Qatar.
I will use this blog to help my campaign, whilst the poll is up, and then if successful in getting the role, it will be used to engage with my constituents. The area covered is Asia, Africa and Aus/NZ, over 50% of the world’s population!
Here is a link to what the committee is about, and below is a summary about me and what I will offer.
My Manifesto
I have been a Liverpool Fan for 36 years. For 15 years I was a committee member of the London Branch of the Supporters’ Club and the Branch Secretary from 1997-2003. Since moving to Australia in early 2004, I founded the Adelaide Official Liverpool Supporters Club Branch, which has helped Adelaide based fans to meet and share their passion. In 2009 I organised for Ian Rush to visit Australia – a dream came true for many people to spend time with one of the Club’s icons.
At a local level, I have been on the Executive Committee of a semi professional team, as President and Secretary. In these roles, I have liaised with players, parents, supporters, the Football Federation of South Australia, as well as local State and Federal Government personnel. Knowing how to communicate with different stakeholders is vital and our State MP, has mentioned the work I have done in Parliament as an example of a successful volunteer.
I communicate regularly with fellow fans on Forums (YNWA.tv, Twitter, and FaceBook) and meet with football fans of all teams, ages and ethnicity. This has given me insight into what people think, and more importantly, what fans who live so far from their club want.
Unity is important to me. When I was a supporter in England, I attended all games, but living in Australia has given me an appreciation of long-distance supporters. There are many die-hard Liverpool fans in the Eastern region who have never attended a live game, but they are just as committed as those who have had this privilege.
The role of the East Region committee member is to ensure that we ‘long-distance’ supporters have all the latest information from the Club, are able to communicate with each other and feel an integral part of the LFC family. It is vital that this region is well represented at committee level so that our region’s fans can have a voice in the Liverpool Football Club. I will make this happen through:-
I see this position as very important to LFC and us, the fans, as we grow in this region, and I intend to be both a spokesperson for us as well as an effective conduit between the Club and it’s fans.
My many years as a committee member and Branch Secretary of LFC Supporters Club in the UK, founder and chairman of the Adelaide Supporters Club, and experience with football committees at a local level demonstrate a proven ability to communicate with and represent the views of others clearly. These roles have equipped me well to be the International, East representative.
My on-line football business www.e-football.com.au sponsors local clubs and events throughout the year. My main focus is Modbury Jets and I also am proud to support the Phoenix Cup, the only football event in South Australia for people with learning difficulties/disabilities.
Phoenix Cup
Modbury Jets 2013
e-football Retail Business
When in England in 2010, I was lucky enough to be invited into the players lounge. This invite was through Jamie Carragher as I support his 23 Foundation charity.
In 2009 I arranged for Ian Rush to come to Adelaide.
During his 5 day visit, I arranged various events so he could meet fans, players and officials of other clubs. Here are some photos of him at a training clinic that was enjoyed by 80 kids, and we worked with local semi professional clubs and Adelaide United, the top professional team in South Australia.
The third photo has Ian with Jacob Melling who has gone on to represent his country and now plays for Adelaide Utd….maybe this coaching clinic helped.
The last photo is Ian singing YNWA with fans at a gala dinner attended by over 100 people.
Here are some pictures of the London Supporters Club Branch presenting players with our Player of the Year trophy.
These presentations were in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Matthew Selby 