UP FOR THE CUP

06-01-2007

Local heroes Tamworth FC getnational attention this weekend when their match against Norwich is televised on BBC1. It can only mean one thing - the Third Round of the FA Cup is here. Damien Doran can't wait.

This FA Cup third round weekend is for me a truly great occasion in the English sporting calendar. One of the few competitions in the world not be fixed in the favour of big clubs by way of seeding, it means that every underdog can have their big day.

You also get those great those TV pictures of Hereford's Ronnie Radford scoring a 30 yard blinder to put out Newcastle, Wrexham beating champions Arsenal and Sutton United beating the Cup holders Coventry City.

Because my team (Oldham) hardly ever reached the third round, my earliest cup match involved seeing Dennis Law score a late equaliser for the then European Champions against Third Division Watford at Old Trafford and the following year seeing Sheffield United beat champions Everton at a packed Bramall Lane. From then on I was hooked and have hardly missed seeing a third round match since.

The importance of the FA Cup has undoubtedly diminished in recent years. The Football Association themselves have not helped with their many changes to the competition, allowing delays in replays, quarter finals taking place over four mid-week evenings, allowing Manchester United to opt out in 2000 and the penalty shoot out one match semi and final have all undermined the tradition of the oldest cup competition of the world.

Many managers and clubs have also contributed to this, often claiming it is better to be knocked out of the cup to concentrate on Europe, the League, avoiding relegation or doing the garden. Teams, particularly in the Premier League will now use the cup as an opportunity to rest their superstars and allow those players usually content to pick up big money for doing nothing on a Saturday, to get their boots dirty and show just why they cant get into the first team.

Manchester United have been particularly vulnerable to this in recent years being held to goal less draws by non-League Exeter and Burton Albion before finally getting out the first team to finish the job in the replay. Hopefully other Premiership teams doing the same this Saturday will not be so fortunate.

For me, this round is where the upsets occur and the magic still exists. It is later in the competition that my interest wanes. The cup used to be an open competition in which all clubs wanted to have a good run and many believed they had a chance of actually winning it.

Today, the monotony (sorry monopoly) of the so called ‘big four' has seen them win all but one final since the creation of the Premier League. Only in 1995 when Manchester United were denied the double by Blackburn and Everton have these clubs failed to win both League and Cup. A whole generation has grown up believing that their team has no chance of success.

By contrast, in the post war period up to the formation of the Premier League, the cup was won by new fewer than 23 different teams.