The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup today is a perfect example of what makes it such a brilliant competition compared to, say, Wimbledon where all the fixtures are decided by a system of seeding.
Instead of a competition with a plan and expectations of the two top teams playing each other in the final, having knocked out teams 3 and 4 in the semi-finals you get the last two winners, Arsenal and Liverpool, playing each other at the earliest opportunity, and another 3 all-premier fixtures.
The other side of this coin is that you often get teams at the lowest level playing each other and being protected from bigger teams and therefore progressing further than they probably ought to and by the time they do play the top teams it is a round or two further on than it would have been in a seeded competition with a bigger payday.
One result is that teams from outside the top league often get to the final, and sometimes even win.
The other reason why the FA Cup is so brilliant… Trevor Brooking (pbuh) presiding over it all.
I woudn’t have the FA cup any other way. Heres hoping we get past Brighton. A good cup run would make up for what’s been a pretty wretched season so far
Can you give any examples of fantastic teams from outside the top league winning the FA cup? They must be a particularly wonderful team, with probably the best supporters in the world…..
Funny you should ask that… the last team to win the cup from outside the top league was West Ham in 1980. Since then Sunderland (1992) and Millwall (2004) have got to the final.
Previously there were Preston North End (1964. Lost to West Ham) Sunderland (won it in 1973) Fulham (1975. Lost to West Ham) and Southampton (won in 1970)
Of course I had to look that up in Wikipedia, and here is an interesting thing – if you type “FA Cup Winners” into the search on Wikipedia the top result is the page for West Ham United FC by Season”.
Lets hope its an omen, but I don’t think I can be as confident as Jams that we will have a second good cup run in a row.
I was being hopeful rather than confident.. Sadly I fea it will be an early cup bath for the plucky claret and bluers…
Ahhhh, the 2004 cup run, those lovely lovely times. And, now? Heading for the bloody fourth division. Stop laughing Skuds!!
But, yes, I was sitting there on Sunday afternoon so excited about the FA Cup draw. There were four teams left – okay, five, as Millwall hadn’t yet booked their place – and I was so excited about the prospect of a game at the Den against Chelsea. Stoke it is, though, if we get past Bradford.
Anyway, I just looked in here tonight after a bit of a gap and was reminded how much I like your blog – keep it up!
I’m allowed to laugh! I was on holiday in Corfu when the Hammers last got relegated and there was a Milwall supporter there who made sure that I suffered as much as possible.
You can’t beat a decent cup run though – makes you forget all the other nasty things going on.
That reminds me – I really must shove a link to you down the side. Its always fun to see how you continue to maintain the song-title-as-post-header theme 🙂
Facing a replay against Salisbury, I lack your enthusiasm.
Thanks for the link – but surely two is going a bit too far?
Ah. You know what that is – I must have already had a link but couldn’t see it because the blogroll does not display in any particular order but in a different order every time it is loaded.