Saturday I will sit down at 5.15pm and watch the Kick Off of this years FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Manchester United.
I will be watching solely because ‘my team’ Manchester United are playing. If they weren’t playing I would not be at all bothered.
Many reasons for this but they boil down to two primary factors:
1) In general I think the quality of the Football these days is generally pretty poor. I have little doubt that the fitness levels are greater than back in the day, and the skill levels higher. We certainly see more spectacular goals, but how much of that is down to the technology involved in boots and balls these days I am not sure. But the games themselves are very tepid, sterile and full of cheating (stealing yards at throw ins, not retiring 10 yards, diving, grabbing players in the box, arguing with referees etc etc), with the commentators (if you can call them that these days as regularly they just announce a series of names as the ball gets passed – more often than not backwards and/or behind the player – around) trying to convince us that mediocre is the new world class. Seriously every week it seems we are told we have seen a world class save, but do you remember it the next week? I watched in amazement when Banks made a truly world class save from Pele – two genuine legends providing a memory that will last a lifetime – that is world class!
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2) The second, and main reason, is that ‘they’ (the powers that be) have ruined the FA Cup. Long gone are the days of the 3pm kick off, but why? TV rights abroad, sponsorship from abroad, foreign owners bringing in new audiences. Fine the world moves on, but why can’t they be told to invest in what we have – after all that was the original product, rather than discard all the traditions and values ‘because they can’.
As an aside what hope really post Brexit does the UK have when it can’t even hold onto it’s own traditions. I wont labour this point, but bear in mind Christmas and the decline of the Nativity, the introduction of ‘Happy Holidays’, and the fear of upsetting other religions who have elected to make their home in the UK.
I have little doubt that by 5.30pm I will be bored with the match, agitated with the commentators trying to con me into believing that it’s a great spectacle from a world class league etc etc. and I will have given up counting how many ties the sponsors names gets mentioned ….. honestly, will anyone actually watch the game thinking I must fly with those guys next time I go on holiday?
To fill the void I will allow my mind drift back to my childhood when the FA Cup was huge. Awaited with anticipation it meant a full day in front of the TV watching The Road To Wembley, the annual insight into behind the scenes when we got a glimpse of the routines of the players, we relived the earlier rounds, we listened to old heroes recount their experiences (have to wonder how many previous winners from the last decade or so actually still live in the UK!?). The players on the pitch (lets not dwell on Liverpools White Suits), the teams FA Cup Songs, the fans on Wembley Way, and ……. the whistle at 3pm!
I know ‘old and grumpy’ no doubt have come to mind, and you are very likely correct, but I am not against change, progression, improvement ….. but explain to me how the current FA Cup is ‘better’ than it used to be? I am open to persuasion, after all I have about 90mins to kill on Saturday 🙂