Did you know it's cup final today? No? Me neither.

Years ago it was the highlight of the year, everybody looked forward to a day in front of the telly, starting about 9 in the morning on both ITV and BBC with inter team quizzes, It's a Knockout with Eddie Waring and Stuart Hall, wrestling, Saint and Greavsie, and following the teams at and from their hotels and then the bus ride to Wembley, etc etc.
The pre game marching band and then Abide with me, the man in a white suit conducting.
Highlights on Match of the Day and ITV the following day.
It was exciting, something to really look forward to.
Now I know it is on live sometime Saturday p.m. not quite sure when. At the behest of whichever tv company is covering it.
Nothing really to look forward to unless your team is playing.
Is this an age thing or has it now become a meaningless game in the raft of games always on tv.
In my day all there was was MOTD and Sunday p.m. on Yorkshire tv.. The FA Cup final was a very special extra to be savoured as it was live.
Just another game now, I'm afraid.
At least today it is on BBC 1.
Sky and I would have been fecked.

 

Really sad for the old competition, as you say it was the highlight of the football season. I honestly can't remember the last time I watched it, probably not this century....

 

I couldn’t even tell you who the current holders are, whereas years gone by I’d be able to recount finalists and winners for the prior 5 or 10 seasons.

I guess money has won out over tradition. The competition as a whole went even further downhill when FA Cup games stopped being played at the traditional 3pm on a Saturday and started being played over numerous days at different times to maximise TV revenues.

 

It really was an event wasn't it. The whole season geared up to the showbiz finale.

It shows the power of the media and how they dictate what we get excited about. There is no reason they no longer have a full day of coverage. In fact there's less reason than there used to be with all the alternative channels. But it is all about the Champions League and Premier League.

Perhaps there are no personalities in football anymore. A visit to the teams' hotels would yield very little. Something something work hard for the team. Of course that blandness is also a response to reporters making something negative out of everything.

The truth would be the bigger clubs got to the final fielding reserve squads because it matters so little to them. Why should anyone care?

 

Four main reasons for its decline in popularity.

1. It should be the last game of the season. The culmination of everything. Instead it's being played with matches to go. Totally devalues the match.

2. The wealth of the big clubs has turned it from a competition where as kids we all felt we could score the winner in the final to something that's only applicable to multimillionaire footballers on obscene wages.

3. The overuse of Wembley for the semi finals and allowing Tottenham to play there has completely devalued the Wembley experience. When we played Cardiff it felt fake. We were at Wembley but we didn't deserve to be at Wembley, we were there because they had cheapened it. To make it worse if we had won it would have completely cheapened the final, it wouldn't have been special it would have just been yet another long journey down.

4. Oversaturation of football on the TV. With football on almost every day there is just massive oversaturation which causes apathy. For example Manchester United v Liverpool used to be a game to look out for, these days it feels like it happens every week so I didn't bother watching the other day. There is only so much football anyone can watch and when it's on constantly it frankly becomes boring, with the final being towards the end of the season people have become bored of football before we get to it.


The solution?
Make the final the final game of the season.
Only use Wembley for finals.
Only give out rights for ONE game per week on tv

 

Same here as some of the above comments, didn’t even realise it was today and couldn’t tell you any of the previous winners for the last god knows how long, where as before I could probably tell you 10-15 years winners and probably goal scorers.

 

I think it was mid nineties when I last watched it. I used to love all the stuff the OP mentions & the Cup Final was seen as the highlight of the season. Now it's very much just another element of the season, with the Champions League / Premier League being the priority. TBH other than watching Barnsley I've largely lost interest in football.

 

Didn't know it was today and don't know who is in it.

 

I hardly watch any other matches apart from Barnsley - maybe flick one on if there’s nothing else on tv. When England play I genuinely have no idea who some of the players are.

 

Think it started years ago when Man Utd withdrew from the FA cup to play in Brazil, never been the same since. For me, as mentioned above, it should be the last game of the season, 3pm kick, semi finals shouldn’t be played at Wembley. I would also give the winner a place in the champions league rather than someone finishing 4th, that would also stop teams playing weakened teams to suit their league fixtures.

 

Ruined by money. Teams at the bottom of the PL would prioritise a league game over a cup game even at the later stages because staying in the PL is worth much more to them. The cup means nothing now.

Doesn't help that Chelsea seem to have been in nearly every final for the last decade or more. Or that just might be my memory playing tricks on me. But it seems it is usually Chelsea vs somebody. Boring as ..

 

Totally agree. The only problem being that we might have had to play a Swillsbro....

 

Perhaps FA Cup songs should be made mandatory.

 

Chelsea vs somebody, no doubt.

 

Well I'll be bucking the trend and watching it. But I agree it's been devalued. Bring back the Spice boys and their cream suits!!

 

I found out yesterday when a Leicester supporting mate messaged me saying they were going to Wembley and if I was if we made it through. I had no idea what they were talking about. And i was even more surprised when i found out they were in it and they weren't playing Man City.

Apart from that, I knew everything about it!!!

The FA Cup lost its lustre over a decade ago. Maybe they shouldn't hand out trophies any more, just make the ticker tape ten pound notes to be fired into the air at the end.

 

I agree that the cup isn’t really what it used to be. Clubs would rather finish top 4 than win the FA Cup nowadays it seems.

I’d say it’s on tv a fair bit though. Football focus on now and there’s only about half an hour of non football programmes until the game at 5.

 

Just thinking exactly the same mate - just a side show now and not the big event it once was. Miss that build up we used to get - even Tarby's tent! Used to buy the programme from the newsagents in town and get snacks and drinks in - don't think I've even watched the last few! Sad really

 

I only knew cos football focus are at Oakwell South