No More Bites of the Cherry: An (FA Cup) Replay Requiem

Like anything else in life, football evolves. Any changes inevitably provoke opposition, but the test of time will prove their efficacy. Thus, in my lifetime, the use of goal average to rank teams on the same number of points or the back-pass to the keeper are barely remembered, never mind lamented. The digital revolution has cast paper tickets and, for many, the printed programme into the dustbin of history. The football purist in me dislikes the play offs but I accept they are here to stay. Likewise the widespread use of “away” strips rather than teams only changing when necessary rankles but I understand the commercial imperative. One season on however I cannot come to terms with the end of the replay, and I don’t think I ever will.

For me, the concept of the replay is at the heart of knockout football. The purpose of a cup tie is to end with a winner who will go onto the next round. This is a right to be earned on the field of play. For a team to progress they must prove their superiority over their opponents by winning the game. Both teams are equal on the field of play until this happens, regardless of their league status.

My early football memories are dominated by the drama of the FA Cup replay. As a young child I was captivated by Arsenal’s Cup runs of the last 1970s, starting with their third round saga in 1979 against Jack Charlton’s Sheffield Wednesday who were then in Division Three. This went to five matches and I happily would go to bed early and switch on the radio for live commentary just after 8 pm to catch the latest instalment. This happened to the Gunners again in the spring of 1980 when they took four matches to get through their FA Cup semi-final against Football League Champions Liverpool. These replays were not scintillating displays of football – far from it. This was attritional stuff and absolutely gripping to listen to, thanks to the erudite commentary of Bryon Butler and Peter Jones.

As the decade turned, it was the FA Cup Final itself which went to a replay in three successive seasons. None was more dramatic than 1981 as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City exchanged goals twice before Ricky Villa settled the competition with a goal for the ages. Each replay was a special occasion as it was broadcast live on TV and so offered the opportunity to stay up late on a school night; although the latter two replays were both something of a damp squib, they nevertheless provided days of conversation thanks to the anticipation of the second match.

At the end of the decade I went on my own personal replay odyssey, attending seven Reading matches in the first two rounds of the FA Cup in late 1989, as they overcame the odds to beat Bristol Rovers, but then were rather humbled by three draws against Welling United.

As late as the 1990s, if a cup competition did not have replays, it was regarded not so much as tinpot as Mickey Mouse – like The Full Members Cup. Conversely, my penultimate visit to Wokingham Town’s Finchampstead Road ground was for a Berks & Bucks Senior Cup replay. By this time the writing was already on the wall for replays. They were seen as an inconvenience due to that very modern disdain for anything unpredictable. Initially, it was the police that decided that ten days’ notice was required for their attendance at a replay- although this surely could have been put in place provisionally in advance of the first match? This then led to penalty shootouts being brought in after the first replay a few seasons later. At least this could still accommodate that wonderful phrase, “another bite of the cherry”. 

Maidenhead United were commonly the underdog in most cup ties but the boot was on the other foot when the Magpies were drawn at Kent League Whitstable Town in 2003. The Oystermen would not yield to their betters; a goalless first game was followed by a goalless replay. Sadly, this then meant penalties at York Road. Maidenhead won the shootout leading to a travelling fan to burst into tears; I felt his pain. This was no way to lose a cup tie.

In contrast, Stafford Rangers comfortably won their first round replay at York Road in 2006, but what mattered was that the game took place at all, as Maidenhead had clung onto a draw with only nine men in the first match. They had – as no one will ever say again – “earned the right” to a replay.

Related: ‘Pandemonium’ – Reliving Maidenhead United’s FA Cup tie with Port Vale

In more recent times Chippenham Town and Taunton Town both took Maidenhead to a replay back at York Road and left with honour intact, having pushed their hosts all the way. It was the autumn of 2015, though, that reinforced the power of the replay. In their first FA Cup tie, Maidenhead United got out of jail at Winchester. Having played for most of the match with ten men, United snatched a last gasp equaliser before winning the replay. This happened again in more august surroundings in the first round proper when James Mulley equalised at Vale Park with virtually the last kick of the match to bring Port Vale back to Berkshire for a replay that would become the first match televised live at York Road. Again, it was the days of anticipation which were to be treasured. The identity of the next opponents was revealed on the following Monday; the tickets quickly sold out by the end of the week. Personally it meant an intense half an hour phone conversation with commentator Jon Champion as he sought to extract from every little nugget of information which might come in useful on the night. In the game itself, Alan Massey’s strike to give Maidenhead the lead allowed us all to dream for a few minutes before reality returned and the Valiants ran out comfortable winners.

It is here that the memories end. There will be no more sagas, no more scrambling to get tickets or put together a programme, no more worries about whether the squad will have enough fit players or whether short-notice time off work would be granted. Instead, it was decided that this random aspect of cup football had to go. The power of the superclubs exerted itself. In a particularly egregious move, a supine National League adopted a craven attitude, deciding their thirty pieces of silver would come in the form of an utterly unloved new competition featuring age group teams from the Premier League.

To really rub salt into the wound, this decision was followed by Maidenhead almost beating Football League opposition for the first time. Crawley Town were heading for defeat at York Road before a last-minute equaliser took the game to extra time, when they scored a late winner. The Magpies may not have won a replay at Broadfield, but at least I could have dreamed about it for a week or so.

This is what really annoys me about the end of replays. It’s the end of unpredictability, the end of prolonging a dream, the end of the sporting idea that until you beat me, you do not pass. No more memories to add to those created by Ronnie Radford, Ricky Villa and Alan Massey. Instead we have to know our place, knuckle down, and stick to the grind of what is mostly forgettable league football.

Do you agree with Steve? Are FA Cup replays much missed, or have you already gotten used to ‘the new normal’? Let us know in the comments below.