What are the benefits to fans and football in switching FA Cup games?

Before anyone wonders where I’m going with this, I’m referring to FA Cup giantkillings. Those shocks that really shouldn’t happen but always have and, hopefully, always will.

The earliest memory I have is when Harlow Town, then of the Isthmian League Premier Division, drew 1-1 away at Leicester City in the Third Round in 1980 (I was nine) and then beat them 1-0 in a replay.

It was memorable for many reasons, not least because Leicester went on to win the old Second Division and they had one Gary Lineker in their team for both games, but also because Watford drew Harlow at home in the fourth round.

Being of primary school age and suitably naïve, I just remember seeing a home draw with a team I’d not heard of from a league I didn’t know existed, and assumed we’d win and probably thrash Harlow. What a chastening experience the afternoon of Saturday January 26, 1980, turned out to be.

The BBC TV cameras were there, John Motson was commentating – and Harlow were 1-0 up at half-time.

I remember being really worried about getting a proper ribbing at school on Monday if we lost, so when Watford scored four in about 15 minutes in the second half (Martin Patching got a couple and Ian Bolton blasted home a free-kick) to lead 4-1, I was feeling much better.

But then Harlow, with nothing to lose, had a proper go in the closing stages and scored twice to set up a very tense last 10 minutes or so before the 4-3 win was confirmed.

I have vivid memories of both those Harlow goals being scored by a player with one of those very 1980s huge white head bandages covering a cut (it was John MacKenzie, and if you search on YouTube you’ll find some grainy highlights from Match of the Day, introduced by the legendary Jimmy Hill).

Other great Third Round upsets in my lifetime include non-league Sutton United beating Coventry City in 1989, just a couple of years after the Sky Blue had beaten Tottenham in the final at Wembley to lift the famous old trophy.

Sutton United's Matt Hanlon celebrates with fans after his goal helped knock Coventry City out of the FA Cup in 1989. (Image: Action Images)

Wrexham, then in the old Fourth Division, beat an Arsenal side containing seven England internationals 2-1 in the Third Round in 1992, and more recently Crawley beat Leeds 3-0 in 2021.

Go back further and you have Colchester beating the great Leeds United side of the early 70s, and Hereford seeing off Newcastle in a replay at Edgar Street with the memorable goal from the recently-departed Ronnie Radford taking the game to extra-time.

Locally, Stevenage's 3-1 Third Round win over Newcastle in 2011 ranks as one of the biggest shocks of all time - while at Watford we had wins over West Ham and Manchester United in the early 80s that spring readily to mind.

FA Cup Third round day always has something special about it, even if the overall magic of the FA Cup has lost some of its sparkle in recent years (moving the semi-finals to Wembley, don’t even get me started).

I hadn’t noticed, if I’m honest, that over recent years Third Round games had started to be staggered from Friday through to Monday so I apologise if I’m late to the party on this one.

But isn’t it just plain wrong that only 10 of the 32 FA Cup Third Round matches this season will be played at 3pm on Saturday?

Call me old fashioned, a traditionalist, ignorant of the need to earn revenue via enabling overseas broadcasters to show more games – but less than a third of the games being when you’d expect just doesn’t sit right with me.

Of course, there are nowadays six Third Round games that are switched to enable ITV and BBC to show them live. Selecting matches like Man United v Everton, Liverpool v Wolves and Man City v Chelsea can only be on the grounds that those without access to Sky or BT rarely see top-flight teams live.

Personally, I’m unlikely to watch those three games and would rather have seen the winners of the replay between Dagenham and Redbridge and Gillingham hosting Leicester City, Blackpool against Nottingham Forest, Fleetwood v QPR or Chesterfield v West Brom.

However, my angst isn’t really with which games are shown on TV, it’s the fact that the majority of the matches are being played at unusual times.

Take Watford’s game at Reading, which I understand has been moved to accommodate possible overseas broadcast coverage. I’ve already heard from a number of supporters who cannot now attend due to work/other commitments meaning they won’t be able to leave early enough for a 12.30pm kick-off.

Jordan Tunnicliffe scores as Crawley Town dumped Leeds United out in the FA Cup Third Round in 2021. (Image: Action Images)

Portsmouth fans face a trip to Tottenham at 12.30pm, and will doubtless be travelling on very similar trains to the Southampton fans making the journey to Crystal Palace at exactly (that’s providing trains are running of course).

Why are Grimsby playing Burton at 5.30pm on the Saturday? Is there a clamour from overseas to show that game, given Brentford v West Ham, Coventry v Wrexham and Luton v Wigan are also kicking off at 5.30, with Sheffield Wednesday v Newcastle half an hour later live on the BBC?

Then on Sunday there are 12.30pm kick-offs for Derby v Barnsley and Bristol City v Swansea: neither are particularly long trips for travelling fans, but anyone involved with a Sunday morning football team – adult or youth – is going to face a dilemma.

The live TV game at 2pm on ITV on Sunday is Cardiff v Leeds. I’ve always been of the understanding that one of the reasons games aren’t shown live at 3pm on Saturdays is because of the possible effect on attendances at other games – yet while that game is live on TV, there are three other games also moved to 2pm.

Then at 4.30pm it’s Man City v Chelsea live on BBC1, but for some reason Aston Villa v Stevenage is taking place at exactly the same time.

There may be a reason or explanation I’m totally overlooking, but if international broadcasters can cope with four games at 2pm and two at 4.30pm on Sunday, why can’t more games be available to them at 3pm on Saturday?

And while all this is debated and discussed, there are two groups that seem to have fallen down the pecking order – supporters and grass-roots football.

Do Portsmouth and Southampton fans want to be leaving for London two and a half hours earlier? Will it cost them more?

Will Wigan have less fans at Luton as a consequence of them getting home two and a half hours later?

Will clubs who are now playing on Sunday, regardless of kick-off time, see smaller attendances? Will less away fans travel? Will kids who might have gone now not be able to because they are playing in their own matches?

Of course, the FA will point to additional income for football because of the sale of broadcasting rights. Now, clearly, that’s a good thing – if some of it turns up at the bottom of the pyramid.

Mickey Thomas fires a free-kick past the Arsenal wall on the way to a memorable 1992 FA Cup Third Round upset (Image: Action Images)

The question is, does it filter down?

As someone who spent many, many years writing about local non-league and youth football, as well as playing it and having a son who still does, I know the amount of hard work, time and fundraising that goes into keeping local clubs alive.

I’ll be very happy to hear from local clubs who feel they are getting more support, but I’m not seeing an increase in all-weather pitches in this area, for example. Or improved changing facilities, better grass surfaces, more floodlights.

That’s not a pop at those involved in running grassroots clubs and teams. Quite the opposite. It’s a thankless task without which the opportunity for boiys and girls to play football from a young age would be endangered.

My son plays Under-18 football on Sundays, and of the 10 league and cup games his team have played this season, I think they have had an appointed referee three times. On the other occasions, the game has gone ahead thanks to a parent or club official stepping in.

Wouldn’t it be great to know any revenue gained from shuffling around FA Cup games directly allowed local FAs to invest in getting more referees for grassroots matches?

As I said, this may be happening and I don’t know about it. I may also be very old-fashioned in my thinking and be in a minority who believe football should, where possible, be played at 3pm on Saturdays. It may not be an inconvenience and fans may not be at all bothered.

However, I can’t help but feel that unless people who, like me, have a platform use it to highlight when football fans and those operating at a grassroots level aren’t being given due consideration and support, then eventually it’ll be a case of anything goes regardless of who is affected.

I’ve just looked at early TV fixtures in the New Year – Newcastle v Brighton at 12.30pm and Bournemouth v Man City at 5.30pm on Saturday February 25. Great for Sky and BT viewers, less so for travelling fans.

As the great Graham Taylor always said, football is a game for the man in the street. If we’re not careful, the men in the offices will cut those in the street adrift.