Saturday, May 30, 2009

Bring Back Dickie Davies

Sometimes I really wish we could go back to the 1970s. Today is one of those times. Remember how Cup Final days used to be? TV coverage would start at about 9am and the atmosphere would build up during the course of the morning. Dickie Davies on World of Sport would introduce Cup Final Wrestling with Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki, Stuart Hall on BBC would host Cup Final It's a Knockout. There was a real sense of occasion about it.

And then today ITV kicks off its cup final coverage at 1pm with interviews with Andy Townsend and Joe Royle. Says it all.

So, who do you want to win this afternoon? Everton, or West Ham reserves? I know Dizzy and Norfolk Blogger will be cheering on Everton. I'd like to see them win too. The more trophies which go to those outside the top four, the better.
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29 comments:

  1. Stronghold BarricadesMay 30, 2009 1:19 pm

    No mention of the scottish cup final?

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  2. TonyMay 30, 2009 1:21 pm

    A plague on both their houses... :) After all this talk of reform in the last couple of weeks, is it not about time the winners of the FA Cup got a Champions League place instead of the 4th placed Premier League side?

    That might make Arsene Wenger sign a few experienced players so Arsenal do not finish 4th and miss out on a berth after next season.

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  3. Paul HalsallMay 30, 2009 1:30 pm

    Yep, I miss Wilson, Callaghan, Healy, and Castle.

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  4. New Labour New FA Cup coverageMay 30, 2009 1:30 pm

    Iain - I disagree with about 99% of what you say on this blog, however, on this you are totally right!

    Getting up early and then glueing myslef to the TV for the rest of the day with reports from the team hotels etc. and Brian Moore's fantastic commentary.

    Rivetting television! Bring it back!

    I am going suggest Labour has it as a manifesto committment and brings it back! :-)

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  5. Iain DaleMay 30, 2009 1:43 pm

    Stronghold, is there one? :)

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  6. Stronghold BarricadesMay 30, 2009 1:47 pm

    Rangers v Falkirk

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  7. cynicalHighlanderMay 30, 2009 1:49 pm

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/in_pictures_enl_1243686142/html/1.stm

    slainthe

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  8. ColinMay 30, 2009 1:53 pm

    You've just rekindled some old memories with your reference to the old school wrestling on saturday afternoon.

    My brother and I would get stripped down to the underpants, push back the furniture and proceed to throw each other around the living room.

    Happy days...

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  9. Paul HalsallMay 30, 2009 2:00 pm

    Look there are now 4 times more important teams in Lancashire than Scotland. Why should we bother about the S FC?

    [Manchester United, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Wigan, Liverpool, Everton, Blackburn].

    A Lancashire kickaround is more important than anything in Scotland.

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  10. Daniel CullenMay 30, 2009 2:22 pm

    Iain, I am going to watch the match as a neutral. I loved ITV's cup final day in the 70's, there really was only one Brian "across the face of the goal" Moore - the ultimate professional.

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  11. Paul HalsallMay 30, 2009 2:53 pm

    I wish I could find some way (as a gay Catholic) to connect with that wonderful, largely Black, choir that just led "Abide with Me."

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  12. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 3:10 pm

    Indeed Paul, though I pity the Premier League having to host the troglodyte support from Burnley next season.

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  13. deariemeMay 30, 2009 5:07 pm

    A best XI chosen from the two teams would consist of the Chelsea XI.

    It's striking how little overlap there is between the "Big Four" and the rest of the league.

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  14. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 6:08 pm

    Spot on with your post, Ian.
    Cup final day was always a big event. Today I didn't turn on the TV until 2.40 (in time for Abide with me).
    ITV coverage of most sport is poor, but their football commentaries are awful, and the pundits are even worse, all second rate.
    I was a neutral today, with a slight inkling for Everton, a northern team.

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  15. MikeyPMay 30, 2009 6:17 pm

    Why bother about Cup Final coverage at all when the following Rugby matches have been on Sky:

    Royals vs British & Irish Lions
    England vs Barbarians
    Bulls vs Chiefs in the Super 14
    IRB International Sevens at Murrayfield

    and for good measure on BBC2:

    The Rugby League Challenge Cup Hull KR vs Warrington

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  16. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 6:30 pm

    You're talking about the 1960s-1980s, Iain...

    Icky Dickie Davies we used to call him...

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  17. DrewMay 30, 2009 6:35 pm

    I love TV trips back to the '70s. Life On Mars used a Phoenix Phone, released in 1982, to make 1973 look better and "Margaret" also showed the 1982 Phoenix Phone in a scene apparently set in 1975! I love the 1970s - especially when they're really the 1980s!

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  18. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 6:36 pm

    Iain, Setanta's coverage began at 9am today, and was excellent. It even included three new Saint and Greavsie features - a real hark back to the old days!

    Incidentally, this month's FourFourTwo magazine has a piece on TV coverage of the FA Cup Final in years gone by. Well worth a read.

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  19. Jeremy JacobsMay 30, 2009 6:38 pm

    I remember going to the Hendon Hall Hotel to see the players before the big match. Also, what's happened to the Royal Marines and the community singing?

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  20. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 7:15 pm

    I'm forever blowing bubbles.
    Pretty bubbles in the air
    They fly so high
    They reach the sky
    and like West Ham they fade and die.

    WH have always been a feeder club for the big teams in London. The only difference now from 40 years ago is that the likely buyers are Arsenal and Chelsea rather than
    Arsenal and Spurs.

    I rather thought - as a long time fan - you would have learned to live with this by now.

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  21. Ray FinchMay 30, 2009 7:29 pm

    Sick Everton lost.
    The first 25 seconds of the game were great. The ref should have blown the full time whistle then.
    Fair play to Chelsea, they were the better team on the day and Cole had the best game I have ever seen him play.
    There is always next season.
    As for the best Xl all being Chelsea. Get stuffed. Absolute Balls.

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  22. AnonymousMay 30, 2009 7:35 pm

    Is this the Callaghan who let the union thugs to run amock in the Winter of discontent in 1970s so that my neighbour an old lady who died was left not buried. This was "crisis, what crisis?" Callaghan?

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  23. JPTMay 30, 2009 7:40 pm

    Well said!

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  24. AnonymousMay 31, 2009 12:45 am

    Bob Wilson, anchorman.

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  25. jdMay 31, 2009 1:02 am

    "It's raining soup and I've got a fork...."

    Just for you anon...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jf06WlIwEs

    ReplyDelete
  26. AnonymousMay 31, 2009 1:24 am

    Bob Wilson, anchorman?
    How bout an even better era...
    Bob Wilson, goalie

    ReplyDelete
  27. Nich StarlingMay 31, 2009 12:36 pm

    Peter Black AM and also the Tory Blogger Nicholas Webb are also Evertonians. There is anothher Lib Dem blogger too, but I forget his name at present.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Dr EvilMay 31, 2009 1:14 pm

    Went up the pub for a drink. Thankfully they did not have a televion with football on to spoil the ambience. It was nice and quiet too. I wonder why?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Juup d'HamersMay 31, 2009 8:29 pm

    Dale, yer nobbut a boy in this Thames-side Iron Works footie club business.
    When ah were on t'Chicken Run and Brooking were nobbut a young kid - nah, that were t'days.
    Bein' an ex-pat northerner and ah went to t'Boleyn to watch the ritual sacrifice of Lord Robert of Barking at the feet of Leeds - Ah were converted.
    Sad how it goes - I didn't even know that it was the final yesterday until my neighbour told me he'd been watching it.
    But if you'd been there in 64, 65 and 66 ( cup - cup-winners cup and world cup_, now that was the Hammers at their best.

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