Today I'm going back 40 years to 1981 and the FA Cup 1st Round 2nd Replay between Hull City and Rochdale played at Elland Road, Leeds.
It's becoming hard to remember the time when drawn Replays in the FA Cup would simply result in another Replay. Prior to the introduction of penalties to settle a drawn Replay, the two sides concerned would keep on meeting each other in further Replays until eventually a winner emerged. The record for the longest running FA Cup saga of this nature belongs to Alvechurch and Oxford City who, in 1971, required six matches to settle their tie i.e. the original match and then five Replays! However, it was probably the four game FA Cup Semi-Final marathon between Arsenal and Liverpool in 1980 which most people of a certain age will remember that really started to focus the attention of the authorities on doing something to curb the excessive workload on top class players. The players involved, in addition to their club commitments at the business end of the season would also have International games too and too many Replays left them exhausted. So, from 1991, penalties it was if a tie was still level at the end of a Replay (plus extra time). In more recent times we've even seen Replays themselves being scrapped in favour of a penalty shoot out at the end of the game. Traditionalists (like myself) tend to prefer the idea that there will be at least one Replay but, as the FA Cup becomes increasingly marginalised, the bigger clubs seem to prefer a single game even if that increases the risk that they will be knocked out at the first time of asking. Being knocked out doesn't matter as much as it used to see?
The featured game was the first time I had ever attended a match played on a neutral ground i.e. not the home ground of either of the two teams involved. It wouldn't be my last and, in total, I have now attended 145 matches played on neutral grounds at the time of writing. Most of these have been international tournament matches such as World Cups or European Championships.
So I ventured to Elland Road on a Monday night in November to savour the delights of Hull City against Rochdale under the lights in 1981. I distinctly remember that it was bloody cold and that the football on offer was rather dull and certainly unbecoming of an FA Cup tie! The initial tie, at Spotland, Rochdale was a rip roaring 2-2 draw and the Replay three days later was another exciting 2-2 draw, this time at Boothferry Park, Hull. After a drawn Replay, the two clubs involved tended to agree to a further Replay on neutral ground which, in this case, was Elland Road in Leeds. It was possible however for the two clubs to agree to toss a coin in order to determine which would have home advantage in the Second Replay and this would be reversed in the event of a Third Replay. In this case, the Second Replay proved to be enough for Hull City who triumphed 1-0 after extra time.
Hull then beat Hartlepool United 2-0 in a much delayed 2nd Round tie played on 4th January before meeting Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the 3rd Round where they drew 0-0 before losing the Replay (another one!) 0-2 back in Hull. 1981/2 season was a good FA Cup season for the holders Tottenham Hotspur who went on to retain the famous old trophy in the Final against Queens Park Rangers. That one went to a Replay too!
CRM Match No. 142
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