Today I'm going back 39 years to 1983 and the FA Cup Final between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United at the old Wembley Stadium. The game was reportedly attended by 100,000 people at the time but, interestingly, sources on the internet now suggest that the attendance was actually 99,059.
I have two different editions of the of the featured programme (shown in my blog). One I bought at Wembley on the day of the game, the other I purchased at WHSmiths. The difference concerned Brighton's captain Steve Foster (or Fozzie with the headband as he is perhaps better known?). In the run up to the Final, Foster had received a caution which would rule him out of the Final in line with the FA's disciplinary rules at the time. Brighton however decided to appeal the ban and it wasn't until just a few days before the Final that it was confirmed that Foster would miss out. The WHSmiths version of the programme shows Foster included in the Brighton team-line up and the Wembley version omits him. Despite the harsh punishment on Foster, I support the FA's decision to uphold their disciplinary process regarding Foster since, had they relented, they would have faced a never ending stream of appeals going forwards and there would have been no real consequence for foul play or cheating on the field.
Remember that this particular FA Cup Final was played back in the days when the competition was still regarded as a prize to be won on a par with the League Championship itself. The game was one of only two or three a year that would be shown live on TV in the UK along with England versus Scotland and, occasionally, the European Cup Final provided that a British team was playing. The FA Cup Final had a habit of throwing up a surprise participant and, in this case, Brighton & Hove Albion found themselves at Wembley following a remarkable run to the Final that included beating all-conquering Liverpool at Anfield. Playing against the institution that is and was Manchester United, Brighton were cast in the role of the plucky underdog and, Lord knows, British people love an underdog or a plucky loser.
Brighton lived their underdog tag to the full and went into the match having just been relegated from the top flight. It was also Brighton's first ever Cup Final and, to everyone's surprise, in the 14th minute they proceeded to take the lead via a fine header from Gordon Smith and went into the halftime break with the single goal lead. Ten minutes after halftime United equalised through Frank Stapleton. Even better was to come for the Red Devils when, after 72 minutes, Ray Wilkins curled a magnificent effort into the far top corner for 2-1 (definitely worth another look in the video attached to my blog if you have two minutes). It was a goal deserving of winning any Cup Final but it was not to be as back came Brighton and, with just three minutes remaining, defender Gary Stevens lashed home the equaliser.
2-2 it was and we found ourselves with an additional 30 minutes of extra time. In the last minute of extra time Brighton's Michael Robinson broke away, unselfishly passed the ball sideways to team mate Gordon Smith inside the penalty area and, with the goal at his mercy, Smith's shot was saved by United keeper Gary Bailey's legs. The moment was immortalised by BBC radio commentator Peter Jones and is known as the "And Smith Must Score" moment. That piece of commentary has since spawned the title of a Brighton & Hove Albion fanzine. In all Smith made 109 Football League appearances for Brighton, scoring 22 goals and also appeared for Rangers and Manchester City amongst others. After he finished paying, Smith went on to become the Scottish FA's Chief Executive. Indeed Raheem Sterling has a lot to thank Smith for as it was Smith who introduced a new International selection rule enabling people who had been educated for five years or more in a particular country to appear for that country's International side. Jamaican born Raheem Sterling was thus able to represent England because of the rule.
The 1983 FA Cup Final therefore finished 2-2 AET and, at the time, this necessitated a Replay that took place on the following Thursday night also at Wembley. There were no penalty shootouts in those days. United had few problems dealing with Brighton second time around despite the appearance of Steve Foster in the Brighton back line who got his opportunity to play in an FA Cup Final after all. United won the Cup at a canter by 4-0 with goals from Bryan Robson (2), Norman Whiteside and a penalty from Arnold Muhren.
CRB Match No. 253
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