When the BBC launched their FA Cup promotion campaign with the tag line ‘anything can happen’, one thing I didn’t have in mind was that coverage of one of the semi-finals would consist of radio commentary on digital radio and a highlights package starting at 11:30pm on a Sunday night.
Now before I continue, I am happy to declare that I am a huge fan of the BBC. I have no objection to paying the licence fee and live in mortal fear of a watered-down not very independent national broadcaster. The BBC’s reporting of the Hillsborough inquest jury findings that the 96 were unlawfully killed at an FA Cup semi-final 27 years ago was exemplary. The same cannot be said for two newspapers, one of whom decided that David Cameron’s use of social media was a far more important front page story.
Back to Sunday and happier times.
Like many of you reading this I was one of the 79,100 people enjoying the coverage with my own eyes, so I didn’t need to listen or watch.
And I do realise that the BBC does not have exclusive coverage of the FA Cup and has to negotiate and share coverage of live games with BT Sport.
But I did think that the BBC dropped the ball on this one.
The idea of the ‘Magic of the Cup’ is surely more relevant in a game between Palace and Watford than one between Everton and Manchester United, bigger clubs for sure, but clubs where a trip to a Cup Final is not as important.
The way the semi-final draw worked out meant that there could be a repeat of either of two classic FA Cup finals from the days before Sky.
Both those finals are remembered because of the heroics of the underdog sides in getting to the final and in Palace’s case nearly winning it.
I remember two moments from the 1984 final when Watford played Everton. One was when Elton John, who had invested a fortune in his home town club, burst into tears during ‘Abide with Me’ and secondly when the other Andy Gray bullied the veteran lower league keeper Steve Sherwood out of the way for Everton’s first goal.
When Everton and Manchester United played each other in the final in 1995, the game was dire, matched only for tedium by the awful game a year later when a late Eric Cantona goal enabled United to beat the White-suited Spice Boys from Liverpool.
A contrast between those two pairs of finals – 1984 and 1990 versus 1995 and 1996 – shows that the FA Cup is so often at its best when there is a David and Goliath element to it.
That sentiment appeared to borne out in some of the early selection of BBC live games, the Liverpool game on a barely playable pitch at Exeter back in January, being a prime example. And unless you are a fan of the winning side the golden moment of the Cup this year was when the BBC revealed that they had interviewed a baffled Jurgen Klopp in a tiny tea room, with the two tea ladies huddled together just out of shot.
As the cup progressed, the BBC have been torn between following their ‘anything can happen’ motto or settling for the ‘let’s show the top sides that we can’t show live games for any other time’.
While there were a number of live games where there was potential giant-killing, there was also Tottenham’s Europa League side beating Leicester City reserves, and Chelsea beating a Manchester City side notable for having the highest aggregate of shirt numbers in British footballing history.
As for BBC Radio 5Live, where the coverage is normally excellent, the decision on Sunday to go for live commentary from the Leicester league game rather than the FA Cup semi-final was predictable but disappointing. Of course, Leicester are the story of the season, but we have been following that story every day for weeks now and Leicester weren’t going to win the league in beating Swansea City.
The consistent feedback we heard on Monday was that it was the Palace fans at Wembley who created the best atmosphere of any game at the weekend.
It was hard to tell if that was true from where I was sat – it was far too noisy.
The Palace fans showed the spirit of ‘anything can happen’ better than anyone else in this year’s FA Cup competition. We know all about the appalling league form and we have had a good old moan about that, but here was an opportunity for glory, redemption and a really good day out, and we took it.
It was a shame that the rest of the country didn’t get to share it with us until nearly midnight.
