Saturday's FA Cup Final marked the end of the [English] domestic football season. Although my preference was for an Everton win I don't begrudge Chelsea their small consolation. I watched the game with my brother-in-law (himself a Chelsea supporter) and despite his obvious joy the match and the day as a whole seemed a bit of an anti-climax, as so many FA Cup Finals seem to have been in recent years.
Back in the day (I'm told I say this a lot!) Cup Final day seemed so much more of an 'event'. We didn't have many live club matches on the TV then of course - it was just the FA Cup, the European Cup, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup: and in the case of the European finals that was dependent on a British club being involved. Three or four matches over a 9-month season.
Coverage on Cup Final day would begin at 9am - live from the team hotels, travelling by coach to the stadium with the teams (the route would invariably follow a main road near my home and I would venture out and excitedly wave to the players as they went by), following the players making their way to the dressing rooms, analysis of the game ahead. I even enjoyed the ubiquitous 'celebrity supporter' focus that, showing my age here, always seemed to involve Jimmy Tarbuck!
The following day would see BBC Grandstand featuring coverage of the open-top bus parade from the winning team with interviews from the manager and one or two of the players, and that would be it for football for three solid months. Really.
Not a mention of football on the TV (this was before 24-hour sports news television of course), nothing on the radio, just cricket and athletics (and ice-skating!) in the newspapers. There were no summer England matches, no live pre-season friendly matches in early July, no live Charity Shield in early August.
Back then my summers were spent on long cycle rides, climbing trees, fishing, swimming in the river and chasing butterflies ... happy days.
Somehow the game of football - and my love for it - seemed better for the summer break.
Yep - dead right. The FA Cup used to be the be all and end all when I was young. Now the only reason I care about it is as part of a Treble/Quadruple :)
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