The games on the 25th and 26th January 2020
Saturday 25th January 2020 - 15:00, Burnley FC v Norwich City
FC
Suddenly, the FA cup felt more
alive. Last night (Friday 24th
January) Northampton Town had played Derby County (0-0) on BT sport and QPR had
played Sheffield Wednesday (1-2) to open the weekend’s fixtures.
At Saturday lunchtime, Brentford v
Leicester City was live on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer was showing the women’s
Manchester United V Manchester City tie.
It was FA cup, everywhere I look…
I set off at 2pm for my 40-minute
drive to Turf Moor in Burnley.
Burnley was a bit of a maze to drive
around and once off the motorway I was taken by google maps (other Sat Nav
systems are available) through the Town Centre, towards some side streets. I didn’t know where to park and then I
noticed a sign for Match day Parking. A
guy in a high vis jacket nodded towards the car park and I thought ‘Okay,’
until I drove into a gravely bit of land and was charged £5 for the pleasure.
At least I knew where my car was, and
it seemed relatively safe. Within 2 minutes I was next to the ground and I had
walked past a dozen free parking spaces on the road.
As I walked around the
stadium, I noticed a distant lack of atmosphere – everything felt quiet and
chilled. It didn’t really feel like a football game.
But these excellent
blankets were a display of the local support…
And the stadium looked
impressive from the outside.
Around the side of the stadium was a war memorial, dedicated to the supporters of Burnley Football
Club that lost their lives during the 1st World War – I thought this
was a nice touch by the Football Club and further in the distance you can see a
monument devoted to Brian Miller who had been a previous player, captain and
manager of the club.
Further displays of homage
to ex-players were scattered around the stadium, such as this photo of Martin
Dobson who played for Burnley twice, from 1967 to 1974, and 1978 to 1983 – he also
had a stint as caretaker manager in 2010.
I walked around the corner
to find my stand, sponsored by James Hargreaves since it was built in 1996.
I entered through the
turnstiles (£20 for the ticket), went up various flights of stairs and, via a
£2 coffee, I took my seat – what an excellent view of both the pitch and the
hills in the distance.
Sunday
26th January – Burnley Women FC V Leicester City women FC.
What a dreary weary day
this was – it had rained heavily all morning and I kept checking Twitter to
make sure that this game was still going ahead. There was no information to
tell me otherwise, so at 12:10, I set of on my 29-minute drive to Padiham – a
small town, three miles west of Burnley and home to the Women’s Football
club.
Despite the rubbish
weather, I arrived in good time and parked on the road, next to a cricket pitch
across from the stadium.
I made my way around and passed the excellent looking Hare and Hounds
pub.
Up the side street and past
the Car Park Full sign.
Towards the turnstiles
before paying my £3 entrance fee.
Stadium costs so
far – Men v Women
Men £114
|
£11 Women
|
I passed the club
house…
I took my GKA corner flag
photo (notice the soggy run up to taking a corner) and I grabbed a seat in the opposite
stand.
Saturday
The players came out and
the game kicked off at 15:00. It was 7 degrees and dry weather. I noticed, suddenly,
how compressed I felt. There wasn’t much
room to swing a dead cat, so it’s a good job I hadn’t brought one.
All the noise and atmosphere
were coming from the goal to my right (the Cricket Field Stand), which was
split 50/50 between Burnley and Norwich fans. The James Hargreaves stand was
quiet apart from the odd shout (of encouragement and positivity of course).
Norwich should have scored
within the first 30 seconds and could easily have had 3 goals within the first 15 minutes
- this could be felt by the fan’s reactions.
Fan 1 - That's 3 or 4
times they've carved us apart.
This wasn’t helped, as
around the 50th minute Norwich went up 1-0 and a few minutes later
it was 2 nil.
Fan 1 shouted - It's like
watchin St Mary's under 16s.
He sounded stressed and this reminded me of an
Oxford study stating that ‘Devoted football fans experience dangerous levels of
stress’ during games. Apparently, stress hormones increase, and this produces
an increase in blood pressure and a potential strain on the heart. According to
Dr Martha Newson (University of Oxford), ‘football
gets discounted as just a game, and it’s not.’
I could
sense the stress in the fans after Burnley grabbed an excellent goal to make it
1-2. However, Burnley ran out of steam
and the game ended.
There had
been 1 booking.
Penalties and Cards
– Men v Women
Penalties - Men 2
|
3 Women
|
Yellow Cards – Men 30
|
4 Women
|
Red Cards – 1
|
0 Women
|
The
attendance was 8,071.
Attendances – Men V Women
Men 30,766
|
858 Women
|
Norwich
won £180,000 in prize money.
Prize Money – Men V
Women
Men £451,390
|
Women £13,085
|
Another great day of football
fun before I returned to the busy maze of getting out of Burnley.
Route Men’s
Avro Fc 3
|
4 Litherland
Remyca
|
Sheffield FC 2
|
1 Litherland Remyca
|
Rushall Olympic 3
|
1 Sheffield FC
|
Rushall Olympic 2
|
0 Gainsborough Trinity
|
Belper Town FC 2
|
0 Rushall Olympic
|
Notts County 2
|
1 Belper Town
|
Blackpool FC 4
|
0 Morecombe FC
|
Oldham Athletic 0
|
1 Burton Albion FC
|
PNE 2
|
4 Norwich City
|
Burnley FC 1
|
2 Norwich City
|
60% home victory ratio.
Sunday
The game kicked off at
13:00 – it was 7 degrees and rainy. I spent the first 20 minutes moving around
the stadium to try and find a good spot.
There were various angles to watch this game from, but they all seemed
to have some level of restricted view.
I settled in this great
spot – right next to the action for a close first half that ended 0-0. Leicester had most of the chances and the
Burnley keeper made a couple of great saves; but Burnley did look dangerous on
the break.
Just before half-time, I
moved to another excellent seat, next to the half way line. The atmosphere was like the game on Saturday;
very relaxed, chilled and no swearing.
The great thing about women’s football is that the supporters can mix,
without trouble and I was sat amongst a mixture of Leicester and Burnley fans –
It was quiet, so I could hear their conversations. I
didn’t pick up on the same stress levels as Saturday - as can be inferred from
the following.
Fan 1 (female, after
returning from the club house with a tray full of hot dogs) – Oh sorry, did you want a cup of tea?
Fan 2 (male) – Well I can’t send you again can I?
I checked, and Fan 2 did
have legs.
A little later their
conversation continued.
Fan 1 (to fan 2) – Did your hot dog taste like water?
Much like this fan’s hotdog
rating, the second half didn’t go well for Burnley.
Leicester scored 3 goals in
close succession.
Fan 3 (Burnley) seemed a
little optimistic when he shouted – Come
on, we can get 10 back, when we’re 9 nil down.
The optimism brought reward
as Burnley scored a screamer – 1-3 with about 10 minutes to go.
Fan 4 (Leicester) was
equally optimistic as he shouted that’s
just a consolation goal, come on Leicester we want 10.
It seemed that de la soul was wrong and 10 is the magic
number (old person’s song reference).
In the final 10
minutes, another 16 goals weren’t scored, and the game finished 1-3.
I didn’t recall a booking
and I’ve had to guess the attendance at around 170.
Highest Number of Fans
Burnley FC
|
8071 (4th Round Proper)
|
PNE
|
7616 (3rd Round Proper)
|
Notts County
|
5,729 (4th Qualifying Round)
|
Blackpool FC
|
5,371 (1st Round Proper)
|
Oldham Athletic FC
|
2,858 (2nd Round Proper)
|
Belper Town FC
|
528 (3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Brighouse Town Women
|
321 (3rd Round Proper)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
259 (1st Qualifying Round)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
249 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
Sheffield FC
|
184 (Preliminary Round)
|
Burnley FC Women
|
170 (4th Round Proper)
|
Avro FC
|
150 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
|
Liverpool Feds LFC
|
109 (1st Round Proper)
|
Stockport County Women
|
75 (3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Chorley FC Women
|
61 (2nd Round Proper)
|
Sunderland West End Ladies
|
54 (1st Qualifying Round)
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies
|
44 (Preliminary Round)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
24 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
Prize Money Leaders
Norwich City
|
£315,000 £180,000 (4th Round Proper) +
£135,000 (3rd Round Proper)
|
Burton Albion FC
|
£54,000 (2nd Round Proper)
|
Blackpool FC
|
£36,000 (1st Round Proper)
|
Notts County FC
|
£18,750 (4th Qualifying Round)
|
Belper Town FC
|
£11,250 (3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Rushall Olympic
|
£11,250 (1st & 2nd
Qualifying Rounds)
|
Sheffield FC
|
£2890 (Preliminary Round)
|
Brighouse Town Women
|
£2350 (2nd Round Proper +1st
Round Proper +3rd Qualifying Round)
|
Litherland Remyca
|
£2250 (Extra-Preliminary Round)
|
Leicester City Women
|
£2000 (4th Round Proper)
|
Barnsley Women
|
£1250 (3rd Round Proper)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
£1,035 (1st Qualifying Round+
Preliminary Round + Extra Preliminary Round)
|
Stockport County Ladies
|
£450 (2nd Qualifying Round)
|
Route Women’s
Mossley Hill
Ladies
|
Burnley Belvedere Ladies (No show)
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies 2
|
2 Mossley Hill
Ladies (2-4 Pens)
|
Sunderland West End Ladies 4
|
4 Mossley Hill
Ladies (4-5 Pens)
|
Mossley Hill Ladies 1
|
3 Stockport County
LFC
|
Stockport County LFC 2
|
2 Brighouse Town
Ladies (2-4 Pens)
|
Liverpool Feds 0
|
4 Brighouse Town
Ladies
|
Chorley FC Women 1
|
2 Brighouse Town
Ladies (ET)
|
Brighouse Town Women 0
|
1 Barnsley Women
|
Burnley Women’s FC 1
|
3 Leicester City
Women
|
89% away victory ratio.
RIP Team and Stadium
Avro FC
|
Vestacare Stadium
|
Burnley Belvedere Ladies
|
Belvedere & Calder Vale Sports Club
|
Litherland Remyca
|
Litherland Sports Park
|
Curzon Ashton Ladies
|
Failsworth Sports Campus
|
Sheffield FC
|
Home of Football Stadium
|
Gainsborough Trinity FC
|
The Northolme
|
Sunderland West End Ladies
|
Herrington Recreational Park
|
Rushall Olympic
|
Dales Lane
|
Mossley Hill Ladies
|
Field of Hope Stadium
|
Belper Town
|
Christchurch Meadows
|
Stockport County LFC
|
Stockport Sports Village
|
Liverpool Feds LFC
|
Jericho Lane Sports Hub
|
Oldham Athletic FC
|
Boundary Park
|
Chorley FC Women
|
Victory Park
|
PNE
|
Deepdale
|
Brighouse Town Women
|
The Yorkshire Payments Stadium
|
Burnley FC
|
Turf Moor
|
Burnley Women FC
|
The Ruby Civil Arena
|
Back to 1977
Like many teams in the
lower leagues, Carlisle United were struggling financially – the harsh times
were showing on their league performances as were they bottom of the 2nd division
and could only afford a squad of 20 players.
The week before their match with division one leaders Liverpool, Carlisle
suffered a huge home defeat, 0-6 to Southampton.
Carlisle were also
struggling to find players, due to their geographical location at the top of
England. It wasn’t looking ominous for them
in this match.
In modern money the above
program cost 75p, even though this Liverpool side was full of big names like Kevin
Keegan, Emyln Hughes and John Toshack – their quality showed throughout as they
won comfortably 3-0. Rather much like Liverpool
in 2020, this was a difficult team to beat and they went into the 5th
Round pot as favourites for the competition (although Jurgen Klopp has stated
that his 2020 side will not play any first-team players in their replay against
Shrewsbury Town, as they are on a winter break).
Route 1977
Hinckley Athletic 0
|
1 Tividale
|
Oldbury United 0
|
4 Tividale
|
Tividale 0
|
3 Telford United
|
Hednesford Town 0
|
0 Telford United
|
Telford United 3
|
0 Hednesford Town
|
Telford United 2
|
5 Matlock Town
|
Matlock Town 2
|
0 Wigan Athletic
|
Mansfield Town 2
|
5 Matlock Town
|
Carlisle United
5
|
1 Matlock Town
|
Liverpool 3
|
0 Carlisle United
|
A 40% home field win ratio.
1977 5th round draw,
Liverpool V Oldham Athletic.
Speaking of the 1970s, I’ve
found this video on football stories from that era – it’s based on Preston
North End (our GKA featured game in the 3rd Round Proper of 2020).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k67CS9fQra4&feature=youtu.be
(link correct on 28.01.20)
Other thangs
The BBC publicised an article
about Jack Dormer and Alex Rowe who are having their own GKA for the 2019/20
season. They started at Croydon Athletic and I wish them the best of luck in getting
tickets to the men’s final (link correct on 28.01.20).
The 5th
Round Men’s ties (I’ll have a look and see what tickets the GKA can
get hold of).
Sheffield Wednesday
v Manchester City
Reading or Cardiff
City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v
Shrewsbury Town or Liverpool
West Bromwich
Albion v Newcastle United or Oxford United
Leicester City v
Coventry City or Birmingham City
Northampton Town or
Derby County v Manchester United
Southampton or
Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Arsenal
The 5th
Round Women’s ties (I’ll have a look and see what tickets the GKA can
get hold of).
Bristol City v
Everton
Coventry United v
Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City v
Reading
Crystal Palace or
Southampton Women's FC v Brighton
Manchester City v
Ipswich Town
Arsenal v Lewes
Sunderland v Birmingham
City
Chelsea v Liverpool
Wish me luck…
