Footscray and the F.A. Cup Final

Results from 1925 to 2010

Below is the table that explains what Footscray were doing (or not doing in some years) on the weekend of the F.A. Cup Final from England (and Wales in the 2001-2006 years inclusive) from the 1925 season. This being our first in the Victorian Football League (V.F.L) after crossing over from the Victorian Football Association (V.F.A)

I began to take in interest in English soccer around Christmas time during the 1984-1985 campaign. This was when it was at its lowest ebb and it was unfashionable here in Australia. I remember soccer commentator ex-patriate Englishman Fred Villiers in Melbourne having to basically apologize on ‘World of Sport’ for what happened 12,000 miles away at the Luton Town v Millwall F.A. Cup tie when the Millwall fans rioted during the game. For Australians that don’t come from a soccer heritage like me, it was the worst time to begin being interested in the game. Then after that there was the Bradford fire. I woke up early that Sunday morning and heard on the radio as I was getting up to watch the ‘A Pleasant Sunday Morning’ program on Channel 2 which was a Sunday morning footy show that played highlights from selected games. I was eager to see more action from Richmond v Footscray that took place the day before on the cricket ground. The first news story was how over 50 people has lost their lives at a soccer match in England. I could not believe it could happen in modern times- then a few weeks later there was the Heysel tragedy in Belgium at the European Champions Cup Final. More deaths at a soccer match

The first F.A. Cup Final that I watched with more than just a passing interest was the 1985 one between Everton and Manchester United. Earlier that day I was at the Western Oval to see the Bulldogs lose to the Lions. This was the final victory Fitzroy ever had there over us at home, Brad Hardie kicked the first goal of the game to the Geelong Road End and in the last quarter Les Bamblett kicked an absolute ripper of a goal that should have lifted us to victory, but alas it didn’t. The next year was 100% better; we beat North Melbourne at the Western Oval, with Simon Beasley kicking 5 goals in the last quarter. So I began thinking about all the F.A. Cup Finals and decided to document every one of them from 1925 and what Footscray did on that particular round.

The first one that I remember was 1977 and how it was being promoted as some massive game in England between the two greatest and biggest clubs of all time. I remember hearing the scores after the game and that stuck in my mind- 2-1, but it wasn’t till some time later that I learned the two competitors were Manchester United and Liverpool. So I didn’t think much more about it till some years later.

Anyhow I looked up who Footscray played that day and I was there in the bottom level of the old Southern Stand. We were comfortably leading Richmond but they overran us in the last quarter and I felt cheated again. So after recalling 1977, 1985 and 1986, may as well do the lot, so here they all are from 1925 to the present day.

Up until 1988, all Footscray games were played on the Saturday afternoon before the F.A. Cup Final ‘kick off’ at midnight, Eastern Australian time. Nowadays with A.F.L games played outside of the old every game on the traditional Saturday afternoon, this table takes in the full weekend of the F.A. Cup Final, so Footscray matches on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday are put with the F.A. Cup Final chart in the same way as the Saturday afternoon fixtures were.

Footscray games have the actual home team or the designated home team, presented first. So thus our name will be below our opponents in quite a few of these years

The F.A. Cup teams are NOT presented below where the winners name is on top. The first team of the two to make the final receives top billing; alphabetical order is used if they both made it at the identical time. This no longer happens with the semi-finals played on different days.

There was no F.A. Cup Final in 1940, 1941,1942,1943,1944 and 1945 due to World War 2, so as there is no set date(e.g. April 25 for Anzac Day) or set day (e.g. the first Tuesday in November- for the Melbourne Cup), no Footscray game was added to the chart in those 6 years.