by Michael Johnson

Created on: April 30, 2009

The F.A.(Football Association)cup is a great annual spectacle second only to the league itself which has the compelling season long issues of promotion,relegation and of course who wins the English championship.In recent memory it was simply a magnificent treat when the late great Danny Blanchflower captained Tottenham Hotspur to win them both.It had only been done once before and in recent years it has become almost commonplace but it is still quite something when it happens.

The World Cup is of course a great international football tournament,but the F.A. cup is actually massive by comparison and the standard of play in the later stages is actually higher.This may seem strange,but club players practice together much more than those who are selected (sometimes surprisingly) to represent their country.

The term 'world cup' has also been shamefully devalued,just as the description football once was.Now all sorts of obscure non events are being called world cups,and the fact that the World Cup is a football tournament by definition is simply being ignored by ignoramuses. The F.A. cup, however , does not have this problem as there obviously couldn't possibly be an F.A. cup of anything but football.Take that,copycats!

The league and cup structure which evolved in Britain was eagerly adopted everywhere else as it obviously worked well.This is now also happening in North America,although at some stage it will be necessary to come to terms with the necessary evil of relegation,which makes promotion possible.Fortunately not all Americans are bad losers and MLS is moving in the right direction.The MLS cup is becoming a fine tournament.

The F.A. cup final is also usually a fine match,unlike the last World Cup final when Italy and France played an absolute stinker. Danny Blanchflower,apart from his playing capabilities,was a humorous character and he once described the F.A. cup final as (get this) 'An occasion of magnificent pageantry which is ruined by 22 men playing a football match'.

In Britain people don't even talk about the F.A. cup or the F.A. cup final.Everybody uses the terms cup and cup final.Some people try to create the impression that this is not the way things are in Britain or that the situation is changeable.The poor things!God only knows what's wrong with them.People in Britain set a pattern for the world.It has passed the test of time with flying colours and works like a charm.If it ain't broke don't fix it.

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