Gamemakers will tell you that just like the final, FA Cup semi-finals are all about the fans. That honouring both sides with 45,000 tickets each and another trip to Football Mecca makes everyone a winner.
When the taxpayers first shelled out for Britain’s national stadium, I could understand that necessity to milk every drop.
And perhaps some really do still believe that the Football Association puts the semis on at their exclusively-owned monolith, sponsored by EE, out of some kind of tribute to The Magic Of The Cup™, and not just to sell a few more corporate packages.
Hosting these fixtures under the arch, however, is just one more example of the 21st Century ‘beigeification’ of the game, filed alongside media training for mavericks and bookings for shirt removal. Wem-ber-lee should be the ultimate full stop in a cup journey, but these days, it’s a semi-colon, too.
THE OTHER VIEW Keep FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley to protect a historic football pilgrimage (and annoys fans of the big clubs)
It’s a venue where bands like Muse start selling out when they become painfully dull, it’s not some raucous cauldron of noise that becomes the 12th man. It empties at 40 minutes and refills at 55.
I’m too young to remember the semis touring around Villa Park or Elland Road, but I’m old enough to remember thinking that a trip to Wembley was a big deal – because it was rare. Now, this big, boring bowl is used up to four times a season by a cabal of superclubs to the point where Liverpudlians call it ‘Anfield South’.
As an Arsenal fan, it’s possible to see my team win the trophy without leaving the capital: in 2015, our ‘final’ came in the last eight at Old Trafford, before two safe Wembley ties against Aston Villa and Reading. Thank god the semi wasn’t a banana skin where the opponents that day could level the field with some kind of atmosphere. Good for Arsenal, I guess.
Just like everything else in this sport nowadays though, these semis favour those with money: big sides, who’d rather avoid stadiums with soul, the FA, who cash in on another event either side of a Coldplay residency, and even train companies, looking to double their money on fans heading Harrow-wards. Is this really what the Cup is all about?
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