CUP’S LONGEST EVER SAGA
FIFTY years ago tomorrow, Alvechurch and Oxford City arrived at the halfway point of an FA Cup tie that both clubs must have envisaged might go to a replay or two, at most. How wrong they were.
It took them 17 days and six games in all to reach a conclusion that ended the most drawnout saga in the history of the competition.
Bobby Hope, now a sprightly 71, was the man who decided the fourth qualifying round slog that had stretched to five replays lasting a total of 660 minutes. Hope nodded in the only goal at Villa Park. “I headed it over the goalkeeper (Peter Harris) and under the cross bar,” he recalled. “He was a good goalkeeper and spread himself as best he could but not enough, unfortunately for him.”
Hope’s sympathy for Harris was fleeting. “We battered away at them for the rest of the match,” said the former striker. “The last thing we wanted was another game.”
Record
They had performed on a Saturday, Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Monday. From Alvechurch’s sloping Lye Meadow ground after a 2-2 draw, the tie had switched to City’s White House for a 1-1 draw and then to St Andrew’s for another 1-1 after Alvechurch had won the toss for choice of neutral venue. Two 0-0 draws at Oxford’s Manor Ground were followed by the denouement. The previous record of 9 hours 40 minutes set in the 1924-25 season by Leyton and Ilford had been comfortably beaten.
“My main memory is boredom,” said Hope. “We got really p***ed off playing one another. We were glad to get the bloody thing over with. We got to know players playing against us better than our own team. It wouldn’t happen now, would it? There’d be penalties at the end of the first replay.”
Famous
With the FA prevaricating until 1991 when they finally introduced penalties after the first replay, Hope was left among the record breakers. No doubt his old team-mates and other football chums have been reminded of that more than once during their weekly rounds of golf on a course next to Elmdon (Birmingham) Airport. “We spent 20 per cent of the time reminiscing and the rest of the time looking for balls,” he joked.
Although his most famous goal came off his brow, Hope wasn’t renowned for his heading ability despite being 6ft 2in. Dementia shouldn’t be a problem. “I’ve still got my marbles,” he said.
Success in the cup odyssey came at a price. Alvechurch were so exhausted at becoming the first club from the Midlands Combination to reach the first round, that with only a day’s rest, Hope was included in the team beaten 4-2 at Aldershot in a tie, which had to be delayed four days. He was one of 11 players from the two clubs who played every minute of each game spanning 11 hours.
Alvechurch then folded and reformed as Alvechurch Villa only to revert to their original name somewhat conveniently for those marking this anniversary as a special occasion.