The FA Cup tie that took 11 HOURS...

And Jim Rosenthal on never-ending cup tie

HAVE you heard the one about the football match that went on for 11 HOURS ?

Jim Rosenthal watched every kick and, to him, it was no joke.

“Some of it was a bit grim,” said the veteran broadcaster. “But there are two things they can’t take away from me – I presented the Rugby World Cup final (2003) and I watched every minute of the longest FA Cup match ever.”

The year of the longest tie was 1971 and Rosenthal (below) was a cub reporter at his local paper, the Oxford Mail.

“I used to go to places like Kingstonian and Leytonstone to watch Oxford City,” he said. “And when I got to the press box there would be no phone for me to ring through my copy. After 15 minutes, I’d leave the ground, knock on the door of a house nearby and ask, ‘Can I use your phone ne for a few minutes to ring through my copy? I’ll reverse the charges’.

“By the time I had made my call and got back to the ground, I’d missed three goals!”

Rosenthal was there for a goal fest when City reached the first round of the FA Cup in 1970.

Bournemouth put eight past Oxford in a replay – with Ted MacDougall getting six.

The following season, Oxford met Alvechurch for a place in the first round of the FA Cup.

“Alvechurch had a heck of a reputation,” recalled Rosenthal.

“They played on an old farmer’s field called Lye Meadow which had a huge slope. Oxford had four lads out of the Army in the team and one of them had been on guard duty and only had two hours’ kip!”

No wonder Oxford found themselves 2-0 down – but the tie was far from over.

After the first match ended in a 2-2 draw, the replay finished 1-1 after extra time.

“There were no penalty shoot-outs in those days,” said Rosenthal. “They just kept playing until there was a winner. There were a couple of pretty grim 0-0 draws.”

Oxford City and Alvechurch ended up playing SIX times in 17 days – and four matches went to extra time.

Finally, in the 588th minute of the tie, Bobby Hope scored what Rosenthal remembered as “a farcical goal” at a freezing Villa Park to send Alvechurch through to face Aldershot.

“The players crawled to that game,” he said said. “That was th the sixth time they’d played each other in 17 days – and they w were playing lea league games in be between.

“By the sixth game, injuries were piling up and players were dropping out through sheer exhaustion.”

Villa chairman Doug Ellis was in joyous mood. He took a bottle of champagne into the changing rooms to celebrate the fixture entering the Guinness Book of Records as the longest FA Cup match.

“Nobody fancied a drink,” said Rosenthal. “They all wanted to get home – they had work in the morning!”

Oxford look to make more headlines tomorrow when they welcome League One Northampton Town for an FA Cup first-round tie that will be screened live on BT Sport.

Rosenthal added: “It’s good for both clubs that they’ll get some TV money – and good for the players that it won’t go on for 11 hours!”