Decision to scrap FA Cup replays is met with fury
New changes to the format of the FA Cup, including an end to replays and the final being played during the league season, have been met with strong criticism with the decisionmaking process described as an “absolute disgrace”.
Replays are to be dropped from the first round onwards from next season and the final moved to the penultimate weekend of the Premier League campaign, as part of a deal agreed between the FA and Premier League. Mark Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, said the agreement would secure “a strong format for the future” for a trophy that continues to generate the majority of the FA’s income. The Premier League is understood to have argued that change was necessary due to the expansion of European fixtures. For smaller clubs that traditionally stood to benefit from replays, however, this perspective has not been shared.
Mark Palios, a former chief executive of the FA and executive chair of League Two side Tranmere Rovers, was strongly critical of the changes. “The process is an absolute disgrace, a deal concocted in the corridors of power,” he said. “This is not just about the cash, it’s about the enjoyment experienced by fans of lower league clubs. This deal reflects the unrestrained march of mammon in football and it will destroy the game.”
Palios’s sentiments were echoed by Fair Game, the coalition of clubs who want greater financial sustainability within English football. The CEO of Fair Game, Niall Couper, said: “Scrapping FA Cup replays from the first round proper deprives lower league clubs of a much-needed source of revenue. This is a shortsighted move that does nothing to strengthen the game. It is another nail in the coffin for the already crumbling football pyramid.”
The FA’s own statistics show that, over the past decade, there have been 228 replays in the FA Cup, with 19 of those matches featuring an EFL club away at a Premier League side, and 12 of those matches taking place in front of crowds of over 25,000. That means at least one EFL club each year would ordinarily get a substantial financial benefit from a replay, but non-league clubs would stand to benefit further.
Cray Valley PM, who play in step 4 of non-league, earned a home replay against League One Charlton Athletic in the first round of the Cup. According to their chair, Frank May, the outcome was transformative. “Getting a draw at Charlton and then losing on penalties would have not only denied our fans the euphoria they experienced but also benefits that the replay gave us”, he said. The EFL also expressed its disappointment at the decision, saying it had not been part of the bipartite agreement.
In a separate arrangement, the Premier League agreed to provide an extra £33m per year to support the grassroots game.
The maker of Dukes balls has entered the debate on the trial use of the Kookaburra ball in county cricket and invited Rob Key, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director of men’s cricket, to talk to him about the type of ball he wants to see.
Dilip Jajodia, the managing director of British Cricket Balls Ltd which has owned the Dukes imprint since 1987, was responding to a story in the Guardian this week in which Key hailed the trial use of the Kookaburra in the county championship and called for it to be used permanently.
“I can’t speak for the inner thoughts of Rob Key,” said Jajodia. “He’s entitled to his opinions obviously. I’d be very happy to have a discussion with him about what he would like.”
In the first two rounds of the county season bowlers have used the machine-made Kookaburra instead of the usual handmade Dukes. With its slighter seam and propensity to go softer earlier, the Kookaburra provides less assistance to bowlers and has contributed to bat dominating ball.
“I think it’s been fantastic,” Key had said of the Kookaburra experiment, which was first proposed by Andrew Strauss’s high performance review in 2022. “I would use the Kookaburra all the time. English cricket would be much better off for it.”
But Jajodia cautioned about any plans to expand the use of the Kookaburra. “You have to be careful about snap decisions, the ECB will have to weigh up the pros and cons,” he said.
“We’ve seen with the white ball that it doesn’t really swing, so that craft goes out of the game. The Dukes red ball does swing and it often then reverse-swings. Bowlers like Jimmy Anderson can harness these skills. You have to be careful giving all that up to pursue success overseas.”
Dukes came under criticism in the seasons directly after the pandemic because their balls were deemed to be softer than usual and therefore going out of shape a lot quicker than they previously had. Stuart Broad went as far as to call the 2022 batch of Dukes balls “rubbish”, a quote that stung Jajodia and his small workforce at their factory in Walthamstow.
“We had a bit of trouble with our production processes during Covid and then had complaints that the balls were going soft and out of shape, now apparently the ball going soft is actually a virtue!
“It’s not like bowlers don’t get chance to use the other [Kookaburra] ball – they dominate white ball cricket. The Kookaburra is almost universally used in white ball cricket.”
Jajodia stressed that no two cricket balls are the same – “No two cows are the same you see” – and that the process of making them by hand is a labour of love. “They are made from a natural, raw material. It is a skilled and artisanal process to make one by hand. You can only make about three or four in a whole day.
“I feel that our job is to produce a consistent product that plays well in all conditions and doesn’t overly favour bowler or batter.”
Jajodia said he is in touch with the ECB regularly and happy to discuss what could be required to take English cricket forward.
“I think there’s no doubt that we have a superior product. I’ll issue the same challenge to anybody. You bring your ball at any price, anywhere, anytime, any test. I’m ready.”