Looooonnnngggg Weekend

Because it's a long weekend the Cornerstone U12s had a bye so I was able to sleep in this morning after last night's tiring taxi shift. I had a look at a few garage sales but found very little of interest or worth, the sum total of my purchases being $2 on a Big Bird stuffed toy which will next see life as a mascot on the Cool School Race Camp in December.

I took advantage of a 20% off sale at Hardly Normal to buy an external hard drive and came home with the intention of backing up then reformatting my computer which has been non-functioning for quite a while. Unfortunately it still is! No matter what I tried I couldn't get past a series of annoying error messages that prevented the computer from even starting the XHD! Calls to the NEC helpline were fruitless because of course, computers only malfunction Mon to Fri between 9 and 5. As it happens, Monday is a public holiday in WA but not the rest of the country so I may be able to get the help I need then. In the meantime I am blogging on the laptop.

I made it to church tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks. The crowd was small (long W/E) but the service was good.

I came home to cook dinner on the BBQ, some large shark fillets I bought at Woolies. Because they were so chunky they were a little tricky to cook but I managed it at the second attempt and enjoyed them very much.

Sport Boy and I then settled in for a feast of football on the TV, firstly the Dockers V Richmond game that I had on time shift, followed by the FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Everton at Wembley.

The Dockers game was a real thriller with both sides having chances to win it as the lead see-sawed in the last quarter before the Tigers got up by 3 points, which is good for them, and Terry Wallace, and Gary, but once again foiled my chances of tipping all 8 winners! Tipping Freo is fraught with risk and sure enough they let me down again. It was a great game though.

The soccer started in spectacular fashion with the quickest goal in cup final history when Louis Saha put Everton 1-0 up after 25 seconds but in the end Chelsea were too good and wore them down, Droghba equalising and Lampard scoring a stunning winner to give former Socceroos coach Gus Huddink victory in his last match as Chelsea manager. By then Sport Boy was fast asleep on the couch.

1973 Sunderland Leeds United 1-0

The first FA Cup Final I remember, famous for Ian Porterfield's goal and Jim Montgomery's stunning double save to deny Leeds Utd in one of the great giant-killing acts in Cup history.

1974 Liverpool Newcastle United 3-0

The first final I watched live, Kevin Keegan winning it for Liverpool and Malcolm McDonald doing nothing for Newcastle.

1975 West Ham United Fulham 2-0

2nd division Fulham couldn't cause an upset.

1976 Southampton Manchester United 1-0

Southampton could! Another 2nd division winner against the world's most famous soccer team, I watched this game at Gary Thurkauy's place in Rosewood.

1977 Manchester United Liverpool 2-1

Can't remember this one.

1978 Ipswich Town Arsenal 1-0

Minnows Ipswich beat the Gunners and I was very happy, Russell Osman scored the goal.

1979 Arsenal Manchester United 3-2

One of the best cup finals of all time with Arsenal coming from behind to win, Brian Kidd scored.

1980 West Ham United Arsenal 1-0

My mate Graham barracked for West Ham so we were all pleased when they beat Arsenal, Trevor Brooking scored the winner.

1981 Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City 1-1 aet
replay Tottenham Hotspur Manchester City 3-2

My beloved Spurs made it to the cup final. I watched it in Nathalia where I was staying at the Gallaghers with my mate Nick. A Tommy Hutchison own goal earnt Spurs a lucky draw.

The replay on Thursday night was possibly the best cup final ever, certainly the winning goal scored by Argentinian Ricky Villa was the best cup final goal of all. I was doing cart wheels around the room in celebration, suppressing my shouts of joy because everyone else in the house was sound asleep as it was about 4 in the morning Oz time.

1982 Tottenham Hotspur Queens Park Rangers 1-1 aet
replay Tottenham Hotspur Queens Park Rangers 1-0

I was there! Having sold everything I owned and bought a one way ticket to London I set off to fulfill a life long dream of seeing Spurs win the FA Cup. Making the final for the second year in a row convinced me to go even though I had no guarantee of a ticket. Upon arrival in London I was picked up at Heathrow by my pen friend Tania and her family at 6.00 Sunday morning. On the way home we stopped at White Hart Lane, Spurs' home ground, and asked a bobby on the gate if I could come in for a look around so I got to walk on the hallowed turf.

He asked me if I'd come over for the cup final?

Yes

Have you got a ticket yet?

No

Well, I've been looking for a worthy cause, here you go! and he handed me a winning ballot ticket for the cup final! I'd been in England for two hours and I had a ticket!

Ironically the game was a draw and not a patch on the 1981 final. The good news was that tickets to the replay were much easier to obain, we just had to line up at Wembley the next morning and were able to buy them.

Glen Hoddle scored a penalty in the 8th minute and that was it, Spurs won the cup for the 2nd year in a row. My dream had come true.

1983 Manchester United Brighton and Hove Albion 2-2 aet
replay Manchester United Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0

I was still living in England and after the previous year's experience we headed off to Wembley and bought tickets to the replay, which United won easily, meaning that I've been lucky enough to go to three FA Cup Finals.

1984 Everton Watford 2-0

Elton John's Watford lost.

1985 Manchester United Everton 1-0 aet

Around this point my memories of cup finals become a bit vague. I always watch the game but can't clearly remember the winners or the details like I could when I was a kid.

1986 Liverpool Everton 3-1

The first merseyside derby final.

1987 Coventry City Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 aet

The most disappointing final of all. Spurs lost their perfect cup final record, going down to lowly Coventry City. I was running an Uncle RYLA camp the weekend it was on and Mrs Holt Press, who was pregnant with The Heir had to deliver a TV up to the YMCA campsite at Stoneville for me so I could watch the game.

1988 Wimbledon Liverpool 1-0

Another upset. Wimbledon had only been in the football league a few years when they knocked off mighty Liverpool in the cup final.

1989 Liverpool Everton 3-2 aet

Liverpool beat their Merseyside rivals again.

1990 Manchester United Crystal Palace 3-3 aet
replay Manchester United Crystal Palace 1-0

Palace were brilliant in the first game but succumbed to United in the replay.

1991 Tottenham Hotspur Nottingham Forest 2-1 aet

Another memorable final, with Spurs winning yet again in a year ending in 1. (Spurs won trophies in 1901, 1921, 1951, 1661, 1971, 1981 and 1991!) This was the game where Paul Gascoine had a brain fade and should have been sent off for two reckless tackles. As it was he badly injured his knee and missed a year of football. Spurs won and I was very happy.

1992 Liverpool Sunderland 2-0

No memory of this game.

1993 Arsenal Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 aet
replay Arsenal Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 aet

I think Arsenal played Wednesday in both cup competitions that year.

1994 Manchester United Chelsea 4-0

This was the beginning of Manchester United's total domination of English football under Sir Alex Ferguson. They have won about 44 trophies in his time as manager!!!!

1995 Everton Manchester United 1-0

They didn't win the cup this ear though.

1996 Manchester United Liverpool 1-0

This year they did!

1997 Chelsea Middlesbrough 2-0

Boring game from memory.

1998 Arsenal Newcastle United 2-0

Arsenal won, rats!

1999 Manchester United Newcastle United 2-0

Newcastle lose for the second year in a row. They haven't won a trophy since about the 30's!

2000 Chelsea Aston Villa 1-0

Chelsea started to emerge as a football power in the early noughties.

2001 Liverpool Arsenal 2-1

Arsenal won the next two cup finals so thank goodness they didn't win this one!

2002 Arsenal Chelsea 2-0

Boring

2003 Arsenal Southampton 1-0

Ho hum

2004 Manchester United Millwall 3-0

Millwall's dreams of giant killing were rapidly destroyed by United.

2005 Arsenal Manchester United 0-0 aet
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties

First cup final decided on penalties, shame the wrong team won!

2006 Liverpool West Ham United 3-3 aet
Liverpool win 3-1 on penalties

A brilliant game that West Ham were unlucky to lose, although they fell apart badly in the penalty shoot-out.

2007 Chelsea Manchester United 1-0

The lesser of two evils!

2008 Portsmouth Cardiff City 1-0

Finally a Cup final without one of the big 7! (For the first time since 1973 the cup final didn't have one of the big seven teams in it: Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham) Either side winning would have been good and Cardiff were unlucky, having been the better team for much of the game but Pompey won the cup.