FA Cup Playoff the Watney Cup & Derby Day Gaps/rivalry

D

Davey_C

Well-known member
Boredom and singleton has set in so I'm tracking the performances of the 'Big 3 North East Clubs throughout the years as my knowledge/memory only goes back to the late 80s (being 47)

Anyhow upon Googling who knew ...

The FA Cup had a 3rd Place Play-off (like the World Cup does)
and without googling what on earth was the Watney Cup!! (I certainly wouldn't know the answer to this in a pub quiz)


A generation of Boro fans have now missed out on seeing a Tyne-Tees Derby (the last competitive 1st team game being played 2009/10) and wouldn't have a clue what to expect next time the fixture is played with it almost been 13 years/seasons since the Geordies last came to town (I'm sure Cleveland Police are happy with this statistic)

(League Games Only) Prior to that we went 9 seasons without the fixture from 1965/66 until Jack Charlton brought top flight football back to Boro in 1974/75

Between 1995/96 and 2009/10 (the last time we played them) only one season didn't see a Tyne-Tees Derby (I guess the boom spell for us)

Is rivalry always there or the longer a fixture doesn't take place does it become a distant memory? I'm sure I'd be buzzing if we were to be playing Newcastle again next season (even if we got tonked on both occasions)

Darlington and Hartlepool haven't played each other now since 2007, but if one team was to get promoted and the other relegated that derby would come round again next season and I'm sure would generate plenty of interest in both towns

There's the old chestnut that it isn't a Derby for neither of our locals rivals when we play them, but I think Northumbira Police beg to differ on that matter

The longest spell I can see without a Tees-Wear Derby (league only) is also as recent as 2009/10 until 2016/17 when we did our 7 consecutive seasons in the Championship (but I do remember drawing them in both the FA and League Cups during this period so the gap doesn't seem as long)

back to the Snooker haha ...
 
I definitely used to see Newcastle as the bigger one when I was younger, but Sunderland have replaced them at the top in my head, and I think that's largely because we'll have played them 7 times in the last 6 years.

I'm always hoping we draw Newcastle in the cups, it's been so long.
 
Watney cup was a post season tournament sponsored by the Watney brewery. It experimented with the offside law, drawing an extra line across the pitch halfway between the penalty area and halfway line, where players could not be offside inside that part of the pitch. It played for a season or two in the early 70's
 
The Watney Cup was a pre-season tournament featuring the highest-scoring teams from the four divisions the previous season who weren't promoted. First use of penalties to decide games (in England at least) iirc.
 
TeaCider said:
I definitely used to see Newcastle as the bigger one when I was younger, but Sunderland have replaced them at the top in my head, and I think that's largely because we'll have played them 7 times in the last 6 years.

I'm always hoping we draw Newcastle in the cups, it's been so long.
Click to expand...

That's my way of thinking too, Sunderland is geographically closer

I first started attending games around the time when we drew Newcastle in both the League and ZDS Cups (as well as the League fixtures) , I'm pretty sure my 1st away Boro game was the 2nd Leg at SJP I remember it being a midweek game and strangely not all-ticket back then. Think it ended 0-0

Prior to the previous season when we drew 1-1 at Ayresome when Slaven scored I don't have any recollection of previous games. Likewise my first first experience of a Wear-Tees game was the Davenport game on Easter Monday which was a scarey experience both sets of fans spilling out of the Roker End at the end of the game
 
That's when the jawdees used to get 15000 for home games...but they choose to forget those days.
Aside from what Wikipedia says, pre-Keegan days don't exist in the minds of the shirtless, shoeless Big Daddy lookalikes.
 
Lemmy_kilmister said:
That's when the jawdees used to get 15000 for home games...but they choose to forget those days.
Aside from what Wikipedia says, pre-Keegan days don't exist in the minds of the shirtless, shoeless Big Daddy lookalikes.
Click to expand...

They should have been thrown out the FA Cup too in 1974 I'm glad they got wolloped in the final!

If that happened nowadays the game certainly wouldn't have continued

'The first Newcastle United–Nottingham Forest game at St James' Park was won 4–3 by Newcastle. However, early in the second half Nottingham Forest went 3–1 up from a penalty awarded by the referee, Gordon Kew, who also sent off Newcastle's defender Pat Howard for protesting the decision. The Newcastle United fans in the Leazes End of the ground (now the Sir John Hall stand) invaded the pitch. Two Nottingham Forest players were injured in the debacle, but the referee waited until all players were recovered and received the permission of both managers to continue the tie. Newcastle managed to come back and win with a late goal by their captain, Bobby Moncur, in spite of the two-goal and one-player deficit.[1] Up to 23 people were taken to hospital as a result of the pitch invasion, of whom two had fractured skulls; another 103 people were treated at the ground and 39 arrests were made.[2]'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top