Between Saturday and Tuesday over four days, we will have games in the EFL Trophy, League Cup, FA Cup and Community Shield, with the EFL Trophy 1st Round started before last season’s final is contested.
While obviously this season has forced hands in terms of when games are played, it’s not new to see games in different competitions played at the same time.
When was it that the lines started blurring on dates for different cup games? Was this always a line? I think because I live in Scotland where the League Cup has generally finished much earlier than in England for large portions of it’s existence, but is this a modern phenomenon?
in terms of cups being held over, my main contribution would be I went to the final of the 2017/18 East of Scotland City Cup, a tournament involving Edinburgh City, Berwick Rangers and the two finalists of the EOS Qualifying Cup in summer of 2019. The final had been held over since 2017/18 on the account of both teams struggling to find time to accommodate the final as a result of Edinburgh City mounting a challenge for promotion from Scottish League 2 and East Kilbride battling for the Lowland League title. In the meantime, the draw for the 2018/19 tournament was made in anticipation of the previous year's match being completed with two semi-final matches, Berwick Rangers vs. Spartans and Edinburgh City vs. Camelon, being drawn at the EOS FA's AGM last season. At the time of writing this, neither of these games have been completed yet.
To make things even more complicated, Berwick Rangers would go on a horrific run of form which lead them to being relegated from Scottish League 2. Berwick had previously automatically qualified for the City Cup by virtue of their Football League status, but this relegation prompted the EOS FA to confirm that the 2019/20 tournament would consist of Edinburgh City facing the winners of the EOS Qualifying Cup in a one-off final. So up until the 6th of July 2019, the tournament had games still to be played from the 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 competitions. Since then, COVID-19 forced the abandonment of last season before any further games were played, bringing the City Cup back to it’s familiar timescale of being three seasons too late, with a possible exciting fourth season to be held over down the line.
Any notable instances of cup clashes or editions being held over? I am certain there have been a treble of PL, FA Cup and League Cup games on the same day before.
While obviously this season has forced hands in terms of when games are played, it’s not new to see games in different competitions played at the same time.
When was it that the lines started blurring on dates for different cup games? Was this always a line? I think because I live in Scotland where the League Cup has generally finished much earlier than in England for large portions of it’s existence, but is this a modern phenomenon?
in terms of cups being held over, my main contribution would be I went to the final of the 2017/18 East of Scotland City Cup, a tournament involving Edinburgh City, Berwick Rangers and the two finalists of the EOS Qualifying Cup in summer of 2019. The final had been held over since 2017/18 on the account of both teams struggling to find time to accommodate the final as a result of Edinburgh City mounting a challenge for promotion from Scottish League 2 and East Kilbride battling for the Lowland League title. In the meantime, the draw for the 2018/19 tournament was made in anticipation of the previous year's match being completed with two semi-final matches, Berwick Rangers vs. Spartans and Edinburgh City vs. Camelon, being drawn at the EOS FA's AGM last season. At the time of writing this, neither of these games have been completed yet.
To make things even more complicated, Berwick Rangers would go on a horrific run of form which lead them to being relegated from Scottish League 2. Berwick had previously automatically qualified for the City Cup by virtue of their Football League status, but this relegation prompted the EOS FA to confirm that the 2019/20 tournament would consist of Edinburgh City facing the winners of the EOS Qualifying Cup in a one-off final. So up until the 6th of July 2019, the tournament had games still to be played from the 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 competitions. Since then, COVID-19 forced the abandonment of last season before any further games were played, bringing the City Cup back to it’s familiar timescale of being three seasons too late, with a possible exciting fourth season to be held over down the line.
Any notable instances of cup clashes or editions being held over? I am certain there have been a treble of PL, FA Cup and League Cup games on the same day before.
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