Welsh anthem urged for cup final

[scoobydoo]

I thought that the National Anthem was played because it was the Final of the English FA Cup...it wont be played for Portsmouth alone will it? I expect the FA will relent and play Land of My Fathers though. In my opinion...that will just turn into England v Wales though...unless you go to Swansea I suppose!! :D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7343735.stm

[markwales]

As a Welshman with a soft spot for Cardiff City, a Complimentary ticket for the final :D, and was at the Semi Final last weekend, I hope they DO NOT play the Welsh National Anthem.

It is the English FA Cup final.

Having said that, if it was Arsenal in the final then the English anthem would be useless too :D

[Jonny2621]

If they want the Welsh anthem, whatever that that is, they should play in the League of Wales with they welsh brethren. That way they could have an England v Wales game.

It's the English Cup Final, the only anthem they should play is God Save the Queen. To play anything else is pathetic political correctness, pandering to minority Welsh nationalism, and above all it is utterly disrespectful to our monarch, Elizabeth.

But I dont feel strongly....:D

[Win2Win]

I don't see why, they won't be playing the 'English' anthem!

[MattR]

For some reason I can't recall the anthem being played at cup finals anyway, I always thought it was Abide With Me. Then again I don't normally watch the build up these days, just the match! Anyway it's not England v Wales so why turn it into it by playing the Welsh Anthem

[vegyjones]

Leyton Orient have been to two play-off finals, and the GSTQ has been sung both times.

I thougt that the Welsh National Anthem was played in the Semi Final?

[jackster109]

There's a good chance both will de dropped. I've been to four finals to watch Swansea (2 Play-Off Finals and 2 League Trophy Finals) and I think only at one or maybe two were the anthems played. I can remeber at one match they were dropped due to the lack off respect for the anthmes(Welsh fans booing God Save The Queen & English fans boing Land of My Fathers). So, I wouldn't be suprised if the traditional song Abide With Me was just played.

[Jonny2621]

good point Jackster, anyone who thinks either set of fans will sit quietly listening to the other anthem is somewhat naieve

[tophatter]

no need to play any anthems. Abide with me will do and then play the game

[MattR]

no need to play any anthems. Abide with me will do and then play the game

Completely agree TH.

[scoobydoo]

I reckon if they normally play the UK National Anthem before the Cup Final...why change this year? Its always the same...if English teams were invited into a Welsh competition...do you think they would not play Land of My Fathers?? You must be joking and rightly so...if its the Welsh Cup then their anthem should be played loud and proud. So the same must be done for the English Cup Final as well and if Cardiff want to boo it...that is up to them isnt it. Abide with Me and God Save has always been played on Cup Final Day and to change it now would be just playing politics as Jonny has said

God I sound like The Pub Landlord!

[MattR]

I really can't recall the national anthem on cup final day for some reason! Anyway I'll be there and that's all I really care about! They can play aga do if they like!

[scoobydoo]

You can do your "Aga Do" when youre leaving hopefully eh... If that is what Pompey fans sing these days! :wink

I was thinking the other day Ive been to your ground at least once Matt...I went to watch Pompey V Grimsby..it was either 83 or 84 (showing age..I was only 15 mind!), I had moved down south from Grimsby in 83 because of my Dads job. Cant even recall if Town won or not! My mate was a big Pompey fan. Is there anywhere I can find out about that match at all...I have tried???

[mathare]

We lost 4-0 there on 5th November 1983 and lost 3-2 there on 13th October 1984 - either of those two matches ring any bells Scoobs? I haven't been able to dig out the scorers or teams for those games yet but I probably could if you wanted me too, if it would help

[scoobydoo]

Thanks for that Mat. I always thought my long term memory was good but maybe not...25 years is a long time though! The 4-0 hammering seems to ring some Pompey chimes as I think the Oct 84 game was too late as I had left school by then and lost contact with the chap I went with....but maybe wrong. If you could find it I would be grateful. I found the tables at http://www.fchd.btinternet.co.uk/lghist/fl/fl.htm but no results. Its annoying that I cant remember the specific match! I cant recall too much taking though on the way home...

[mathare]

I used Soccerbase to search the results by season and went from there.

Let me dig around and see if I can find out the scorers at least

[mathare]

Just looked in the CA database and seen our dreadful record away at Pompey.

Played 35, won 6, drawn 3 and lost 26. Scored 40, conceded 82.

[scoobydoo]

Thats not so good no! But before Matt gets carried away...table for 83/84 was as so: :D

DIVISION TWO
Pos Name Pld W D L GF GA Pts
1 Chelsea 42 25 13 4 90 40 88
2 Sheffield Wednesday 42 26 10 6 72 34 88
3 Newcastle United 42 24 8 10 85 53 80
4 Manchester City 42 20 10 12 66 48 70
5 Grimsby Town 42 19 13 10 60 47 70
6 Blackburn Rovers 42 17 16 9 57 46 67
7 Carlisle United 42 16 16 10 48 41 64
8 Shrewsbury Town 42 17 10 15 49 53 61
9 Brighton & Hove Albion 42 17 9 16 69 60 60
10 Leeds United 42 16 12 14 55 56 60
11 Fulham 42 15 12 15 60 53 57
12 Huddersfield Town 42 14 15 13 56 49 57
13 Charlton Athletic 42 16 9 17 53 64 57
14 Barnsley 42 15 7 20 57 53 52
15 Cardiff City 42 15 6 21 53 66 51
16 Portsmouth 42 14 7 21 73 64 49
17 Middlesbrough 42 12 13 17 41 47 49
18 Crystal Palace 42 12 11 19 42 52 47
19 Oldham Athletic 42 13 8 21 47 73 47
20 Derby County 42 11 9 22 36 72 42
21 Swansea City 42 7 8 27 36 85 29
22 Cambridge United 42 4 12 26 28 77 24

[MattR]

Just looked in the CA database and seen our dreadful record away at Pompey.

Played 35, won 6, drawn 3 and lost 26. Scored 40, conceded 82.

Can we play you every week :wink I knew there had to be someone we had a good historical record against!

I really can't get used to this doing well lark. We seem to have won more away games this season than the entire 1990's!

Thats not so good no! But before Matt gets carried away...table for 83/84 was as so: :D

DIVISION TWO
Pos Name Pld W D L GF GA Pts
5 Grimsby Town 42 19 13 10 60 47 70
16 Portsmouth 42 14 7 21 73 64 49

Couple of seasons before I started going. I remember seeing Grimsby quite a few times in our seemingly endless stint in Div 2 (1/champ). They always used to play good football and Mendonca always seemed to play well. Funny how certain players used to do that. Dele Adebola was another one with Crewe. He was excellent against us every time we met. The big thing I miss from those late 80's/90's was getting to see players who a couple of years later would move to a big club and you'd think, ah I saw him play for so and so. Jason McAteer at Bolton (another one who always played well against us) was one and Craig Bellamy at Norwich was one of the later ones. I remember Dean Ashton at 16 for Crewe. He was a big lad them and you could see he was going to be a decent player.

The main Grimsby game I remember was the year we reached the play offs (93). It was the last game of the season and we had to win by 1 more goal than West Ham to go up. Grimsby turn up and go 1-0 up We won 2-1 in the end but West Ham beat, I think, Cambridge Utd 2-0 or something similar.

[Win2Win]

Leeds haven't changed then? :D

[mathare]

The big thing I miss from those late 80's/90's was getting to see players who a couple of years later would move to a big club and you'd think, ah I saw him play for so and so.

I saw Andy Cole playing for whichever of the Bristol clubs he was with (Rovers?) at Blundell Park and he was rubbish. I find it very amusing when players make it big after performances like the one he put in that day.

[counterfeit]

I am a very proud Welshman and I hate the UK National Anthem but that's becuase I am anti-royalist and nothing to do with being Welsh. Most of the Cardiff (scum) fans would like to hear the Welsh Anthem but GSTQ is the country's anthem and not just the English so if any anthem should be played it should be GSTQ.

Anyway, the thought of watching 30,000 hooligans sing the Welsh anthem appalls me in much the same way that most English people must have felt hearing the Millwall fans sing GSTQ.

[MattR]

I saw Andy Cole playing for whichever of the Bristol clubs he was with (Rovers?) at Blundell Park and he was rubbish. I find it very amusing when players make it big after performances like the one he put in that day.

Ah yes forgot him. He scored a couple against us, but then everyone did back then! Also remember Kevin Campbell on loan from Arsenal at Leicester, and Dean Saunders at Oxford before his move to Liverpool.

[GlosRFC]

I thought the National Anthem was only played if a) it was an England match or b) if a member of the Royal Family was in attendance at the final.

The whole thing is laughable, stirred up by nationalist tendencies and encouraged by politically-correct institutions like the BBC. I'm looking forward to Berwick Rangers reaching the Scottish Cup Final next year and can confidently predict that the response from both the limp-wristed apologists at the BBC, Alex Salmond's tartan mob, and assorted elements of Meibion Glyndŵr will be that it's always been traditional NOT to play the Anthem.

[vegyjones]

I saw Andy Cole playing for whichever of the Bristol clubs he was with (Rovers?)

It was Bristol City!

Also remember Kevin Campbell on loan from Arsenal at Leicester,

Kevin Campbell will always be remembered fondly down at Brisbane Road, almost single handedly helped us get promotion when he came on loan in the second half of the 1988-1989 season!