The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held.
The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72, and is the oldest association football competition in the world. Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament, although lower division teams rarely reach the final. The holders of the FA Cup are Portsmouth, who beat Cardiff City 1–0 in the 2008 final on 17 May 2008.
At the end of the final, the winning team is presented with a trophy, also known as the "FA Cup", which they hold until the following year's final. Traditionally, at Wembley finals, the presentation is made at the Royal Box, with players, led by the captain, mounting a staircase to a gangway in front of the box and returning by a second staircase on the other side of the box. At Cardiff the presentation was made on a podium on the pitch.
The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team; a common riddle asks, "What is always taken to the Cup Final, but never used?" (the answer is "the losing team's ribbons"). However this isn't entirely true, as during the game the cup actually has both teams sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. Individual members of the teams playing in the final are presented with winners' and runners'-up medals. The present FA Cup trophy is the fourth. The first, the 'little tin idol', was used from the inception of the Cup in 1871–2 until it was stolen from a Birmingham shoe shop window belonging to William Shillcock while held by Aston Villa on 11 September 1895. It was never seen again. The FA fined Villa £25 to pay for a replacement. Almost 60 years later, the thief admitted that the cup had been melted down to make counterfeit half-crowns.[5]
Arsenal 3-1 Plymouth
Three second-half goals saw Arsenal take their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with victory over Plymouth.
Captain Robin van Persie put the home side in front two minutes after the interval before on-loan defender David Gray turned the ball into his net.
Live text - FA Cup third round
Twenty-two FA Cup third-round ties are under way after Hartlepool shock Stoke in the opening game of the day.
FA Cup matches are shown live by both ITV and Setanta Sports across the UK and Ireland. Setanta Sports shows three games and one replay in each round from round three to five, two quarter-finals and one quarter-final replay (if any are required) and one semi-final. ITV shows sixteen FA Cup games per season, including first pick live matches from each of the 1st to 6th rounds of the competition plus one semi-final exclusively live. The deal additionally includes highlights of all weekend and mid-week FA Cup matches. Both ITV and Setanta screen the final live. Radio broadcast are covered by BBC Radio Five Live.
The FA Cup 2008–09 early rounds are being covered for the first time by ITV's online property, ITV Local. The first match of the season, between Wantage Town and Brading Town, was broadcast live online. Highlights of eight games of each round are being broadcast as catch up on ITV Local.[12][13]
The FA sells overseas rights separately from the domestic contract. In Australia, the FA Cup is broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia, while Setanta Sports North America and Fox Soccer Channel split the rights in the United States.
