1980–81 FA Cup
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The 1980–81 FA Cup was the 100th season of the world's oldest
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
knockout competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
for short. The
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
saw
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
defeat
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
in the first Wembley replay. The final saw a memorable solo goal from Ricky Villa that was voted the greatest goal scored at Wembley.''The Independent'', 15 September 2000
/ref>


Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were
Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is an association football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secre ...
,
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
,
Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...
, Fleetwood Town,
Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. The town is located approximately north-northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Its north ...
, Northwich Victoria, Burton Albion, Kidderminster Harriers, Boston United, Stafford Rangers,
Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...
, Sutton Coldfield Town, Kettering Town, St Albans City, Barton Rovers, Enfield, Barnet, Harlow Town,
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
, Maidstone United, Gravesend & Northfleet, Yeovil Town, Addlestone & Weybridge Town, Windsor & Eton,
Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...
, Farnborough Town,
Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...
and Weymouth. Appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Sutton Coldfield Town, Barton Rovers, Wembley, Addlestone & Weybridge Town and Farnborough Town. Additionally, the reconstituted Gateshead was appearing at this stage for the first time in their own right after predecessor club ''Gateshead United'' had folded in 1977. Of the others, St Albans City had last featured in the first round in 1968-69, Fleetwood Town's predecessor outfit ''Fleetwood F.C.'' had last done so in 1965-66 and Windsor & Eton had last done so in 1925-26. Maidstone United played eleven matches across seven rounds of the tournament, defeating
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...
,
Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...
,
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...
, Barking, Kettering Town (after two replays) and Gillingham (after ''another'' two replays) before going out to
Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
in a high-scoring encounter at the London Road Athletic Ground.


First round proper

The 48 teams from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions entered in this round, joining the 28 non-league clubs from the qualifying rounds and
Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...
,
Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...
,
Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...
and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
who were given byes. This round contained six clubs from Step 8 of the fledgling English Football Pyramid - Fleetwood Town, Windsor & Eton, Blyth Spartans, Burscough, Barton Rovers and Sutton Coldfield Town - who were the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the competition. The first round of games were played on 22 November 1980. Replays were played mainly on 25 and 26 November, with a couple of games on 1 December.


Second round proper

The second round of games were intended to be played on 13 December 1980. Replays took place over 16–17 December with second replays needed in two cases. Blyth Spartans, from the Northern League at Step 8 of English football, was the lowest-ranked club in the round.


Third round proper

Teams from the Football League First and Second Division entered in this round. The third round of games in the FA Cup were played on 3 January 1981. Replays took place over 6–7 January with second replays needed in two cases. One of those second replays resulted in the elimination of Cup holders West Ham United by Wrexham. Enfield, from the Isthmian League Premier Division at Step 6 of English football, was the lowest-ranked club in the round.


Fourth round proper

The fourth round of games were mainly played on 24 January 1981. Replays were played on 27 and 28 January. Enfield was the last non-league club left in the competition. *(Played at White Hart Lane)


Fifth round proper

The fifth set of games were all played on 14 February 1981. Two replays were played on 17 and 18 February.


Sixth round proper

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played on 7 March 1981. There were three replays, taken place over 10–11 March.


Semi-finals

The matches were both played on 11 April 1981, with a replay on 15 April. Tottenham and Manchester City reached the
Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
. Referee:- Pat Partridge (Co. Durham) ---- Referee:- Clive Thomas (Porthcawl) ----


Replay

Referee:- George Courtney (Spennymoor)


Final

The final was held at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
on 9 May 1981. The replay was held on 14 May 1981.


Replay


TV coverage

The right to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between the BBC and ITV network. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the Final, which was shown live both on BBC1 & ITV. The BBC football highlights programme Match of the Day would show up to three games and the various ITV regional network stations would cover up to one game and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. For the first time the BBC showed highlights of a single game from the first and second rounds after highlights of League games. ITV did not show any games from Round One or Two. Occasional highlights of replays would be shown on either the BBC or ITV. This season ITV were showing highlights on their regional highlights programmes on Saturday nights and BBC1 were showing highlights on Match Of The Day on Sunday afternoons in the second season of the 4 year alternation deal. *First round ''BBC'' Harlow Town v Charlton Athletic *Second round ''BBC'' Colchester United v Yeovil *Third round ''BBC'' Ipswich Town v Aston Villa, Everton v Arsenal, Swansea City v Middlesbrough, Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United (Midweek replay) ''ITV'' Manchester City v Crystal Palace (Granada), Queens Park Rangers v Tottenham Hotspur (LWT), Norwich City v Cambridge United (Anglia), Leeds United v Coventry City (Yorkshire), Stoke City v Wolverhampton Wanderers (ATV), Newcastle United v Sheffield Wednesday (Tyne-Tees) *Fourth round ''BBC'' Nottingham Forest v Manchester United, Manchester City v Norwich City, Watford v Wolverhampton Wanderers ''ITV'' Everton v Liverpool (Granada), Barnsley v Enfield (Yorkshire & LWT), Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion (Tyne-Tees), Shrewsbury Town v Ipswich Town (ATV & Anglia), Exeter City v Leicester City (Midweek replay All regions) *Fifth round ''BBC'' Tottenham Hotspur v Coventry City, Peterborough United v Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers v Wrexham, Exeter City v Newcastle United (Midweek replay) ''ITV'' Southampton v Everton (Southern, Granada & LWT), Middlesbrough v Barnsley (Tyne-Tees & Yorkshire), Ipswich Town v Charlton Athletic (Anglia), Nottingham Forest v Bristol City (ATV & HTV) *Sixth round ''BBC'' Everton v Manchester City, Middlesbrough v Wolverhampton Wanderers ''ITV'' Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town (ATV & Anglia), Tottenham Hotspur v Exeter City (LWT) All regions showed these two games Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest (Midweek replay all regions), Wolverhampton Wanderers v Middlesbrough (Midweek replay all regions) *Semi-finals ''BBC'' Ipswich Town v Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Midweek replay) ''ITV'' Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton Wanderers (All Regions) *Final Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur Both BBC & ITV showed both games live.


References


External links


The FA Cup
at TheFA.com
FA Cup
at BBC.co.uk
FA Cup news
at Reuters.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 FA Cup FA Cup seasons
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...