It's A Cup Final Knockout

In the 1970s, the BBC television coverage of football’s prestigious F.A. Cup Final often included specially recorded editions of It’s A Knockout. Entitled It’s A Cup Final Knockout, these competitions would pit representatives of the two teams competing in the Final against each other and the edited programme would be transmitted on the afternoon of the final as part of the build up to the main event.

Liverpool supporter Dave Cochrane took part in two of these events, representing his favourite team in the 1971 and 1974 Cup Final Knockouts. The 1971 show was the first of its kind and was held at Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay in North Wales, a pitched battle between representatives of Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs. Recorded on the park’s boating lake on a Sunday towards the end of April, the finished programme was eventually transmitted on Saturday 8th May 1971 between 12.55 and 1.40pm.

Dave remembers the events of the first Cup Final Knockout: "The Liverpool team was made up of the supporters’ football team of the day (which consisted of both Liverpool and Everton supporters) and supporters' club members. Former Liverpool and Arsenal players who had represented their teams in the 1950 FA Cup Final twenty one years earlier were also present as guest presenters-cum-team supporters. They didn’t actually take part in the games."

"We were put up in a Colwyn Bay hotel on the Saturday night, ready for an early start for rehearsals the next morning. The first game on the boating lake involved standing on floating platforms and throwing, kicking, heading balls etc. The state of the boating lake was hardly ideal, with all sorts of rubbish lurking beneath the surface of the water. Health risks involved if anyone had been hurt or cut just weren't considered then (happy days!)."

Naturally, among the strongest of Dave’s memories are those of the personalities he met during the recording: "David Vine was quite friendly, as was Joe Mercer, but the best and most sincere was Pete Murray, a well-known radio disc jockey of the day, who was there to support Arsenal. Murray was very friendly with everyone and when it was time to break off for lunch, he stood in line with the Arsenal and Liverpool teams and collected the same meal that we were all having (you think hospital food is bad!). He sat with us chatting when a partition between our area and the so-called 'celebs' area opened and a BBC lackey came over to Murray and informed him he was in the wrong tent, that there was a meal laid on for him next door, where there was also a bar - which we could all clearly see through the opened partition. Pete Murray replied that ‘If the food is good for these people, then it is good enough for me,’ and carried on with his meal, chatting to everyone. I've always had a lot of respect for Pete Murray from that day on."

The 1974 Cup Final Knockout, held in Southport, was again recorded a couple of Sundays before the F.A. Cup Final, this time between Liverpool and Newcastle United. Dave’s memories of this event are less favourable. "In complete contrast to the 1971 show, the 1974 show was hosted by the very genial, witty and laugh-a-minute host, Stuart Hall. Disappointingly for the competitors, as soon as the cameras stopped, he didn't appear to want to know anyone from either team and immediately went to his caravan. The show was recorded on a very cold day in Southport near where the old open air baths used to be. Again the games involved balls, tanks of water and slippery surfaces. The food had changed though - it was actually worse than before!!! As in 1971, we didn’t compete alongside the ex-players, who again filled the roles of guest presenters and supporters for each individual game."

In both these Cup Final Knockouts, Dave Cochrane found himself on the winning side, with the Liverpool supporters team beating Arsenal in 1971 and Newcastle in 1974. The Liverpool football team could not match their 1971 achievements, losing 2-1 to Arsenal, but did all Liverpool supporters (your editor included!) proud in 1974, thrashing Newcastle United 3-0. Happy days, indeed.

by Dave Cochrane with Alan Hayes