BBC Scotland's Scottish Cup coverage in full

[Scottish]

[Scottish]

Oh and here's the SFA's coverage of today's matches in their own competition:

[Tom Brogan]

There was definitely a BBC cameraman at the Auchinleck-Fort William game. He said he was covering it for 'The Road to Hampden'. Not that I saw it on anywhere though.

[prorege]

I thought Radio Scotland's coverage was pretty good - certainly better than the last two years.

They had a reporter at one game providing live updates on 'Open All Mics'. They provided updated scores via Twitter / SMS from several other games.

They repeatedly apologised for the lack of realtime score updates - blaming the PA for not covering the games.

Radio Scotland also broadcast full results by shortly after 5pm.

[Scottish]

They repeatedly apologised for the lack of realtime score updates - blaming the PA for not not covering the games.

So where did Sky get their updates from?

[prorege]

Haven't a clue, sorry.

[Scottish]

Sky's stats centre had goal updates, the only ones I could find before the final results magically appeared elsewhere.

[prorege]

Goal upodates would also have been on Highlandleague.net and the EOSFL websites.

[Scottish]

Goal upodates would also have been on Highlandleague.net and the EOSFL websites.

Aye but highlandleague.net has started charging for access.

[Scottish]

Oh and here's the SFA's coverage of today's matches in their own competition:

And that empty space was, believe it or not, better than the SFA's coverage of the 1st round replays. Amazingly it has taken them five days to post up the results here

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa ... ewsID=5125

Now that's what I call minimalist. No team lines, no scorers, no crowd figures, no referee info, just the basic results. Still, at least with so little information there's scarcely any risk of making mistakes. Or so you might think. Take a closer look.

First off they've magically designated these matches as being 2nd round, not 1st. Next they've reversed the fixtures. They have the home teams playing away and vice-versa. So while they manage to get the Fraserburgh result right they've got the venue wrong.

They also identify the winning team in the second game even if their opponents are a side called simply 'Mechanics'.

The third and fourth matches are even worse as in both cases the losers are credited with winning.

This is a shambles unworthy of a nine-year-old experimenting with their first website, let alone that of the national association and their most prestigious domestic competition. An utter disgrace.

[HibeeJibee]

As someone involved in non-league football and aware of endeavours to get the national association to take some care towards what is, after all, nearly half of its membership... they simply do not care. The media/publicity office simply care not a jot for the Scottish Cup First Round (and barely even the Second Round...) - and you're lucky they even know the games took place.

You'd think this was some "Sunday Pub League Cup" given a bit of profile on the SFA website for representative reasons. Not the First Round of the 125th edition of the second oldest tournament in world football... Interestingly, the SFA are desperately trying to plug the old 'clubs and communities across the land' line to get a sponsor for next season. Well, there were about 40 clubs and communities who could have been exposed to the Scottish Cup in media and sponsorship activities, but weren't. Because the SFA couldn't be ars*d... so is it any wonder they struggle to get sponsors interested in that approach?

Sadly, George Peat and Gordon Smith probably don't really care much either.

[Scottish]

Possibly they were too busy packing their bags for this vitally important fixture in Japan.

[Alan McCabe]

No wonder the game struggles to attract sponsors!
On the eve of the Second Round of the 125th Scottish FA Cup, the oldest surviving football trophy on the planet, we have Sky Sports News listing both Wigtown & Bladnoch and Clachnacuddin in Saturday's schedule even though both were eliminated in the First Round!
This is no criticism of Sky Sports though, since they have consistently listed all early stage matches on their flagship 'Gillette Soccer Saturday' programme since the competitions switch to an 'all in' format. They will rightly look to the competition's organisers, the SFA, for information and probably took it from the national association's own website.
The terrestrial channels have been typically pathetic with their coverage, a brief look at Auchinleck Talbot's participation coupled with sending the hugely talentless yet much-travelled Mr Young to Lossiemouth is the sum efforts of the BBC. No problem committing paragraph after boring paragraph and article after article to the Old Firm's latest fictional flittings though.
I notice also that the SFA's North Challenge Cup, in effect the replacement for the old regional Qualifying Cup, had been abandoned. While the South and East minnows continue with their version, all be it on a more geographically seeded format, the North have abandoned the competition after only two attempts. With no sponsorship now coming from the SFA, the Highland League clubs clearly saw no point in its continuation. Having included a Shetland FA XI in the last event, it did appear to have the groundbreaking prospect of involving a whole host of the the island communities given time but it seems the SFA have more important purposes for the £20,000 annual sponsorship money.
I guess you can't expect much more in 2009 though. Its quite apt that, despite an entire century and a quarter having past, its as hard to locate a genuine attendance figure today than it was all the way back in October 1873!
That's progress the SFA way!

[ScottishFA]

Believe me, having worked there for many years (but no longer), I continue to despair at the lack of interest shown by SFA staff in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup - it seems to be an irritation rather than a chance to enjoy unknown grounds and get to know people at grassroots clubs. All of which is, of course, echoed in the lack of coverage on website and in the media.

Even the much maligned Berti Vogts once went to a Qualifying Cup final, but I've yet to see evidence of Peat or Smith taking the trouble to support early round matches in their own competition.

[Alan McCabe]

I do recall Gordon Smith attending the Newton Stewart v Linlithgow Rose tie in 2007. This was the first day of the new format and, hence, the true bow of the juniors if ignoring Girvan's unique joint-membership.
With Blairmount Park's grandstand having burned to the ground many years ago, the only form of shelter at the ground came courtesy of a B&Q green fabric pergola!
Smith was certainly within those cluttered around this most basic of executive boxes but I cannot recall too many visits elsewhere since.
Its a great pity because I genuinely believe the restructuring has envigorated the prelimenary rounds. Its remarkable just how many Berwick Rangers fans are looking forward to gathering behind a roped off pitch in the middle of a forlorn series of football parks tomorrow afternoon as their side take on Civil Service Strollers. That's the magic of the Cup and one that most competent PR staff could sell to an intrigued public, given the inclination.
Alas, we are more interested in devoting foot upon foot of text to the planet's most predictable and least captivating two-horse race!