This evening we welcome the supporters, officials and playing staff of Curzon Ashton to the Abbey Stadium. Curzon play in the National League North and have during their history reached the FA Cup second round twice in their history once having beaten Exeter. The club having been formed in 1963 after Curzon Road Methodists FC and Ashton Amateurs merged together. Since then, the club has progressed successfully through the leagues to reach its present position.
I was asked last week about the statue outside the Curzon ground and who the individuals were. The players being commemorated are three locally born footballers associated with the World Cup; Geoff Hurst (born in Ashton), Jimmy Armfield (Denton), and Simone Perrotta (also born in Ashton) who played for Italy. Having grown up during the sixties and seventies the romance of the FA Cup was instilled in your DNA as a football supporter. On Cup Final days you would get up early in the morning of the match. The build-up would take part place during the morning. The Cup Final was probably the only club match in those days shown on live television. The big decision was would you watch it on BBC1 or ITV. Another memory for many will be sneaking a transistor into school to listen to the next round being drawn at dinner time on a Monday One of the first finals I remember watching was when Chelsea played Leeds in April 1970. The first game was played at Wembley watched by 28 million people on television. It finished in a 2-2 draw. The replay will be remembered as one of the hardest fought finals ever played. There would be no give or take from either side. Chelsea finally won the match 2-1. The Chelsea winning side came to the Abbey a few days later with the trophy to take part in a match organised as part of the sale of Ian Hutchinson’s transfer. It would also be the match when many United fans among the 14,000 crowd that night would start their journey supporting the club. The next day Cambridge United would win against Margate to secure promotion to the Football League for the first time. Since then, we have been both giant killers for example wins against Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday and victims of upsets. We have played in FA Cup quarter finals. The FA Cup provides the opportunity to create memories and good times. With a home tie in the second round against Grimsby the prize both clubs tonight will be fighting hard to secure that tie
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AuthorI am the SLO @ Cambridge United. This page will provide information concerning match days for both sets of supporters. Archives
April 2024
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