Fa Cup rules

[Paul Stephens]

There have been multiple postings regarding "the FA changed the rules after Farnborough /Arsenal" so you cant swap to the second drawn teams ground. Just to keep John and BFR happy I thought I would actually look at the rules. The relevant rules seem to be:-

 

9. VENUE FOR MATCHES AND REPLAYS

 

(a) Venue

 

(i)The Club first drawn shall be entitled to have the match played on its home ground. Such match shall be played on that ground unless the consent of the Council has been obtained to any change of venue.

 

(iii)A match shall not be played on a neutral ground without the consent of the Council.

 

{Which makes it quite clear a match CAN be moved to a neutral ground}

 

(vi)Ties switched from the ground of the Club first drawn to the ground of the Club second drawn then the receipts will be calculated as if played on the ground of the Club first drawn with any excess receipts paid into the Pool.

 

{So we could switch any match to the ground of a bigger team if we were drawn at home - but all the financial benefits go to the "pool" to be divided out amongst league clubs.}

 

Clearly a switch to a neutral ground would be justified on safety reasons. (my opinion)