Southend V Liverpool FA Cup 3rd Round 10/01/1979

[Stodge]

This has been discussed in some threads, but some people seem to be under the impression that next weeks Man Utd match is the biggest occassion ever at Roots Hall. In my view the Liverpool FA Cup 3rd Round tie was in 1979 was far bigger because:

1) At that time the FA Cup was as prestigious as the league.
2) Therefore Liverpool took it seriously and played their 1st team.
3) And that team were at that time dominating England and Europe in a manner that Man U could only ever dream of, even at their peak in the 90s. They had won the European Cup in the previous 2 seasons prior to the visit to Roots Hall.
4) Roots Hall was packed like never before. Next week we will sell out 12,000, as we have done many times in 2006. In the 78-79 season our crowds were around the 6000-8000 mark but the attendance for the Liverpool game was 31,036. For me that is what made the occasion truly unique (from what I can remember – I was 10 at the time).

So now we have cleared that up, the point of this post – where is the footage? Highlights were shown on TV and it was live on the radio. I’ve googled and YouTubed and cannot find anything. The footage must be available somewhere – has anyone got any ideas re; how we can get hold of it?

 

[Sebastian Weetabix]

Can't help with the footage but must agree with all the points you made. Spot on.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

5) It was my birthday - one of the best birthday presents ever was a ticket to the game!

 

[tommytwoholes]

Have often thought about coverage. Apparently it was the featured game on match of the day that night so maybe aunty beeb has it in her archives somewhere.

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (tommytwoholes @ Nov. 01 2006,21:55)]Have often thought about coverage. Apparently it was the featured game on match of the day that night so maybe aunty beeb has it in her archives somewhere.

Probably destroyed though when the Beeb has a purge of their archives. Hence why a lot of old Doctor Who episodes are missing...

 

[exiledshrimp]

I still have my ticket stub (Didn't put me ahead of the corporate no-marks for the Man Utd game, though), but I don't remember any footage. Mind you, it took a while to get back to Basildon in the snow.

I wonder if there's any footage from one of the three league cup ties against West Ham in the seventies (in one round), or the victory against then first division Bolton.

Sorry, it's my birthday, and I'm feeling nostalgic.

 

[roots_maul]

Quote[/b] (CI-City Blue @ Nov. 01 2006,22:06)]

Quote[/b] (tommytwoholes @ Nov. 01 2006,21:55)]Have often thought about coverage. Apparently it was the featured game on match of the day that night so maybe aunty beeb has it in her archives somewhere.

Probably destroyed though when the Beeb has a purge of their archives.  Hence why a lot of old Doctor Who episodes are missing...

Very true, Ci-City Blue.

For those who may not know, during the 70s and early 80s the BBC had a policy of wiping/ destroying videotape masters of past programming. This was decided upon after the full selling potential of a programme had been exploited. Repeats of programmes was also limited due to no substantive agreement with the actor's union Equity and no further outlet for screenings as video and satellite existed at the time. Most recordings were limited to an initial screening and 1 repeat screening. Anymore than that was deemed to be expensive due to the royalties needed to be paid.

Also at the time, videotape was expensive and the storing of the 'tape was also expensive especially when there was no possibility of the material being screened again (for example low-key sporting events, which for Auntie Beeb our 3rd round with Liverpool may have beeen considered) a policy of deletion and destroying came into practice.

Although the BBC categorised their archives with an A,B,C or D-
(which went something like this)
A for top events eg the Coronation, Large scale news Events, expensive/ prestigious dramas, large sporting events.
B for not so prestigious events- dramas/ comedies
C for less prestigious things( meaning 1 or 2 episodes of a programme may have been kept as an example of programming of that age)
D for things to be erased totally.

-it is highly unlikely that any of our cup encounter exists.

Though if anyone does find it, along with any Hancock or Doctor Who (especially The Tenth Planet ep 4 or all of The Power of the Daleks), then I'm sure that the BBC would be glad to hear from them!

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

I sold my £1.20 West Stand ticket stub for the game on Ebay for a fiver recently.

Still have another if anyone's interested.....!!

(so save your Man Ewe ones):D

 

[David Essex]

I was there.......aged 16 still have programme and.....all of the southend teams autographs that played in the game......happy memories

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

I have about ten programmes; don't ask me why ...

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Nov. 02 2006,09:35)]I have about ten programmes; don't ask me why ...

Ebay must be called XS...

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

They don't go for much ... it's not worth the hassle ... although I did sell one to someone for a tenner a few years ago! Mug!

 

[FLAVIA]

I remember seeing highlights of the game when I got home on BBC. Im sure that I ve seen the shot of John Motson sitting in the gantry - which then was on the top of the West Stand - a few times over the years. He is wearing the famous sheepskin coat and the snow is falling heavily. As I remember there was a heavy snowfall about an hour before kick off. If this clip is still available perhaps the rest of the tape has survived somewhere!

 

[East Devon Shrimper]

Ah yes the snow. I remember standing on the south bank with a brolley. Cant remember much about the game except Alan Hansons excellent defending. Afterwards at Prittlewell Station was first time I heard a real live scouse accent

Happy days indeed

 

[SamuraiBlue]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Nov. 01 2006,20:27)]5) It was my birthday - one of the best birthday presents ever was a ticket to the game!

6) It was the day before my actual birthday. My Mum was in labour and I think my grandad missed Match of the Day as a result. He didn't go to the game because he was a West Ham fan (boooooooooooooooooooo!).

He was so disappointed when I became a Southend fan!

 

[Csboy]

Would love to see footage of the game again but as a previous poster said the BBC probably wiped it from their archives. The only chance of seeing again is if someone out there taped the game. There were a few videos back then and I have heard that a few people had taped it. If someone does have a copy then they could be sitting on a potential goldmine as if it can be transferred to DVD could be sold on E-Bay i am sure we would all love to see that game again.

 

[David Essex]

Note to self ....next time im listening to commentary via BW email bbc essex nick alliker ! to put out a request for footage...

 

[Leeboy]

I have some footage from when MoTD showed highlights of us beating Chesterfield in the FA Cup under Newman, they talked about our biggest FA Cup game to date and showed about a minute / minute and a half.

XS will testify to this as I think I did him a copy!

 

[RootsHallRush]

The Liverpool game was how I turned into a Shrimper in the first place!

I was 10 and supported Liverpool for some unknown reason, all the Liverpool players stayed at (what was then called) the Essex Hotel in Basildon and as my mum worked there at the time she managed to get me all the players autographs on one small piece of paper which i still have to this day.

My dad took me to the game and Roots Hall at the time, to me anyway, seemed like the most spectacular place i had ever been to!

After that day i started to hassle my dad to take me to other games at Southend and I have never looked back since.

For me that game was very special and i don't think will ever be matched!!!

(tuesday will be good though!))

 

 

 

[SUFCEssex]

I emailed the BBC after the Chesterfield game to say that I'd seen the Liverpool footage and if it was possible to obtain further footage. Give credit to the BBC as they phoned me back but said that I would have to seek permission from the club and there was nothing they could do. Probably needs properly looking into by someone. I gave up after they phoned.

There is a site that has Anglia news clips of Gerry Harrison reporting for Anglia in the snow. I think you have to be a company to buy them or something and then there are lots of copy right laws. I can't remember what its called but will have a look at home tonight and post a link on here.