A century before its magic faded, FA Cup really did save English game

The draw for this season’s FA Cup took place last Monday — but did anybody really care, asks Paul Rouse.

A small acre of newsprint has been used to lament the demise of a competition that was once so central to English sporting life — and central also to the childhoods of people who grew up in a television age where the FA Cup final was one of the few club soccer matches shown live in any given year.