Festival Cup

Festival Cup
Sport Football (soccer)
Founded 2003
Ceased 2004
No. of teams 2
Country Scotland Scotland
Last
champion(s)		 Heart of Midlothian (2nd title)
Most titles Heart of Midlothian (2 titles)

The Festival Cup was a Scottish football tournament played in 2003 and 2004. Designed to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival, on both occasions when competed for it consisted of a single match between Edinburgh's two professional clubs, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian.

Concept and format

The idea for a football tournament during the Edinburgh Festival was first mooted in early 2003, with the intention being to organise a three team tournament during the duration of the Edinburgh Festival.[1] Initial proposals suggested a club from one of the cities with which Edinburgh has twinning agreements would be invited to compete with Hearts and Hibernian in a triangular tournament. As Edinburgh's twin cities include Munich, Florence and Kiev, the local media speculated that a globally recognised team such as FC Bayern Munich, ACF Fiorentina or Dynamo Kiev may play in Scotland's capital.[1]

Eventually, though, organisers proved unable to attract a suitable foreign team and a single game format, comprising Hearts and Hibs, was agreed upon, with the clubs hosting the game in alternate years. The first event was scheduled for the Saturday before the start of the 2003–04 season.

Tournaments

Hibernian0 – 1Heart of Midlothian
Report Webster  17'
Attendance: 10,090
Referee: Tom Brown, Edinburgh
Heart of Midlothian3 – 1Hibernian
Sives  42'
de Vries  63'
Wyness  81'		 Report Dobbie  80' (pen.)
Attendance: 7,282
Referee: John Rowbotham, Kirkcaldy

Demise

Despite initial enthusiasm for the competition, logistical problems soon led to doubts over its future. The failure to attract any non-Scottish opposition reduced it merely to the status of an extra Edinburgh derby. The prominence of the first game was not helped by the Scottish Premier League scheduling a league derby would occur just two weeks after the Festival Cup, with both matches played at Easter Road.[2]

The following year, pre-arranged friendlies and fixture congestion meant that the clubs found it difficult to find a suitable date within the Festival period.[3] The international fixture weekend in early September was agreed upon, but this meant that both sides were missing players who were representing national teams, effectively reducing the game to little more than a reserve team fixture.[3] Amongst the sides who played, Craig Sives and Calum Elliot had both yet to feature in the Hearts first team, while Hibs included untried personnel in the form of John Kane and Jay Shields.

Further fixture congestion resulted in the clubs failing to reach agreement upon a suitable date in 2005, and there has been no attempt since then to revive the competition.

References

  1. 1 2 "Festival Cup for Capital". Edinburgh Evening News. 2003-03-27.
  2. ↑ "Hearts festival party". Scotland on Sunday. 2003-08-03.
  3. 1 2 "Cup dream has sadly runneth dry". Edinburgh Evening News. 2004-09-02.
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