Festival Cup

Infobox sports league
sport=Football (soccer)
founded=2003
teams= 2
country=flagicon|Scotland Scotland
champion=Heart of Midlothian F.C.

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. cite news|http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=365292003
publisher=Edinburgh Evening News|title=Festival Cup for Capital|date=2003-03-27] 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.

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

footballbox
date = 2 August 2003
team1 = Hibernian
score = 0 – 1
report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/heart_of_midlothian/3113631.stm Report]
team2 = Heart of Midlothian
goals1 =
goals2 = Webster goal|17
stadium = Easter Road Stadium
attendance = 10,090
referee = Tom Brown, Edinburgh----footballbox
date = 4 September 2004
team1 = Heart of Midlothian
score = 3 – 1
report= [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/3626524.stm Report]
team2 = Hibernian
goals1 = Sives goal|42
de Vries goal|63
Wyness goal|81
goals2 = Dobbie goal|80|pen.
stadium = Tynecastle Stadium
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, while in 2003 the SPL's fixture scheduling ensured that a league derby, also at Easter Road, would occur just two weeks after the Festival Cup.cite news|http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=837582003
publisher=Scotland on Sunday|title=Hearts festival party|date=2003-08-03]

The following year, pre-arranged friendlies and fixture congestion ensured the clubs found it difficult to find a suitable date within the Festival period. cite news|http://sport.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1128&id=1030802004
publisher=Edinburgh Evening News|title=Cup dream has sadly runneth dry|date=2004-09-02] Finally, the international fixture weekend of the 4th of September was agreed upon, however this meant both sides were missing numerous players who were representing their full or under-21 national teams, effectively reducing the game to a reserve fixture. 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.

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

References

External links

* [http://londonhearts.com/scores/games/20030802.html 2003 Cup] at londonhearts.com
* [http://londonhearts.com/scores/games/20040904.html 2004 Cup] at londonhearts.com