Match of the Day - FA Cup Quarter Finals

On the weekend of the FA Cup quarter finals, Match of the Day comes from the old Valley Parade, Bradford.

The tie is the 1976 FA Cup quarter final between Bradford City and Southampton and it's extra special for two reasons:

1 - The Peter Osgood / Jim McCalliog free kick routine - pure class

2 - The wonderful, arched A-frames of Valley Parade - pure magic

York City FC

A member of our goal nets community advised we take a look at the Minstermen, who even today defy the trend towards the homogenous box net with their Continental D's (though those D's do share the box net's ground supports, which transform the net into a pinball machine).




Though the goals our friend advised we look at were the A-frames which stood at either end of Bootham Crescent through the late 70's and 1980's.



If you think the goals look like a mix between an A-frame and a Continental D, you'd be right.

Here's a photo of those A-frames from about that time.

Further back, the Minstermen were early adopters of the Continental D.

A-list A-frames - Bradford City AFC

A football ground in one guise or another has stood on the Valley Parade site since 1886, a long history sadly distilled for many into the 10 minutes it took to burn down live on TV in 1985.

Ten years earlier in the old ground's history, Bradford were shooting into a classic set of no-nonsense A-frames.


Despite renovations to the stadium as late as 2001, the Bantams have resisted the homogenous urge for box nets and kept faith with a set of stylish Continental D's (that bear a resemblance to those once at Newcastle).