Watch Live Carling Cup
The Carling cup is a competition for all league teams in the UK. Teams from the English Premiership and other divisions can compete for the Carling cup title. It was started in 1960 by a man named Allan Hardaker. He was serving as Secretary of the football league at the time. He created the Carling Cup competition because he believed a tournament for smaller and lower league teams was required. Carling Cup matches have the potential to create huge windfalls for smaller teams meeting the larger entities such as Premier League clubs.
The original idea met with some controversy. 6 Of the top Premiership teams refused to enter the competition, feeling that the lower leagues would fair no better in the Carling cup than in the FA cup and the extra matches would put strain on the domestic leagues. However, these feelings were soon put aside when in the first year, the second division Rotherham United fished runners up to Aston-Villa.
The following year saw even more upsets. This was the first year a fourth division team ever made a cup final. The winners were second division Norwich city. This season attracted a lot of attention and the third season saw even more entries from the Premier League teams. There were again many upsets. Birmingham city managed to beat their local rivals and premiership giants Aston Villa.
By 1965 the League tournament was really gaining popularity. It also saw one of the premiership powerhouse teams Chelsea enter. Chelsea did quite well but were defeated by Leicester City.
By 1967, the Carling cup had gained respect and notoriety. It was now considered as important as the FA cup for domestic tournaments. The 1967 Carling cup final had 98,000 people in attendance at Wembly Stadium. The Carling cup has sold Wembley stadium out every year since.
The league cup continued to grow in popularity, size and attendance. From the years 1967-1970 the Carling cup final drew larger crowds than the FA cup final. The upsets kept on coming as well. Once of the greatest cup upsets in history came when a third division team, Swindon town beat Arsenal 3-1.
Despite the controversy in getting started the Carling cup has grown and shown continued success. It is viewed today as equal to the FA cup, with teams desiring the ultimate prize of gaining a double in a single season. With the popularity, it is unlikely that this cup that no one believed in is going anywhere anytime soon. Using your Live Sport Network membership it is possible to Watch Live Carling Cup matches online on your pc. Availability is included in our standard membership fee.
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