| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | England Wales |
| Defending champions | Chelsea |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Arsenal(4th title) |
| Runners-up | Liverpool |
| Third place | Stoke City |
| Fourth place | Everton |
The1970–71 FA Cup was the 90th season of the world's oldestfootballcup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as theFA Cup.First Division championsArsenal won the competition for the fourth time, beatingLiverpool 2–1 inthe atWembley. In doing so, Arsenal were the fourth team to complete adouble of League and Cup victories, followingPreston North End,Aston Villa andTottenham Hotspur.
Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period ofextra time would be played.
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Preliminary round | Saturday 5 September 1970 |
| First round qualifying | Saturday 19 September 1970 |
| Second round qualifying | Saturday 10 October 1970 |
| Third round qualifying | Saturday 24 October 1970 |
| Fourth round qualifying | Saturday 7 November 1970 |
| First round proper | Saturday 21 November 1970 |
| Second round proper | Saturday 12 December 1970 |
| Third round proper | Saturday 2 January 1971 |
| Fourth round proper | Saturday 23 January 1971 |
| Fifth round proper | Saturday 13 February 1971 |
| Sixth round proper | Saturday 6 March 1971 |
| Semi-finals | Saturday 27 March 1971 |
| Final | Saturday 8 May 1971 |
Most participating clubs that were not members of theFootball League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round.
The winners from the fourth qualifying round wereSouth Shields,Bradford Park Avenue,Scarborough,Rhyl,Bangor City,Great Harwood,Wigan Athletic,Hereford United,Tamworth,Grantham,Boston United,Chelmsford City,Barnet,Oxford City,Wycombe Wanderers,Cheltenham Town,Slough Town,Aveley,Bishop's Stortford,Hendon,Ringmer,Crawley Town,Walton & Hersham,Margate,Wimbledon,Yeovil Town,Minehead andWeymouth.
Those appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Great Harwood, Aveley, Bishop's Stortford, Ringmer, Crawley Town and Minehead. Of the others, Rhyl had last featured at this stage in1962–63 and Slough Town had last done so in1945-46 (during their short-livedSlough United amalgamation).
The once-mighty Rhyl had qualified for the first round of the FA Cup in a competition-record 15 consecutive seasons up to and including 1962-63. This season the club played in 12 matches across seven rounds of the tournament, defeatingPwllheli & District,Porthmadog,Oswestry Town (after a replay),South Liverpool (after a second replay),Hartlepool andBarnsley (afteranother second replay) before going out toSwansea City atVetch Field in the third round. However, as if to emphasize their recent decline, this season also saw Rhyl's consecutive qualification record finally broken by Hereford United in that club's penultimate non-league season before being voted into the Football League.
At this stage the 48 clubs from theFootball League Third andFourth Divisions joined thenon-league clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. To complete this round, four additional non-league clubs were given byes.Macclesfield Town andTelford United were the finalists from the inauguralFA Trophy competition held during the previous season, whileEnfield andDagenham were the finalists from the previous season'sFA Amateur Cup.
Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 21 November 1970, with the exception of the Great Harwood–Rotherham United match which was played the following Tuesday. Nine matches were drawn, with Scunthorpe United and Tranmere Rovers needing a second replay atGoodison Park to settle their tie (in Scunthorpe's favour).
The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 12 December 1970. Six matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week or the week after. The Lincoln City–Bradford City match required a second replay, which was played on the 21 December.
The 44First andSecond Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled Saturday, 2 January 1971, but ten were played at later dates. Seven matches were drawn and went to replays.Yeovil Town,Rhyl,Wigan Athletic andBarnet were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.
The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 23 January 1971. Seven matches were drawn, of which one required a second replay.
The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 13 February 1971 with one fixture and two replays played three or four days later.
| Tie no | Home team | Score | Away team | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 1–0 | Southampton | 13 February 1971 |
| 2 | Leicester City | 1–1 | Oxford United | 13 February 1971 |
| Replay | Oxford United | 1–3 | Leicester City | 17 February 1971 |
| 3 | Everton | 1–0 | Derby County | 13 February 1971 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2–1 | Nottingham Forest | 13 February 1971 |
| 5 | Manchester City | 1–2 | Arsenal | 13 February 1971 |
| 6 | Hull City | 2–1 | Brentford | 13 February 1971 |
| 7 | Stoke City | 0–0 | Ipswich Town | 13 February 1971 |
| Replay | Ipswich Town | 0–1 | Stoke City | 16 February 1971 |
| 8 | Colchester United | 3–2 | Leeds United | 13 February 1971 |
The four sixth round ties were played on the 6 March 1971. There were two replays in the midweek fixtures of the following week.
| Tie no | Home team | Score | Away team | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 0–0 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 March 1971 |
| Replay | Tottenham Hotspur | 0–1 | Liverpool | 16 March 1971 |
| 2 | Leicester City | 0–0 | Arsenal | 6 March 1971 |
| Replay | Arsenal | 1–0 | Leicester City | 15 March 1971 |
| 3 | Everton | 5–0 | Colchester United | 6 March 1971 |
| 4 | Hull City | 2–3 | Stoke City | 6 March 1971 |
The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 27 March 1971 with the Arsenal–Stoke match needing a replay. Liverpool and Arsenal came through the semi-final round to meet at Wembley.
Between 1970 and 1974, a third place playoff between the two losing semi-finalists was held.[1]
| Stoke City | 3–2 | Everton |
|---|---|---|
Bernard Ritchie | Whittle Ball |
The1971 FA Cup Final was contested byArsenal andLiverpool atWembley on the 8 May 1971. Arsenal won 2–1 after extra time, with all three goals coming in the added half-hour.[citation needed]Steve Heighway scored for Liverpool first, before Arsenal equalised with a scrambled goal from substituteEddie Kelly - the first time a substitute had ever scored in an FA Cup final.Charlie George scored the winner six minutes into the second period.
        Liverpool |     Arsenal |
The rights to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between theBBC andITV network. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the Final, which was shown live both onBBC1 and ITV. The BBC football highlights programmeMatch Of The Day would show up to three games and the various ITV regional network stations would cover up to one game and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. The ITV regionAnglia showed highlights of the second round tie betweenColchester United andCambridge United, it would be the last game from outside the third round covered by ITV until 1982. Highlights of replays would be shown on either the BBC or ITV.