Festival Cup

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Festival Cup
Sport	Football (soccer)
Founded	2003
No. of teams	2
Country	Scotland
Current champions	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.

1 Concept and format
2 Tournaments
3 Demise
4 References
5 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] Tournaments

2 August 2003
	Hibernian	0–1	Heart of Midlothian	Easter Road Stadium Attendance: 10,090 Referee: Tom Brown, Edinburgh
		BBC Report	Webster 17

4 September 2004
	Heart of Midlothian	3–1	Hibernian	Tynecastle Stadium Attendance: 7,282 Referee: John Rowbotham, Kirkcaldy
	Sives 42 de Vries 63 Wyness 81	BBC Report	Dobbie 80 (pen)

[edit] 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.^[2]

The following year, pre-arranged friendlies and fixture congestion ensured the clubs found it difficult to find a suitable date within the Festival period. ^[3] 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.^[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.

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.