The draw for the fourth round of this season’s FA Cup will take place on Monday, but it won’t be the first time organisers will get a glimpse of what the schedule could look like
The next stage of this season’s FA Cup is already taking shape ahead of the fourth-round draw. Advancing teams will discover who they’ll face in the next phase of the competition when the balls will be drawn from a pot on Monday evening.
For all the build-up leading up to such occasions, the draw will be over in a flash. But that doesn’t mean an extensive amount of planning and practice doesn’t go into the event.
In fact, broadcasters even go to the lengths of staging multiple dress rehearsals to best prepare themselves for the real deal. This is to ensure every little detail of the draw comes off without a hitch during what is always a short-but-sweet segment.
And the brief nature of the slot makes the preparation even more pertinent to ensure no mistakes. TNT Sports have taken charge of events due to their new broadcasting deal, with Monday’s draw set to take place in the build-up to Liverpool’s game against Barnsley.
Each ‘technical run’ gives the programme director a chance to assess the studio setup and ensure guests are in the right positions. It will also give them a chance to know which camera shots to prepare for and where to zoom when balls are drawn.
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The audio and visual aspects are paramount, too, as the director will be looking out for potentially intrusive details. This can range from lights glaring off the glass bowls front and centre, to the sound of the balls moving around in the pot not being too loud that it overpowers the microphones.
Those in the gallery also have to be on alert to update the on-screen graphics every time a team is drawn and a new fixture confirmed. There’s also a lot of pressure on the draw guests, too.
Pull balls from the bowl too quickly and they could make the job difficult for the broadcast team updating the on-screen visuals. However, perform too slowly in their duties, and the guest risks affecting the whole timing of what’s meant to be a snappy affair.
During his time working on TNT Sports, former host Jake Humphrey would sometimes post the outcomes of the practice draws. This would sometimes lead to frustration from fans who were then left underwhelmed by their actual draw during the real thing.
Case in point being one occasion where Humphrey revealed Manchester United were drawn against Liverpool in the very first pull from one practice draw. And after some clamour from fans, the presenter gave some detail as to why these rehearsals are important.
He replied to one follower on X: “It’s more about making sure the lighting is right, the cameras know which shots to get, the satellite link to the globe is stable, the graphics are all ready, the bits of VT are right and that we do the draw in the right amount of time allotted to us.”
His hand in the process offered spectators a glance at how things work behind the scenes before the camera lights go on. And the level of preparation clearly bewildered some at home.
“It’s literally taking balls out of a bowl,” wrote one incredulous fan in a 2018 response to Humphrey’s practice draw post. “Is it really so hard that you need to rehearse it twice?”
One surprise entrant in this season’s fourth-round draw will be sixth-tier Macclesfield, who pulled off a 2-1 giant-slaying of titleholders Crystal Palace on Saturday. And there are few teams in the competition who may intimidate the National League North outfit after that.
Chelsea will also be featuring after Liam Rosenior started his tenure with a 5-1 demolition of Charlton. And Ryan Reynolds‘ Wrexham will also be advancing after upsetting Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in a penalty shootout.
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