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Does cup-tie fervour produce a form of hysteria-? The question is worth considering seriously. Observe what took place in Liver- pool, last Sunday. Tickets were being issued in advance for the semi-final between Everton and Liverpool next Saturday. - There are good reasons, I suppose, for choosing Sunday for the operation. Anyhow, queues began to form at 6 o'clock the previous evening, and some of them were two miles long when the issue of tickets began on Sunday morning. Then there was a sudden rush for the turnstiles ; in the general mêlée some 67 persons were injured in greater or less degree. That is merely incidental. But what does this passion to see a single match mean ? It is true that Everebn and Liverpool are local rivals ; that no doubt counts for something. But there is not the smallest expectation that better football will be seen than if Everton were playing Burnley, or Liverpool Wolver- hampton Wanderers, in an ordinary League match. What is it that the spectator wants ? Does he really know ? What is the force that impels him ? Or do cup-ties destroy mental balance ?
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