What does the FA Cup final mean to you? It was one of highlights of the sporting calendar, but is it still held in such high regard?

Here the Leader sports team reflect on what the FA Cup means to them and their memories of the famous competition.

KITTED out in your favourite football strip, you'd sit, starry-eyed, as close to the TV screen as you possibly could to savour every second of FA Cup final day.

In the days long before multi-media tasking and remote controls too, watching the FA Cup from nine to five pushed everyone's button.

There was no other place to go, nothing else to do apart from lap up all the big-match build-up.

My first FA Cup final memory was somewhat faded, wondering what all the fuss was about over World Cup winning England captain Bobby Moore. He was given the runaround by West Ham's Alan Taylor who scored both in a 2-0 win.

Bobby Stokoe's offside goal to win it for Southampton against Manchester United 12 months later was more vivid, while United's 2-1 win over Liverpool in 1977 saw Joey Jones set up Jimmy Case's goal for the Merseysiders.

The typically modest Jones joked that he wasn't even looking to pass to Case and that his cross was meant for Kevin Keegan.

Keegan was my first football idol and I supported Liverpool that year.

But when the curly-haired King of the Kop left and was replaced by Kenny Dalglish, who ruined Wrexham's dream of a League Cup final appearance with a hat-trick at a mud-splattered Racecourse in 1978, I became a United fan as they took on Arsenal in 1979 - the best final I've ever seen.

The Gunners were two up with four minutes to go, but United hit back through Gordon McGueen and Sammy McIroy only for Alan Sunderland to side-foot home a winner from man of the match Liam Brady's cross.

"We were still celebrating our equaliser when he scored," said United legend Mickey Thomas, who at least go his own back on The Gunners with THAT goal in the biggest FA Cup shock ever when Wrexham beat Arsenal 2-1 at The Racecourse in 1992.

Kevin Reeves was Wrexham's assistant boss that day and he also scored at Wembley in another 3-2 classic in which I was supporting the winning team.

My best pal in school was, and still is, a big Manchester City fan.

So I had no option but to support Tottenham in 1981. I even bought the Chas and Dave ‘Spurs are on their way to Wembley’ FA Cup single!

After the initial 1-1 draw, Spurs won the replay 3-2 with Ricky Villa scoring that amazing winner after Reeves and a stunning volley from Steve MacKenzie had put City in charge.

We even won the after-match down the Sports Field - you know the one when everyone heads out after the big final to re-enact it once again!

And to complete the 3-2 theme, Coventry's victory over Spurs in 1987 also brings back special sporting memories.

I was playing cricket for Overton at Craven Arms and we managed to watch snippets on a tiny black and white portable TV in the pavilion.

But it wasn't Keith Houchen's diving header that stood out that day. It was my best catch ever - a one-handed, full-length lunge just behind square leg.

They're still talking about it in the streets of Overton!

NICK HARRISON

FOR a long time Roger Milford was about the only referee I knew and that's down to the FA Cup final.

It was Milford who decided that Paul Gascoigne's reckless challenges on Garry Parker and Gary Charles deserved nothing more than a talking to as Spurs faced Nottingham Forest in 1991.

Gazza suffered as a result of the second 'tackle', but his replacement, Nayim, had a hand in both of his side's goals as they fought back from Stuart Pearce's fantastic free-kick to leave Cloughie without the FA Cup in his trophy cabinet.

The first final I watched 'live' was Everton's 1-0 win over Manchester United in 1995, Paul Rideout's header doing the damage, before Alex Ferguson's men reclaimed the trophy 12 months later in a dull 1-0 success against Liverpool.

Eric Cantona's goal was about the only notable moment of that final, which is best summed up by a group of us going outside to play football rather than watch the minutes tick by at a painstaking rate. Someone running to the window to make sure that we were missing absolutely nothing.

Cricket has seemingly got in the way of FA Cup final day, but I was fortunate enough to watch the entirety of Liverpool's penalty shoot-out success over West Ham in 2006.

Steven Gerrard, the man for the big occasion, thundered home a stoppage time equaliser from 35 yards to force an additional 30 minutes, before the Reds won it.

Will I be watching the latest edition of the FA Cup? Nope, I'll be stranded in Denbigh. I might catch the highlights, however.

TOM NORRIS

THE most memorable FA Cup in my lifetime has to be Liverpool’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Arsenal way back in 2001.

There were plenty of doubters who felt staging the final at the Millennium Stadium simply wouldn’t work, but try telling that to the millions of sports’ fans who adore the Cardiff venue, surely the best major sporting arena nationwide.

Gerard Houllier’s side were seeking the second leg of a famous cup treble, having already won the League Cup three months earlier, but trailed after Freddie Ljungberg’s fine opener.

I vividly remember as an 11-year-old being captivated by this final, as Liverpool pressed for an equaliser which looked set escape them.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Michael Owen was in the form of his life that season – outrageously winning that year’s Ballon D’Or - and pounced eight yards out in typical-Owen fashion to level matters.

With just three minutes left, a pulsating game looked set for extra-time, but Owen scored a simply wonderful solo goal to send the Liverpool fans behind the goal into raptures, leaving Tony Adams and Lee Dixon for dead before producing a brilliant finish to beat David Seaman, still the best goalkeeper in Europe at the time, from 12 yards out.

These were the days when everyone still rooted for English sides in Europe and I was cheering four days later as Liverpool saw off Alaves to lift the UEFA Cup. Great memories of a great period for English football.

CHARLIE CROASDALE

FA CUP finals have become synonymous with disappointment for my club, Villa.

In my lifetime we've been involved in two and performed miserably in both. In 2000, a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea under John Gregory was a drab affair and notable only for the fact it was the last final played at the old Wembley.

Fifteen years later we were outclassed by Arsenal, as Wenger's side dispatched the claret and blue at a canter in a 4-0 mauling.

So, unsurprisingly, my abiding memories of great FA Cup finals all involve other clubs and their Wembley heroics.

The earliest final I can recall is Liverpool's emotional 3-2 triumph over Everton in 1989, which came in the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy.

The agonising loss of 96 lives just five weeks earlier made the Wembley showpiece an emotionally raw occasion, with players on both sides sporting black armbands and a rousing rendition of the anthemic 'You'll Never Walk Alone' preceding kick-off.

The Merseyside rivals served up a thrilling cup final with the prolific Ian Rush netting his second of the game in extra-time to clinch a 3-2 win after Stuart McCall scored twice to keep the Toffees in the game.

DAN HEALD