On This Day – 11th March
It was on this day in 1963 that the last of the FA Cup Third Round games was played.
Middlesbrough beat Blackburn Rovers 3-1 at their Ayresome Park home in a replay following a 1-1 draw six days previously.
Two goals from Alan Peacock and a penalty from Arthur Kaye saw Boro through to the Fourth Round.
The Third Round had started way back at the beginning of January and was finally concluded nine weeks later due to ‘the big freeze’.
This was one of the coldest winters on record and the United Kingdom was covered in snow for 67 days.
The freezing weather threw the football fixture list into chaos. An incredible 16 games were postponed ten or more times. The Lincoln City vs Coventry City tie was postponed 15 times in total!
In all, there were 261 postponements in the FA Cup Third Round during the big freeze!