Where It's At

Journalism is a tough profession. Deadlines to be met, snarling sub-editors red-pencilling copy, pressures on cramming the text into the allotted two column inches. And perhaps tougher with sports reporting where a story must be filed quickly before it is yesterday's news and unwanted. So we can make allowances for the odd factual slip or infelicitous choice of phrase. But surely there can be no mercy for the following extract which appears in the current issue of the digital newspaper Essex Live (and if you are wondering why I should be perusing this particular publication, it is because on Saturday the football team I follow, Wealdstone FC, achieved a memorable victory over old rivals Billericay Town in the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy, blowing them off the pitch with a 5-2 scoreline, and I was keen to see what local opinion thought of the game).

The result ends Billericay's hopes of a cup final at Wembley Stadium where the final was scheduled to be played at

Ending a sentence with a preposition is not the crime against grammar that it once was but in this case I think an exception can be made. The "at" is redundant and makes the whole sentence clumsy.  Also the final will take place at Wembley. It hasn't been moved because now that Billericay are knocked out there's no need for such a prestigious venue. However my ire is aimed at the entire sub-clause in which the "at" sits. It seems pretty bloody obvious that, if Billericay hoped to play in the final at Wembley, then the final must surely have been scheduled there. It would be really strange to have read the following:

The result ends Billericay's hopes of a cup final at Wembley Stadium even though it is actually going to be played at Dagenham Dog Track¹

I don't know what the word "scheduled" brings to the party either. The final will be at Wembley Stadium. Or you could say the final is to be played at Wembley Stadium. It is more than just an entry on one of those wall-chart/calendar things that hang in the Personnel Manager's office recording holidays and the dates of the firm's outings. It goes well beyond blocking it out on the Google Calendar of the Events Organiser at Wembley. The Trophy Final has been held at Wembley ever since its inception and before that when it was the FA Amateur Cup. Wealdstone, I am proud to record, have won both events (in 1985 and 1966) and wouldn't it be splendid if they completed the hat-trick in 2018?

1. Insert any unlikely sounding venue of your choice if it makes you feel better