When were Hearts not in the Scottish cup last 32?

[realmadrid]

When did this last happen

I had a long look through post second world war records and despite there being some seasons when big clubs played in the rounds before the last 32 I could not see this happening ever.

is this a first this season?

Also in some years there was an extra round before the quarter finals as 10 teams progressed from the round before. Does anyone know how they decided who would play the extra games to eliminate 2 teams?

[craigkillie]

I make it that the last time they didn't reach the Last 32 of the Scottish Cup was 1937/38. The 1st Round of the competition contained 54 clubs, and Hearts were knocked out by Dundee United. I tend to classify this as a "Last 64" round, on the basis that a team who played in it would have to win 6 matches to win the cup.

The competition went as follows:

Round 1 - 54 teams, 27 ties
Round 2 - 27 teams, 13 ties & 1 bye
Round 3 - 14 teams, 6 ties & 2 byes
Round 4 (QF) - 8 teams

As to why it was structured like that, I'm not entirely sure. In the early days there were some weird competition structures. I guess their principle was basically that everyone who qualified for the cup should play in Round 1, and that they'd sort it out later on.

The only other post-WW1 seasons that Hearts didn't reach the "Last 32" (or five matches away from winning the cup) were 1926/27, 1928/29 and 1935/36. They also failed to do so in a number of early seasons of the cup, when it used to have literally hundreds of entrants - 1877/1878, 1879/1880, 1881/1882, 1882/1883, 1883/1884, 1884/1885, 1885/1886, 1886/1887.

Edited March 26, 2021 by craigkillie