If the FA Cup is “the greatest cup competition in the world”, why are fewer professional teams taking it seriously?
How important is a cup run to a team in the qualifying rounds?
In Covid19 Britain does this become even more important?
Why do the British love an underdog so much?
All questions I’d love to answer and will attempt to in this blog. Another question which often comes up as the third round draw is made in early December, how many matches have the non-league sides still in the competition played in order to dream of a glamour game against Manchester United?
Last season I joined a game where the idea was simple. Pick a team in the earliest qualifying round and sit back and watch the road to Wembley unfold in front of you. I chose Worcester City. I thought this was quite a good move as when I used to live in Worcester, admittedly in the 1990s City were a pretty decent non-league team, and they have FA Cup history too. It didn’t take many attempts to find a taxi driver of a certain age who could tell you all about the day they beat mighty Liverpool, back in the 1950s!
Sadly, Worcester of 2019 let me down as they lost to Heather St Johns, who then lost to Loughborough Dynamo, who then lost to Tamworth.
There was some comfort for Worcester fans as my first victory came with a Tamworth win over that Hereford lot. My winning run stretched to one game as support had to switch to Darlington, and then Walsall. I was hoping for a bit of success for the Saddlers as former Brentford manager Dean Smith, one-time dynamic midfielder Romaine Sawyers and current left back extraordinaire Rico Henry had all come from the Midland club. It was not to be as I was bounced on to Oxford who beat Hartlepool, then took Newcastle to a replay.
The Premier League side ultimately went through and dispatched Championship promotion chasers West Brom, and then lockdown hit.
The game’s organiser called a halt, labelling those of us who’d reached eight teams “all effort, no talent”, which seems quite generous. The winning player at the cup’s Quarter Final stage had an impressive low score of just three teams.
The FA Cup would eventually resume with Newcastle losing to Manchester City in the quarter final. Arsenal overcame City in the semis which meant they were my team in the final. Despite this considerable disadvantage they would lift the trophy and in doing so become the team to have won it the most, 14 times.
Even before the 2020 final had taken place just how many amateur teams would be able to enter the 2020/2021 competition was unclear. Ticket money, bar takings and venue hire had all dried up since March. Yet, as the week of the first extra preliminary round arrived, the first of thirteen to find the 2021 winners, 183 matches were scheduled. Even better news was that spectators would be allowed!
And so the game begins again. This time I’ve decided to write about the teams I follow, but who will I pick, and will I be the unlucky mascot for some poor unsuspecting bunch of glory hopefuls?
Glory Hunting 