Choosing a team for this game is a bit like picking a horse in the Grand National or deciding which bands to see at the start of the day at music festivals. If the name’s not good it ain’t coming in.
There are the clubs like Sherwood Colliery, founded as industrial teams who still proudly display that heritage today. Then the ones which suggest this sort of history but turn out to be something completely different such as Cadbury Heath, nothing to do with chocolate as the Gloucestershire club was established in 1864 as Cadbury Heath Adult School
Some have real intrigue attached to their names. I hope there’s a story behind Anstey Nomads. Others just sound idyllic or cute, Little Common, Tuffley Rovers and Walsham le Willows, and I hope West Allotment Celtic are strict on their selection policy and don’t allow players from any other allotments in that part of Newcastle.
This year’s extra preliminary round features Bournemouth FC and Norwich United. I wonder if there are many diehard supporters of either side who won’t hear of their cities more famous alternatives – “I told you that Premier League would never last!” And on the subject of more successful clubs, what on earth has happened to Northwich Victoria? Once a name I’d hear in the then Vauxhall Conference one division below the Football League. Founder members of the Football Conference they were relegated from that level in 2005.
The temptation to start my road to Wembley by picking Wembley was difficult to refuse, but instead it’s a music reference that I couldn’t ignore, courtesy of the mighty Half Man Half Biscuit.
Glory Hunting 