The FA Cup is Back with Stories to Tell

The Fa Cup first round proper holds a special place in the hearts of English football fans.  It’s a great opportunity for clubs outside the football league, to step up, take on famous clubs and cause an upset. For many teams, a win in the first round of the FA Cup can provide financial reward which will keep them going for the rest of the season.  For others, it’s a chance to get their name in mainstream media coverage, from radio to television.

Take Westfields FC for example, who meet Curzon Ashton in the FA Cup first round.  They began their quest in the FA Cup on the 6th August in a preliminary round and required a last minute penalty to get through the game.  From there, it just got better and better to the point where BBC television will be hosting a show live from their ground and they will feature in highlights on the world famous, Match of the Day, later in the evening.  To put things into perspective, everyone who works at Westfields FC is a volunteer, no one gets paid and people help simply because of their love for the football club.

Another interesting story sees Stamford AFC travel to take on Hartlepool United.  This is a club who are also known as The Daniels, named after one of the heaviest men in history.  Daniel Lambert weighed 52 stone and died in Stamford in 1809, having suffered from a glandular problem.  Stamford AFC are in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League First Division South and if they defeat Hartlepool United, of Football League Two, it will go down as a massive upset, especially as they have lost their last three matches in a row.  However, form goes out of the window when it comes to the FA Cup and even if Stamford manage to get Hartlepool back to the Zeeco Stadium, it will be a success.

The FA Cup has been much criticised in recent years and the value of the tournament, especially as far as the bigger clubs are concerned, has been questioned.  However, reaching the first round of the competition means so much to clubs like Westfields FC, Stamford AFC, Merstham, Spennymoor Town, Solihull Moors and Taunton Town and the magic of the FA Cup gives these teams the opportunity, should they progress, to play the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United in round three.  What bigger incentive could you ask for as a semi-professional or amateur football player?

Such as big deal has been made of Leicester City winning the Premier League and their progress in the Champions League this season and while it is a great achievement, nothing beats the emotion of a non-league team beating a top-flight team in the FA Cup.  In 2013, non-league Luton Town defeated Norwich City away from home and another non-league team, Sutton United, dumped Coventry City out of the cup in the third round in 1989.

Let’s hope for more upsets in the FA Cup this season, as the first-round kicks-off this weekend.