FA Cup magic this weekend

This weekend is FA Cup second round time in England and for thousands of people around the country, even in this day and age, that means it is the most exciting weekend of the season.

How many of the following teams have you heard of?

Barrow, Blyth Spartans, Droylsden, Eastwood Town, Fleetwood Town, Forest Green, Grays Athletic, Kidderminster, Curzon Ashton, Alfreton Town, Torquay, Oxford United, Histon and Kettering.

All of those sides are non-league teams taking part this weekend and dreaming of getting a plum draw in the third round when the Premier League and Championship clubs enter the competition.

Top tier

Barrow, Kidderminster, Torquay and Oxford United all have relatively recent league experience before they dropped out. Oxford United were actually in the top tier of English football as recently as 1988.

The lowest ranked side are the minnows of Curzon Ashton. I have to say that until a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of them. They ply their trade in the Unibond First Division North and play in front of home crowds of around one hundred and fifty.

On Saturday Curzon Ashton, based in Manchester, make the trip to Blue Square Premier Side, Kidderminster, with real hope. Manager Gary Lowe told the BBC,

“It will be a big stage on Saturday and they have to go and perform and I’m confident they can. We’re very competitive and a fit bunch and I have a lot of good players. Over the years they have become used to playing in big games and have played in front of crowds of 3,000 or so. This won’t faze them.”

Chairman Harry Galloway put the position of the club in perspective but spoke about what the game means to them,

“Making it to the Football League with our finances is pie in the sky. We have got one aim at the moment and this is to make it to the Unibond Premier and then we will have a look from there. One step at a time. It’s the biggest game we have ever had. The possibilities are endless if we win this one. There is a financial aspect that is nice. It puts us on the map, most importantly, and is great reward for the supporters and players. The furthest we have been before is the third qualifying round so to make the first round proper and now the second is fantastic. Being the lowest-ranked club, we’ve got nothing to lose and are confident.”

The clubs from League One and League Two are also dreaming of the glamour and the big pay-day that a game against one of the Premier League’s big four would bring. So spare a thought for the likes of Brentford, Bournemouth, Chesterfield, Wycombe, Hartlepool, Rochdale, Carlisle, Scunthorpe, Notts County and the once mighty Leeds United. All of those football league clubs take on teams from various tiers of the non-league pyramid.

Embarrassment

They are all staring in the face of embarrassment at the hands of lowly opposition, but also dreaming of who they might get drawn against in the next round.

It seems to me that the only people who are not interested and excited by the FA Cup are the top Premier League teams who focus on the League and Europe. For almost everyone else, the FA Cup still holds the magic and the excitement it always held.

Worst team

As a Watford supporter who has seen my team in all four professional Divisions in England I have travelled to see us lose at Northwich Victoria and scrape a 3-2 win at Hillingdon Borough. I have also seen us as a tier two side make it all the way to the semi-final beating the mighty Liverpool on the way. (The great Bill Shankley said that Watford were the worst team that had ever beaten them!)

Whether you are on the excited minnows side or the apprehensive relative giants side, this weekend will be full of thrills and spills.

Come Sunday night the managers of twenty-one teams will be saying that they are not to disappointed by going out of the cup and that they want to concentrate on the league without that unnecessary distraction. The other twenty-one managers will be feeling on top of the world and desperately hoping to get a Premier League side, preferably away, in the next round.

Cruel

The fans will be watching TV, listening to the radio or logged on to the internet so that they can see or hear the draw. The fans of the teams beaten this weekend will watch as well, just to see who they would have played if they had won. Why are football fans so cruel to themselves?

Even the players of the lower league and non-league teams are excited and see this as an opportunity to get their big break. Take Curzon Ashton’s James Ogoo. The twenty-six year old midfield man won three caps for The Gambia some time ago and now sees this competition as a way of getting his career back on a higher footing,

Ogoo, a hotel porter, said to the BBC,

“I want to play at a higher level, I want to see what the FA Cup will bring. I enjoyed playing for my country and have not given up hope of playing for them again.”

The FA Cup really does retain its magic. Don’t listen to the fans of the big four, this is what real football is all about!