Published in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying round game v Worthing Saturday 18th September 2022 We lost 3-1 in front of 474
It’s not often you play a
team with the same nickname as your own, so anyone attempting our
numerous Rebel songs might get themselves in an FA Cup pickle.
‘Rebel, Rebel, Boing, Boing’ and the whole place will be rocking.
Mind you, and no disrespect to Worthing, but I did feel slightly
underwhelmed with the draw of another club in our league. Still, I
suppose it wasn’t Dartford who we seem to be drawn to like moths to
a flame; but the ball baggers could have at least had the decency to
pick Worthing out first so I could have a short trip by train.
We could do with a cup run,
not just for the cash but also the exposure you get as you pile
through the rounds dreaming of the First round good and proper and
the chance to take on a league club; then lose in the second round to
keep up our record breaking run (eight times in the second round
without winning, since you ask).
It’s
the 150th
year of the FA Cup, beginning in August and ending next June, with
732 entering and a record 208 playing in the extra preliminary round.
One of those was Northern League side Heaton Stannington, the nearest
club to Newcastle United. Speaking to The Athletic, their club
secretary Scott Lyndon said: “After the World Cup, the FA Cup is
probably the most famous cup competition on the planet and it’s
quite special for a club at this level to be able to say, ‘We play
in that.’
Despite
all its riches, football is a financial car crash but the FA Cup is
one of the few ways left to throw lower league clubs a life raft.
Lyndon
explained what winning in the extra preliminary round meant, with
clubs receiving £1,125 for a victory, £375 for the losers.
Heaton played their first cup
game against Pickering Town in front of 233 spectators. “What
happens is you collect all the gate receipts; out of that, you pay
the referee and officials — £65 for the ref, £40 for the
assistants — plus the travel of the away team — either petrol or
cost of a bus hire. If it’s a night game, there’s money for the
floodlights. In later rounds, if you need St John Ambulance (medical
volunteers), you can take that out.
“Once
you’ve done all that, you split what’s left 50-50 between the two
clubs — if you’re in negative, you share the loss between the
clubs. For the Pickering game, we ended up with £50 each. But, as
the home club, we made our money through the bar, the snack hut,
programmes, the raffle, those peripheral sales. It was a lucrative
day for us.”
I’ve already had a taste of
this years competition with a trip to watch Newhaven v Sheppey United
in the preliminary round replay. Newhaven is a small town of around
12,000 with a working harbour and a claim to fame that Lord Lucan
left his blood stained car there, never to be seen again.
They’d won their previous
round replay 10-0 so we were expecting goals. A frantic end to end
game that was also the first one on the Dockers new 3G pitch. This
meant an endless puff of black
plastic bobbles floating in the sky, as the ferry made its customary
matchday appearance opposite the main stand. Sheppey who had been
just been promoted to the Isthmian League eventually won, but as ever
I was impressed with what’s happening at Newhaven. Growing crowds
(a bumper 328 for this game) improved facilities (groundhoppers will
love the old abandoned stand and seats behind the new ones), better
marketing and most importantly all the youngsters with Newhaven tops.
As we know 3G opens up so many possibilities with hiring out the
pitch and letting all the Newhaven teams play on it.
The
new pitch is thanks to money form the governments Levelling Up
fund. Newhaven does need some investment and most of their high
street needs levelling, which some bright spark encircled with a main
road.
Newhaven's ground is surrounded by woods, a skateboard park, Newhaven Fort and the harbour - they're can't be many grounds that have a ruddy great ferry appearing on the half way line during a game.
It’s got a lovely sandy
beach that has been fenced off by the French
company that runs the ferry for 14 years cos they say it isn't safe.
There’s rocky pools and secret coves and the place is spacious and
stunning with often just camper vans parked up. A neon lit ‘You Imagine What You Desire’ sign with the white cliff backdrop has
been erected as part of an art project to face out to the Channel to
refugees. If you really lucky you can swim in the sea and not get a
mouthful of sewage.
So
for Slough another cup run beckons – the 78th
time Slough have entered the FA Cup. We’re never going to win it,
but fingers crossed for another magical cup run, starting here today.
That's what I imagine and desire, and would seriously be worth some Rebel, Rebel, Boing, Boing
bouncing.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home