Some For September

Thursday 6th: Scotland Under-21's take on Andorra in qualifying for the UEFA European Championships and tickets for the Tynecastle clash are priced at just at £5 Adults and £2 Concessions.

On the same evening and in the same group it's England against Netherlands at Carrow Road where tickets are £10 Adults, £5 Under-18's and Over-65's.

Saturday 8th: Dronfield Town host FC Bolsover in the Northern Counties East League and there is free admission to the 3pm kick-off. It's an international weekend so many Non-League clubs will be offering reduced admission or special offers for season ticket holders from Premier League and Football League clubs.

Sunday 9th: A Pride Park bow for Derby County Ladies as they take on local rivals Nottingham Forest in the FA Women's National League. Admission to the 2pm kick-off is priced at £3 Adults, £1 Under-18's and free for Derby County season ticket holders.

Saturday 29th: It is Community Day at Sholing FC with free admission to the game against Portchester United and a host of other activities for the family both before and after the match. 

Sunday 30th: This is the deadline to get half-price tickets (£7.50 for Adults) for the FA Women's Cup Final which takes place at Wembley on 4 May 2019. Once again kids go free to the showpiece event.

Wymondham Town FC

The final photograph of a week in Norfolk and glimpses of various Anglian Combination club grounds comes from Wymondham Town FC as they hosted Wroxham Reserves on Saturday afternoon at Kings Head Meadow in the centre of this attractive market town near Norwich.

Wymondham were 5-1 winners and, as with the match I saw at Cromer Town earlier in the week, both sides deserve credit for their desire to play the ball out from the back, the England influence perhaps stretching to all levels of the game.

The official website shows a thriving community club offering events throughout the week and a number of different teams bearing the colours.

On Twitter, Norfolk Football offers comprehensive coverage of the game in this fine county.

Wells Town FC

A very picturesque setting to watch football, the home of Wells Town FC of the Anglian Combination with the beach railway running alongside, fields behind and the harbour just across the road.

If you're on holiday in the town this weekend then there is a home fixture scheduled for 2.30pm on Saturday.

Cromer Town FC

Cabell Park has been the home of Cromer Town FC since 1922 and although the very future of the club has been at risk in recent years and they now find themselves in Division Two of the Anglian Combination there was no shortage of spirit on display amongst the players despite their 2-0 defeat to Buxton on Wednesday evening.

Both sides tried to play the ball out from the back whenever they could and the whole game was contested in the right spirit with an experienced referee allowing it to pass without incident.

Two early goals earned Buxton the victory and the visitors goalkeeper preserved their advantage with a smart penalty save after the break.

Few of the thousands of tourists who have stayed in or passed through the town this week may be aware of their existence but The Crabs are still very much there, loyal volunteers providing those who visit regularly with their football fix.

The next scheduled matches at the ground are on Saturday 8th September (2pm) against the following Saturday (2.30pm) against Brandon Town.

Sheringham FC

Sheringham Recreation Ground, home of The Shannocks and a nice, neat ground on the edge of the North Norfolk seaside town.

Next visitors, if you're around over Bank Holiday weekend, are Norwich United Under-21's for a 2.30pm kick-off in the Premier Division of the Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination.

Barnet FC, London Bees

🎟️ | Under 17's, listen up! #BarnetFC and @LondonBees are offering you 5⃣ games for £5 starting this weekend! 🐝👇https://t.co/U0JB8pJakF pic.twitter.com/HFqLLGIUv6

— Barnet FC 🐝 (@BarnetFC) August 14, 2018

Good Value But A Sense Of Disappointment As Women’s Season Starts

The new domestic season in the women’s game starts this weekend and the main focus will be on a team who are playing their first ever competitive fixture.

Manchester United Women, newly-formed this summer and with a coaching staff and squad built from scratch, meet Liverpool FC Women at Tranmere’s Prenton Park on Sunday (2pm) in the Continental Tyres Cup.

Liverpool, now under the management of Neil Redfearn, will be expecting to challenge for the FA Women’s Super League (FAWSL) title this season while United are entering the system one level below, in the FA Women’s Championship.

Their arrival is the major headline from yet another restructure of the women’s game, one that has seen some clubs jump two divisions into the WSL while others have found the financial requirements of entry into either the WSL or the Championship too onerous and who have been forced to drop down into the new FA Women’s National League (FAWNL) which also kicks off this weekend.

Local to me that includes Sheffield FC Ladies and Doncaster Rovers Belles with Sheffield losing a status they fought so hard to attain and Belles suffering for a second time from a restructure despite winning FA WSL2 last season under Redfearn’s management.

I’ll always look to highlight the positives of the women’s game and that certainly includes good value, competitive football in a family-friendly atmosphere.

The Liverpool versus Manchester United game, for instance will cost just £5 for Adults to attend (£12 for a family) while the new United team have season tickets available for £39 Adults and £20 for Under 16's/65+.

Those kind of season ticket prices can be found at many of the clubs in both the WSL and the Championship, £25 for an Adult and £50 for a Family at Reading FC Women for example.

But there is still something missing for me and it’s a sense that one of the two key narratives (the first being the battle over 90 minutes) that should be in place when you watch a match has been disrupted, namely that the result should feed into the league table and the final league table should be the only determining factor in where a team plays the following season, not whether the champions then meet licence criteria that seem to expressly jeopardise smaller clubs.

The excellent She Kicks website keeps up to date with developments in the women’s game.

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

West Didsbury & Chorlton and Squires Gate ahead of their FA Cup tie on Saturday afternoon which saw the visitors from Blackpool triumph 3-2 to earn a return to Manchester for a Preliminary Round clash at Droylsden on the weekend of 25 August.

Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford was on the sidelines at Brookburn Road where prices have been frozen for the 2018/19 season at £5 Adults, £3 Concessions and free for accompanied Under 12's with two home matches scheduled for the Bank Holiday weekend.

Watch Manchester United For Free In 2018/19

There are a host of opportunities to watch the Old Trafford youngsters for free this coming season with the majority of Under-23 matches in both Premier League 2 and the Premier League International Cup being held at Leigh Sports Village.

Aston Villa are the first opponents, on Friday 17th August, with a total of 10 matches scheduled to be played in Leigh including the visits of the Under-23 equivalents of both PSV Eindhoven and Paris St Germain in January.

Supporters can register their details in advance to get updates about fixture changes and team news but admission is free to all of the game simply by turning up at the stadium.

Hassocks FC

There's loads of FA Cup tweets that have caught the eye ahead of this weekend's Extra Preliminary Round matches but this one from Sussex gets the nod...

Come and experience the magic of the #FACup with Hassocks just 14 wins away from a Wembley final

The Robins begin their journey this Saturday against @ErithTown at the Beacon. Kick off is 3pm and entrance is £6 adults, £3 concessions and under 16s go free#HassocksFC pic.twitter.com/Sd3myIJDGd

— Hassocks FC (@hassocksfc) 8 August 2018

Women's FA Cup 2018/19

Tickets go on sale on Monday (6th August) for the 2019 FA Women's Cup Final at Wembley which will be held on Saturday 4th May next year.

Kids once again go free to the showpiece event and Adult tickets purchased before 30 September will receive a 50% discount on the usual £15 price.

The road to the final begins at the end of August with 53 preliminary round ties due to be played by Sunday 26th.

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

The road to Wembley begins on Friday 10th August with 184 ties scheduled to be played over the course of the weekend and a financial bonus awaiting all of the competing clubs after a significant increase in prize money was announced by the Football Association which means that even those teams who are knocked out at this opening stage will receive a £750 payment.

In the Cup's heyday it was the third round, the semi-finals at neutral venues and the Wembley showpiece that formed the narrative of the competition and provided us with many of the images that are still shown so often today.

Charlie George's celebrations, Ronnie Radford's screamer, Keith Houchen's header and Coventry's subsequent fall from grace at Sutton United are replayed endlessly and recognised all around the world but the fact that they are still shown so often indicates how few iconic moments there have been in the later stages as the Premier League and Champions League have become so dominant, Ryan Giggs semi-final winner against Arsenal being the exception rather than the rule.

Increasingly the interest is to be found earlier on and each of the early rounds contains within them a huge number of stories from passionately fought local derbies to clubs making their bow in the competition.

Many clubs at this stage will be charging no more than £5 admission and an adult should get change from a tenner at all of the extra-preliminary round ties.

The excellent FA Cup Factfile account on Twitter provides a unique look at the competition and reflects its quirkiness perfectly.