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.
No comments:
Post a Comment