It's the FA Cup this weekend! No really it is!
The 2011-12 Football Association Challenge Cup began on Friday August 19th with the opening fixtures of the Extra Preliminary Round. The Preliminary Round starts on Friday September 2nd.
This non-startling piece of football trivia will have passed plenty of people by. To the majority, the FA Cup doesn't really start hitting the headlines until the Third Round proper when the 'big boys' of the Premier League and The Championship join in.
However, it's now possible for fans to become more informed about the progress of teams in the FA Cup than ever before – right from the very first kick of the competition.
Match coverage
For most football fans keeping up-to-speed with results from the early rounds of the FA Cup in the past was something that generally happened through newspaper columns, a scan of the back page small print on a Sunday or Monday morning.
That's not been the case for quite some time now as more and more football clubs and organisations have embraced technology and started to use social media.
The FA.com website is excellent and as well as having records from past FA Cup competitions it has all the current season's fixtures and results listed, although not always on the same day: it still takes time for news to filter through officially. It also covers some games in more depth.
There are club and local newspaper websites too with match reports made available soon after matches have completed.
And of course there is Twitter.
Not all clubs have embraced Twitter but many have and it's opened up a whole new avenue of following a club's progress. No longer are football fans limited to just seeing final results printed in a newspaper. They can now follow the action 'up-to-the-minute' wherever they are. Games between minor, non-League clubs that were once 'inconsequential' can now jostle for position on people's Twitter Timelines alongside the great and the good.
This season also saw the first ever live game screened on Facebook – Ascot United versus Wembley – courtesy of 'liking' the page of this season's competition sponsors Budweiser. For the record Wembley won 2-1 and are on the road to...Wembley!
On the 'Road To Wembley'
A few years ago I recall that Radio Five Live did a 'Wembley to Wembley' series following the progress of Wembley FC through the rounds of The FA Cup, the idea being that the radio station would follow them until they were knocked out. The 'baton' would then be passed on to the victorious team and the pattern continued all the way through to the final at Wembley Stadium.
This may not be a unique idea and others may do it as well for their own personal amusement, but I thought I'd give it a go myself this year to see how I get on and where it led me.
I do have a confession to make: I've tried this before, a couple of seasons ago, but for one reason or another I didn't see it through to the end. However, during that ill-fated first attempt rather than start with Wembley FC I decided to start with Falmouth Town AFC, who play in The Carlsberg South West Peninsula League.
Why? Well for no other reason than I was on holiday in Falmouth that weekend! My holiday accommodation was close to Falmouth's ground (Bickland Park) and I used to drive past it daily at the start and end of each family excursion to explore the beautiful Cornish coast and countryside.
Once I'd done some research into my adopted FA Cup team I was pleased I'd done so. I uncovered a club with some nice history but, without being at all unfair, perhaps a club that has also seen better days.
Most importantly, Falmouth Town have a unique FA Cup record. To date they are the only Cornish team ever to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup, a feat they've achieved on three occasions: 1962-63, 1967-68 and 1969-70. I love this!
I suspect that in the coming years, if the progress of Truro City FC of The Conference South continues, that record may get broken. But for now Falmouth Town is Cornwall's most successful FA Cup club.
So, I'm happy I chose them then and I'm happy I chose them as my starting point again this season to carry the FA Cup baton on its first leg of what I hope will be an eventful and fun-filled journey.
Let's hope I don't get side tracked this season and can follow this all the way through!
Well, that's what happens I guess when your team actually gets to the Final...ummm, maybe being sidetracked isn't a bad thing afterall!
FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round 2011-12: Bodmin Town Versus Falmouth Town
So, if anyone asks me where the FA Cup started this season my answer will be simple: at Priory Park home of Bodmin Town who hosted their local rivals from Falmouth. This was the first ever clash in the FA Cup between the two clubs and it turned out to be a bit of a goal fest.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find either Bodmin Town or Falmouth Town on Twitter so I wasn't able to follow the game 'in progress' (well, I did say that not all clubs have embraced it yet!).
However, the match got good coverage on the clubs' websites – including pictures - and in the Cornish media. I've listed the links and some personal favourite highlights from each below.
The Bodmin Town website match report can be seen by clicking here ==> Bodmin Town Match Report
Match report highlight: “Although Falmouth put some respectability on the final scoreline, Bodmin were full value for this excellent victory, which was the first time for at least 60 years Bodmin had scored six goals against Falmouth as well as being their biggest winning margin since 1955”.
The Falmouth Town website match report can be seen by clicking here ==> Falmouth Town Match Report
Match report highlight: “Falmouth started this F.A Cup tie without any of their three front men available and Bodmin were also missing two of their attacking force so the last thing that anyone expected to see was nine goals. The big difference was that as soon as the game started Falmouth’s defence also went missing as the home side were two goals ahead inside the first five minutes”.
This Is Cornwall's website match report can be seen by clicking here ==> This Is Cornwall Match Report
Match report highlight: “The extra preliminary round encounter got off to a spectacular start when Bodmin winger Ben Smallridge scored a wonder goal after three minutes, breaking from the centre circle and beating five Falmouth players on a mazy run before curling a shot past Jason Chapman”.
Contentious moment: the penalty awarded to Bodmin Town in the seventh minute was viewed differently in each report.
The Bodmin Town match report records the penalty incident as follows: “...Chris Luxton was bundled over in the box for ADAM CARTER to find the target with the resultant spot kick...”.
The Falmouth Town match report recorded the incident like this: “...Bodmin doubled their lead when Chris Luxton cut into the penalty area from the left and was blocked by Lee Rundle. Luxton fell to the ground and a penalty was awarded. Adam Carter took the spot kick and gave Chapman no chance with his firmly hit shot...”.
This Is Cornwall saw it like this: “...Four minutes later it was 2-0 through an Adam Carter penalty after Lee Rundle had crudely shoved Chris Luxton to the floor...”.
A nice contrast there: 'bundled over' versus 'fell to the ground' versus 'crudely shoved'. We all see these incidents differently I guess!
Match Summary
FT: Bodmin Town 6-3 Falmouth Town (HT: 3-1)
Location/Time: Played at Priory Park, Bodmin on Saturday 20th August at 3PM BST
Attendance: TBC (I love this!)
Falmouth Town: J.Chapman, J.Sims, J.Devine, S.Chitty, L.Rundle, R.Pope (T.Barwell 58m), K.Turner, D.Green, J.Miller (J.Lugg71m), S.Winnan (M.Hollands 65m), M.Vercesi
Bodmin Town: K.Miller, H.Morgan, L.Reed, T.Chambers, S.Simmonds, C.Swiggs, B.Smallridge, O.Brokenshire (D.Gilbert 80), A,Carter, C.Luxton( L.Hodge 73m), L.Rundle (J.Bartlett 44m).
MOTM: Ben Smallridge
Next up: so, the FA Cup baton on the Road To Wembley is passed from Falmouth Town to Bodmin Town who play away to Barnstaple Town on Saturday September 3rd at 3PM BST.
The 'glory' of holding the baton didn't last that long for Falmouth Town on this occasion, a disappointment not to progress in the World's greatest Cup competition I'm sure. But there's always next season...time to concentrate on the 'bread and butter' of the League. Good luck to them and good luck to Bodmin Town in the next round of the FA Cup.
BlueThruAndThru
