1871–72 was the first season the FA Cup was held making it the oldest competition of association football in the world. Each pairings are randomly drawn and the draw also dictates which of the two teams will play at home. The FA tournament works on a knockout competition, meaning, the team that losses any given match is automatically out of the competition. A match is replayed if there is a draw and this will take place at the ground of the team who played away in the first match.
A club is automatically eligible to enter the FA Cup as long as they are in the Football League or the FA Premier League. Providing the clubs in the next six levels of British football have either played in the FA Vase, FA Cup or FA Trophy competitions in the last season, they are also eligible.
This is what makes the FA Cup so special. Football clubs of different rankings all get a fair go at the Cup. A much lower division club can find themselves playing against a premier division club and on many occasions these lower ranked clubs have knocked out their superiors. These lower division clubs become known as ‘Giant Killers’ all though the odds against these teams reaching the final have been very slim.
In 1969 Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds and Martin Peters were all playing for West Ham United in the First division, West Ham were drawn with Third division Mansfield Town in the fifth round. The game had been postponed on five separate occasions but was finally played on the 26th February in front of a crowd of over 21,000 at Field Mill. This match was the greatest in Mansfield Town’s history after they beat the elite side to the tune of 3-0. Mansfield Town were on a high not just because of this score, but the fact they are one of the only four teams to knock out five different league clubs in one competition.
More recently in 1984-85, Telford United had victories over Bradford, Lincoln and Preston in the FA Cup and then went on to tie with Everton in the fifth round at Goodison Park. Everton at this time were the English Champions so this was a major feat, unfortunately Telford United lost the replay 3-0 after going into the second half at 0-0. A crowd of 47,000 fans were gathered at Goodison, 13,000 of which were fans who had travelled from Telford to support there team. This huge total of spectators has never been surpassed at Goodison Park since that match, equally, the fifth round achievement of Telford United has also never happened for a non league club since.
We all like to will on the under dog and the FA Cup certainly gives us the chance to do this with these occasional ‘Giant Killers’. Maybe the next FA Cup will see Kidderminster or Forest Green left holding the cup. Betting on either of these teams at the moment could see you flashing the cash if they come up trumps at the 5000-1 odds that are given today (11/12/08).
