skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Time seems to be dragging. The Second Round Proper of this season's FA Vase is still three weeks away and for all clubs still in the competition there is much football yet to be played before thoughts can turn to the next step on the road to Wembley.
The FA Vase has not always provided a route to Wembley. The competition began its life in 1974 when the FA Amateur Cup was scrapped in favour of the FA Vase. The FA Amateur Cup had existed to compliment the FA Cup at a time when there was a clear distinction between professional and amateur footballers. In 1974 the FA abandoned the distinction as many top amateurs were receiving payment. So born was the Football Association Challenge Vase which is fought for by teams from Steps 5, 6 and 7 on the non League ladder (Step 1 is the Blue Square Premier League, the pinnacle of non League football).
That first season, 1974-75, the FA Vase attracted in excess of 200 entries and Hoddesdon Town beat Epsom & Ewell 2-1 in a Wembley Final. Out of the 34 Finals since the inauguration of the competition, 6 have been played away from the famous venue in the period after October 2000 when the old stadium was closed and the new Wembley was being built. From 2001 to 2006 the FA Vase Final was held at Villa Park (twice), Boleyn Ground, St. Andrews (twice) and most bizarrely at White Hart Lane. The 'Road to White Hart Lane' doesn't sound right, does it? That was in 2005 when Didcot Town beat AFC Sudbury 3-2 and it must have been a huge disappointment for both teams to have navigated all the way through the rounds to end up at such an underwhelming venue.
AFC Sudbury's defeat in 2005 was a heartbreaking third Final defeat in a row for the Suffolk club. Only four teams have won the FA Vase more than once; Halesowen Town, Billericay Town, Brigg Town and Tiverton Town. Maybe being a 'Town' club helps; out of the 34 winners to date, 20 of the trophy lifters carried the 'Town' label. A nice little fact for your next chat-up line. Or maybe not.
The record attendance for an FA Vase tie is 36,232 who all turned up for the 2007 Final at Wembley when Truro City came from behind to beat AFC Totton 3-1. However, the crowd figure initially announced for this game was 27,754 before the FA realised they had "cocked up" and had not accounted for over 8,500 fans who had simply showed up on the day. The FA blamed a faulty turnstile in a feeble attempt to hide their embarrassment.
This season saw 513 teams accepted into the competition and there has been a welcome increase in prize money, particularly in the early rounds. The winners will still receive £20,000 (the same as last season), plus another £20,700 accumulated from the money dished out to round winners (assuming the eventual winners started in the First Round Qualifying). No winner of the FA Vase has ever reached the Football League. Clubs at this level are many rungs away from the summit of the ladder, and it obviously takes much more than winning the FA Vase and scooping the associated prize money to propel them to the dizzy heights. For clubs at this level, the prize money (plus the gate money from the larger attendances that the later rounds generate) can stave off extinction. That is the real incentive.
Plus, of course, a day out at Wembley.
Banstead, another place I have never been to. To be honest, when I first saw the draw for the Second Round Proper, I struggled to think where Banstead actually is. Born many miles north of here it still shocks me that there are parts of the South East, especially places in and around London and Surrey (which is my 'here', many miles south of where I was born) that are totally alien to me. I couldn't for the life of me think which region of the map Banstead occupies. In a cartographic equivalent of 'pin the tail on the donkey', I would have pinned the tail over near one of its fetlocks. I hope Banstead fans do not take offence; I have, after all, only been living down south for twenty three years.
What I now know is that Banstead Athletic FC play at Merland Rise in Tadworth, Surrey. Close to Epsom Downs Racecourse, the ground is a few miles south-west of the town of Banstead (commonly referred to as 'Banstead Village'). Merland Rise is Banstead Athletic's ground but in tenancy is Epsom & Ewell FC. The lodgers have an away League fixture on the same day as the FA Vase tie, so there will be no need to move the Cup fixture to another day.
Banstead Athletic is a relatively new club, forming unusually during the Second World War as a junior team, Banstead Juniors. In 1947, three years after they were founded, the club changed their name to Banstead Athletic and two years later they were granted senior status and joined the Surrey Senior League. In the mid 1960s they joined the Spartan League and in 1975-76 they were the founder members of the London Spartan League; they finished as runners-up two season's later.
In 1989-90 Banstead Athletic almost closed down after financial difficulties threatened their existence. Locked in a dispute with the local council over the lease of the ground the manager of the reserve team, Terry Molloy, rescued the club and he became the owner and Chairman, a position he still holds today.
The 'A's' have also played in the Athenian League and the Isthmian League, and as recently as 2005-06 they enjoyed life in Isthmian League Division One. However, at the end of that season they resigned from that League to join the Combined Counties League Premier Division where they still play today, alongside Chertsey Town.
Banstead's best FA Vase run was in the 1996-97 season when they reached the Semi-Final, before losing to eventual winners Whitby Town. They have also reached the Quarter-Finals (in 1992-92) losing to Bridlington Town who also went on to lift the trophy. This season, to get to this stage, they have seen off Eastbourne United (5-1 away), Newhaven (3-1 away) and Erith & Belvedere (2-1 home).
Banstead have twice reached the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, in 1981-82 and again in 2000-01. Unfortunately in this season's FA Cup they fell at the first hurdle, going down 2-0 at home to Colliers Wood United.
This is not the first time Banstead and Arundel have met in the FA Vase. Back in 1986-87 Arundel lost 2-1 at Merland Rise in the Preliminary Round and in 2001-02, in a Second Qualifying Round tie, Banstead turned in an impressive performance to win 5-1 down in Sussex.
As for my first trip to Merland Rise, it will be another new ground to look forward to. Friends have already made comment on it; a common theme is emerging. It can be cold. It can be windy. With its location on the North Downs I understand it is quite exposed; one friend said to me that Banstead is the "coldest ground that I have ever been to". The game is still a few weeks away, on the 15th of November. The countdown to Christmas will have well and truly started by then and the weather could indeed be quite grim; maybe I should ask for a pair of thermals as an early present.
