THE LITTLE BIRD

A bit late, but this celebrates the life of Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha, ("little bird"), who was a Brazilian right winger. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time (well maybe Brazilian...Pele??), and by some, the greatest dribbler ever. He couldn’t read or write and was born with such physical disabilities it was feared he’d never walk, yet he went on to become a national hero and one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen. Garrincha played a vital role in Brazil's 1958 and 1962 World Cup victories. In 1962, when the great Pele (below) was injured, Garrincha led Brazil to a World Cup victory with a dominating performance throughout the tournament. He also became the first player to win the Golden Ball (Player of the tournament), Golden Boot (Leading Goalscorer) and the World Cup Final in the same tournament.

He was also named in the World Cup All Star team of both those tournaments. In 1994, he was named in the FIFA All TIme World Cup team. Brazil never lost a match while fielding both Garrincha and Pelé. In 1999, he came seventh in the FIFA  All Time grand jury vote. He is a member of the World Cup Team of the 20th Centuryand was inducted into the Brazilian Hall of Fame. Due to his immense popularity in Brazil, he was also called Alegria do Povo (People's Joy) and Anjo de Pernas Tortas (Bent-Legged Angel), because if his deformed leg, from birth.

At club level, Garrincha played the majority of his professional career for the Brazilian team Botafogo In the Maracana, where the home team room is known as "Garrincha". In the country capital, Brasilia, the Estadio is named after him. He is credited for inspiring the first bullfighting chants of "ole" to be used at football grounds.

I'm afraid he led a dodgey life after (during?) football and if football was Garrincha’s first love, drinking and womanising were not far behind.

He married "pop stars", fathered 14 children and following his retirement, began to drink heavily.Things quickly caught up with the Brazilian legend.

In 1969, he accidentally killed his mother-in-law after driving into a lorry. By 1983, he was dead through alcohol abuse, without a penny to his name, aged just 49. 

TO SURPASS SUPER BOWL

Wrexham FC competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the "English Football League Pyramid". The club was formed in 1864 and is the oldest football club in Wales and the fourth oldest professional club in the World. Wrexham's home stadium, the Racecourse Ground is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games. The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957, when the club hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators.

The club was formed in October 1864 by members of the Wrexham Cricket Club who wanted a sporting activity for the winter months. Their first game was played on 22 October 1864 at the Denbigh County Cricket Ground (The Racecourse) against the Prince of Wales Fire Brigade.

As the rules of football were still somewhat fluid at the time, early matches featured teams with up to 17 players on each side (16 players when playing the Provincial Insurance Office and Chester College, 15 players against the Volunteer Fire Brigade). In these early years Wrexham were leaders of the campaign to restrict teams to having just 11 players on the pitch at any one time.

In 1876, the newly formed Football Association of Wales played their first international match against Scotland at The West of Scotland Cricket featuring some Wrexham players, the first of many.

The club played in ftiendlies and local leagues until they became inaugural members of the Football League's Third Division North in 1921. They spent 47 years in the Northern section until they were placed in the re-organised EngishThird Division in 1958 and then relegated two years later. Wrexham were promoted out of the Fourth Division in 1961–62, only to be relegated again two years later. 

Another promotion followed in 1969–70 and they reached the second tier for the first time after winning the Third Division title in 1977–78. Two successive relegations saw them back in the fourth tier by 1983 and there were various ups and downs before worsening financial problems resulted in another relegation and then administration in December 2004. It took 18 months for the club to exit administration and the club's decline on the pitch continued, as they dropped out of the Football League in 2008. Since then Wrexham have had four unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the Conference and National League.

Wrexham's honours include winning the Welsh FA Cup a record 23 times, the Football League Trophy in 2005 at the Millenium Stadium and the FA Trophy at wembley. In 1992, Wrexham upset Arsenal, the English champions in the FA Cup. They also scored a 1–0 victory over FC POrto in 1984 in the European Cup Winners Cup. Wrexham were eligible for the European Cup Winners' Cup due to winning the Welsh Cup.

Since 1864 Wrexham have played their home games at The Racecourse Ground. In August 2011 Glyndŵr University purchased the stadium and the club training facilities in Gresford. Since then, they have added their name to the stadium for it to become The Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium. Subsequently, in 2016, Wrexham Supporters Trust secured a 99-year lease on the ground, and the name has reverted to the Racecourse Ground. The capacity is 10,500, making it one of the largest stadiums in the National League.

Wrexham's training ground was the purpose-built Colliers' Park in neighbouring Gresford in 1997, which is widely regarded in British football as one of the best training grounds outside of the top flight and one of the best never to have been used by a top-flight team.... eg England, Barcelona, Rangers and the Wales FA. Colliers Park continues to be improved; a running hill, as well as all-weather pitches and a small stand have been constructed since the facilities opened in 1997. Colliers Park is now owned by Glyndwr University as part of their purchase of the Racecourse Ground assets. The attraction is the historical connection with the local community and the new owners do not expect to change that.

In November 2020, Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor Rob McElHenny, through the RR McReynolds Company LLC, announced that they would be taking over the club. The deal received the backing of 98.6% of the 2,000 members of the Wrexham Supporters Trust, and was completed in February 2021. Following the new ownership, a documentary called Welcome to Wrexham was in production for FX with Boardwalk Pictures, an American documentary filmaker. They were included in FIFA 2022 as part of the "Rest of World" section, becoming the first non-league team to be featured in the series. The two have recently spent an evening in local, The Turf Hotel, downing shots and reassuring the locals their intentions are honest. The locals adopted them and immediately there was a trust and rapport; and lots of money!

Wrexham, with Phil Parkinson at the helm, have had a slow start to their season, with 4 wins from 11 games; a change from the past 13 years mediocrity is not immediate. The most recent result was a loss at Maidenhead in the Isthmian League.

Rob McElhenney perfectly pronouncing Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

RARIFIED PITCHES

 REACHING THE HEIGHTS OR LOWS

Football clubs with a stadium at high-altitide and playing at home against clubs from sea level are more likely to win,  as 'the players are better adapted to low oxygen levels'. It will be clear that there are many other variables involved here but, well it makes you think!

Results from more than 2,000 matches in the UEFA Champions' League and Europa League between 2008 and 2016 were examined for a study by Ghent University. The Belgian researchers found that within the matches studied, the home team won 47.1 per cent of the time compared to 28.7 per cent for the away team. For every 320ft increase in altitude between the home and away team stadium, the chance of the home side winning goes up by 1.1 percentage points. There is 2,221ft between Real Madrid and Chelsea, so based on the study findings the Spanish side should beat the London club 7 percentage points more often. The two teams never playing in the Champions League, but in a single UEFA Super Cup clash in 1998 at the Stade Louis II in 1998, results in a 1-0 win for Chelsea but at it was on neutral ground the study findings don't apply to that match!!! 

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For every 320ft increase in altitude between the home and away team stadium the chance of the home side winning goes up by 1.1 percentage points

Travel and climate differences, whether a team or area was richer or poorer and culture had very little impact on the success rate of the home team, it was found. The study's main finding is that when a home team receives another team from a city much closer to sea level, the home advantage clearly increases. 'A possible explanation for this may be that the available oxygen decreases with increasing altitude,' said co-author Nils Van Damme. 'Home team players are likely to be more adapted to performing well in the condition of low oxygen levels.'

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In December Bayern beatTottenham 3-1 at the Allianz Arena in Germany when they last met in the Champions League. Bayern's stadium is 1,614ft above sea level, 1,549ft higher than Tottenham's stadium.

They examined a number of variables including the final score, distance between teams, distance above sea level, difference in temperature and in average rainfall.  They also looked at the difference in GDP between the two competing teams, number of spectators and match record based on UEFA data. The track record of a team - whether it was an obviously better quality side - also made a difference, but not as much as the altitude of the home stadium. In  a total of 125 matches played in each season of the Champions League and 205 in the Europa league. The study covered 2,025 matches in the time frame. 13 matches were excluded, which were played on neutral grounds.

EUFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL 16 AND ALTITUDE.

• Real Madrid - 2,257ft
• Bayern – 1,614ft
• Tottenham – 65ft
• Man City – 196ft
• Atalanta – 816ft
• Juventus - 849ft
• Atletico Madrid - 2175ft
• Liverpool – 216ft
• Napoli – 157ft
• Barcelona – 121ft
• Dortmund – 360ft
• rb Leipzig - 380ft
• Lyon – 561ft
• Valencia– 55ft
• Chelsea – 36ft
• They found that a home game alone increases the chance of winning by 18.3 percentage points over playing away. 
• For every 3,200ft increase in altitude between the home team and away team stadium, they found the home team would score an extra half a goal. 

• The largest altitude difference between the 16 clubs still in the Champions League this season is 2,221ft - between Real Madrid (2,257ft) and Chelsea (36ft). However, the two sides have never played one another in the Champions League so we can't say whether the study findings work in that instance.  

• An example of a home advantage playing out as predicted was the victory of Bayern over Tottenham when they last met in the Champions League in December 2019.  Bayern's stadium is 1,614ft above sea level, 1,549ft higher than Tottenham's stadium. In December the German side beat the English team 3-1 in Germany.

• However it doesn't always work as predicted by the study authors. The last time Real Madrid played PSG in the Champions League it was a 2-2 draw but Real Madrid's stadium is more than 2.100ft higher than the French side's Parc des Princes. Based on the study findings Real Madrid should have won by at least one goal. 

• Buxton Town's Prospect Stadium, an astro stadium, is at 997 feet asl; might make snow clearing easier??

  

• Canvey Island is the lowest club in the "sensible" pyramid, lying below sea level in the Thames Estuary. Founded in 1926, the club lost many valuable documents when the Thames and East Coast flooded in 1953. The club almost folded in the 50s, but was revitalised in the 1980s by local businessman and ex-player Jeff King, who took over as manager and then there was lift off, with a rise up the ladder to place in the Isthmian Division One,(so far).

  
  
  

• All this leads me on to remind myself that matches between Hartlepool United and Torquay Utd, Plymouth Argyule and Carlisle Utd, Blyth Spartan and Hereford have significant geographic differences too, not just related to altitude! Imagine the journey home after a thrashing !

POST WAR INTERNATIONALS

It's all in the planning; on November 25th 1953 at Wembley, with 100,000 looking on, the Mighty Magyars beat England 3-6, with their famous Ference Puskas, stealing the limelight. Before the game the Magyars trained at Lake Balaton, where they used a "FOG" simulator, during training, as a preparation for the uncertain English weather. They left no stone unturned and indeed were wearing boots of a modern style, the like of which had not been seen by the English. The fog (well, mist) and boots were on show at Wembley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wdW5p3jd2Y

On May 23rd 1954, on "friendly" tour in Eastern Europe, England's men suffered their worst ever defeat, losing again, this time in the Nepstadion, Budapest to Hungary, 1-7. Ivor Broadis was England's goalscorer. Previously, on tour, they lost to Yugoslavia 0-1 in Belgrade. These defeats came just before the 1954 World Cup and confidence could have been low. But, once the tournament got started, there was a 4-4 aet draw with Belgium and a 2-0 defeat of Switzerland playing in the Wankdorf Stadium, Berne. 

Qualifying from the "group", England met Uruguay in the Quarter-final, a team that had just beaten Scotland 7-0 and of course, Uruguay were winners of the first World Cup,in 1930, so the South Americans had "history". To be honest England put up a good Quarter-final show with goals from Natt Lofthouse and Tom Finney, but they lost 2-4.

Uruguay then lost to the Mighty Hungary, who lost to West Germany in the final. In December, 1954, England hosted the World Champions at Wembley and beat them 3-1 in a full house friendly. This side included Bert Williams (Wolves) in goal, Roger Byrne (Man U), later killed in the Munich air crash, Billy Wright (Wolves), who captained the team and won 105 caps, Bill Slater a long serving FA man from Wolves, Len Shackleton, a famous Geordie centre-forward (who scored a goal), Stanley Matthews, a legend from Blackpool, and Tom Finney, a legend from Preston NE. Roy Bentley and Ronnie Allen (WBA) scored the other two goals.

International results, from the post war period, sent a shockwave through English football; for the first time, English manager and coaches started to look to the continent for tactical and training advances. Matt Busby of Manchester United, ensured that his team competed in the early Europe Cup—despite initial objections from the FA about English clubs taking part in the competition. Don Revie was an admirer of the Hungarian team, and enjoyed a late flourish to his playing career by adopting the Hidegkuti withdrawn centre forward role at his club, Manchester City, to great success, renaming it the "Revie plan". Bill Nicholson of Spurs was a swift adopter of the Hungarian principles, and used them to build the first English Double-winning team of the 20th century, and to win the first European trophy—the European Cup Winners' Cup—by an English side. Ron Greenwood built a successful European Cup Winners Cup side at West Ham based on the Hungarian team principles. Don Revie and Malcolm Allison adopted training and coaching schedules based on the Hungarian coaching styles.

The effect of this match on Alf Ramsey may be measured from the fact that England's 1966 World Cup winning side contained something of a club nucleus when Ramsey selected three West Ham players (Moore, Hurst and Peters). 

But to balance things up?? On this day in 2005, England's Women achieved a record victory of 13-0 against Hungary in a Women's World Cup qualifier 2007. Eight players got on the score sheet with Kelly Smith grabbing a hat trick.

ANNIVERSARY AND FLOODLIGHTS

 

The plaque above is displayed at the Freemasons' Tavern, Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, to commemorate the founding of the Football Association in 1863. Below is the programme centre fold for a celebratory match between England and the "Rest of Europe" in 1938 (do the maths), at a time when the England FA deemed their association far too important to share "their game" with the rest of the world, in the competition known as The World Cup. The FA didn't join the FIFA World Cup tournament until 1950, so beating this select team including, four Italians, who were World Cup winners, was regarded as a big victory and sort of justified the FA's arrogance. (apologies for the poor presentation of the programme).

26th October 1955: Wembley was slow to install floodlights, the stadium being opened in 1923. At a cost of £22,000, the stadium hosted its first match under lights, an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie between capital London and the German Frankfurt.

The first sport to ever use floodlights was polo. On the 18th of July 1878, a game was played in Fulham between Ranelagh Polo Club and the Hurlingham Club and the new technology helped the two clubs to see out their match into the evening. Other sports weren’t exactly quick to follow suit, with Australian Rules Football being the next to use floodlights more than seventy years later. On the 16th of June 1952 floodlights were used in a game between Essendon Football Club and Geelong Football Club at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground.

Later that same year cricket decided to get in on the act, with a match played under floodlights in England's oldest sport for the first time on the 11th of August 1952. Millions of people watched the new night game on their own burgeoning new technology: televisions. Incidentally, cricket floodlights are slightly different to other sports as they stand on huge poles that go quite high in the sky. This is because batsmen tend to hit the ball high and lights have been smashed in the past, plus the higher lights allow the ball to stay in sight for longer for the fielders.

Association Football has always been a bit different, of course, and whilst cricket and Australian Rules Football both took their time to catch up, English football was straight onto using the technology at the same time as polo. An experimental game was played under floodlights at Bramall Lane in Sheffield in 1878. The lights were powered by batteries and dynamos as the famous old club attempted to use the technology to brighten up a gloomy winter afternoon in South Yorkshire.

In the top-tier of Association Football, as well as in many of the lower tiers of the Football League, floodlights are a requirement at stadiums hoping to host professional football. The installation of permanent floodlights has therefore become common practice, with only a few clubs still using temporary ones are a useful alternative.

It took a while for that to be the case, however. During the 1930s Herbert Chapman at Arsenal decided to install permanent lights at Highbury. The Football League, in its infinite wisdom, refused to sanction their use, though, so only friendly and unofficial games were played using the newly installed lights.

It took until the 1950s for the FA to change its mind. Even then it wasn’t because the powers that be realised how useful the technology would be, but rather they were being used so commonly in friendly games that they realised they had no choice but to relent. In 1949 Holly Park, home of South Liverpool Football Club, became the first ground to host a match in England under ‘permanent’ floodlights when they played a friendly against a Nigerian XI.

In 1950 The Dell, where Southampton then played their games, became the first ground to have floodlighting installed permanently in England. On the 31st of October 1950, they played their first game there, welcoming Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic to the ground for a friendly. The first ‘official’ game played under floodlights took place when a Football Combination XI played Tottenham Hotspur on the first of October 1951.

The first international game to be played under floodlights was England v Spain on the 30th of September 1955, with England winning the match at Wembley by four goals to one. On the 22nd of February 1956, Portsmouth played Newcastle in a game at Fratton Park under floodlights, with the match becoming the first official Football League game to be played with the now ever popular technology aiding the players’ performances and the supporters’ enjoyment.

Irvine Meadow FC, based in North Ayrshire, was formed in 1897, The "Medda" is one of the most successful Junior clubs in Scotland. Based in Irvine, Meadow plays in the West Of Scotland League and has set many attendance records at other Junior clubs' grounds and were at one stage invited to turn senior and play in the Scottish Football league, but the club decided to remain in the 'juniors' and at present compete in the Western Region Junior League. Irvine Meadow FC has set many attendance records such as the record for a Scottish Junior Cup Final in 1951 when Petershill defeated Irvine Meadow 1-0 in front of 77,650 spectators at Hampden Park. An attendance that will never be overtaken. 

They also played in 1958-9 beating Shettleston 2-1 in front of over 65,000 and again in 1962-3 2-1 v Glenafton Athletic (21,384) and in 1972-3, 3-3 and 1-0  Cambulsang Rangers with over 24,000 in attendance. They have also been runners twice in 1947-8 and 1950-1.

In 2021 the club installed floodlights at Meadow Park, as well as enjoying numerous other ground upgrades, to try to get an SFA license for start of 2021-2022 season. Local rivals are Irvine Victoria. 

5 ONE GAME DEBUTANTS

This is a day late, but I wanted to put this item into "history", so why not consider 5 England international footballers who on October 24th 1925 were picked to play Ireland, all of whom made their debut on the same day. 

George Armitage played in goal and came from Stoke Newington, playing for Charlton Athletic with 165 apps and after for Leyton. His one appearance for England was against Ireland. He died at 38 years old.

Claude Ashton (below), a Wykehamist (old boy of Winchester College) played for Corinthians in several different positions, including goalkeeper and centre forward, although his preferred position was wing half. He also made one appearance for England, against Ireland in 1925, when he was appointed team captain, the only English international to achieve this accolade; earning one cap, as captain. As a cricketer he played for Cambridge University and Essex.A pre-war officer of the Auxiliary Air Force,  he died as a result of  a mid-air collision in a training accident in the Second World War. 

Billy Austin, an outside right, from Arnold, also won his one cap against Ireland having played for Norwich City (164 apps/39 goals), Manchester City (160 apps/43 goals) and Chesterfield (45 apps/6 goals), retiring to Kidderminster Harriers!

Frank Hudspeth (below) was a defender, who spent nineteen seasons at Newcastle, from 1910 to 1929. This makes him the joint longest servant for the club along with Billy McCracken. During his time at the club he became a popular figure amongst the fans and gained the nickname 'Old Surefoot' for his reliability. He captained the team from 1923 to 1926. Hudspeth was also known for his ability to score penalties and 25 of his 37 goals at Newcastle came from the penalty spot. He is second only to Jimmy Lawrence for making the highest number of appearances for Newcastle, taking part in 472 games.

He also represented England once at international level, against the Irish. 35,000 witnessed this unusual event at Belfast's Windsor Park. The result? 0-0. Not very inspiring is it and it left England runners-up in the Home Championship table, an annual competition that began in February 1884, involving the four home nations. Scotland won all three matches and topped the table.  Wales were third and Ireland fourth, losing all three scoring ONE goal and conceding 19.

In 1925, Scotland won all three matches (8 goals for and 1 against) in the tournament. England came second again, winning twice, with a Goals For 5 and Against 4.

James William Barrett played for West Ham Utd having been born in Stratford, East London. Barrett began playing football in local schools along with Billy "Bubbles" Murray, who is linked with the history of West Ham's anthem "I'm for ever blowing bubbles!". played his first game at Upton Park for West Ham Boys against Liverpool in the English Shield Final of 1920–21.

He signed professional forms with the east London club in 1923 at the age of 16, but didn't play his first senior game until 28 March 1925, against Sours and White Hart Lane. He was an ever-present during his first two seasons, and was also the club's top appearance maker for the 1930-1 and 1932-3seasons. He went on to make a total of 467 appearances for West Ham, scoring 53 goals.

Barrett's only international appearance came against Ireland in 1928, where he lasted four minutes before succumbing to injury making his appearance the shortest ever international career. He did however play with Dixie Dean and Joe Hulme, who each cored a goal in the 2-1 victory at Goodison Park.

TOTTENHAM'S KITCHEN GARDEN

Meet Kuda Chimbudzi,42, born near Harare, Zimbabwe, who is the Head Kitchen Gardener at Tottenham Hotspur FC's training complex. He has been growing food since a young boy, old enough to hold a hoe! He is using skills learned in Zimbabwe and at Moulton College, Northants in 2013, to grow nutrious food for athletes, feeding around 80 hungry sportsmen and support staff. Later he was working at the University of Leicester Botanic Garden and Loughborough University and Cassiobury Park, Watford before becoming Head Kithcen Gardener at Spurs in 2018.

The Spurs training complex is alive with footballers, but also bees, and other insects, that enjoy the lush green beds of sweet corn, leaves, courgettes, grown with the welfare of the players in mind. The seed is chemical free and the soil free from artificial fertiliser. Tottenham became the "greenest club" in the Premier League. There is a major re-cycling scheme and a drive to eliminate the use of single use plastic around the 77 acre Hotspur way training complex. 150 new and semi-mature trees have been planted on the boundaries, there are historic features such as borders of plants and flowers. Sustainability is in mind and has been the brainchild of the club chairman, Daniel Levy. He has insisted on an organic kitchen garden and orchard, run by Kuda. The idea is to produce fresh organic food with a minimum carbon footprint, using half an acre of gardens surrounded by 15 grass football pitches. There are 34 of the 70 vegetable beds raised using recycled railway sleepers and bordered by tall hedges for shelter, wildlife habitats and an orchard with over three dozen apple trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8tn8yUd9g

SEVEN

In 2011, on October 23rd Manchester United lost to City 1-6 at Old Trafford. 

United had recently beaten Arsenal 8-2 in another Premier League match at "The Theatre of Dreams."

Today, I watched Hepworth United Men beat Jubilee Sports from Sheffield 7-0, a result that held a lot of importance, considering the "goings on" at the village club this week. Jubilee, to be fair, are "lowly" in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Premier League, but a result is a result. 

Indeed Hepworth needed a boost and so did their supporters.

Listening to Talksport, as one does, another 7-0 was reported; Chelsea beating a hapless Norwich 7-0.

But today, not so much fun in the Championship, where there were only 26 goals scored in 10 games.         Bit more exciting in League One and Two today.

Other 7-0 matches in the Premier League History: 

Blackburn Rovers v Nottingham Forest 18/11/95     7-0

Manchester United v Barnsley 25/10/97     7-0

Arsenal v Everton 11/5/05     7-0

Arsenal v Middlesbrough 14/1/06     7-0

Chelsea v Stoke 25/4/10     7-0

Manchester City v Norwich City 2/11/13     7-0

Crystal Palace v Liverpool 19/12/20     0-7

Wembley 23rd October 1963; a full house 100,000 saw England celebrate the centenary of the formation of the Football Association with a 2-1 (not 7-0) victory over a "Rest of the World Team", made up from the great Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin, Alfredo di Stefano, Eusebio and Ferenc Puskas who were part of the World Squad.

Jimmy Greaves and Terry Paine were England goalscorers. Denis Law of Manchester United and Scotland (once of Huddersfield Town) replied for the "guests".

It was mid week game and televised...I remember watching it, on black and white tv.

THE FA VASE 2021/22

It is FA Vase weekend, an exciting time for nurds!, and for many lower pyramid clubs that dream of getting involved in this, the lowest (but still most important) national cup competition administered by The Football Association. In 1974 it replaced the FA Amateur Cup competition when amateurism bit the dust and professionalism was appropriate for all football clubs in England and Wales, allowing clubs to play whom they liked (assuming they could afford it).  

Hoddesdon Town beat Epsom and Ewell FC in the 1974-5 final at Wembley in front of 9,000. Over 200 clubs joined in the first round. Clubs from Step 5 (Ninth Tier) and 6 on the Pyramid and below, are eligible.

638 clubs this season are entering the Buildbase sponsored FA Vase. BT Sport has televised the final.

Last year's winners are Warrington Rylands 1906 FC,  who won through 638 clubs. Only five teams have won the FA Vase more than once. Whitley Bay are the only team to win the FA Vase three times in successive seasons, while Billericay Town (Essex), Tiverton  Town and Haleswoen Town have won back-to-back titles. As of 2017-18 at least one Northern leagueteam has reached the final for 10 consecutive seasons, with teams from the league winning the title in all but two of those years. In 2017 Forest Green Rovers became the first FA Vase winners to go on to play in the English Football League while one former Football League team, Glossop North End have been beaten finalists.

First Round Ties this weekend include beautifully named clubs such as: Newark Flowserve founded 1901 (Notts pump manufacturing)) v Deeping Rangers (Market Deeping, Lincs est 1964), Billingham Synthonia (est: 1923-4 in Durham) v Isle of Man from Douglas, The Ravens was founded in 2019. play in the North-west Counties League. The club pays opposing team travelling expences!

Mousehole (Penzance) v Wells City (Somerset), https://www.mouseholeafc.co.uk/

 Motto :'Wealth, drawn from this spring, flows forth unto our country and our people.'

Norwich United v New Salamis (They are currently members of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and play at the Coles Park, White Hart Lane, London, groundsharing with Haringey Borough F.C. and have a Cypriot heritage, founded in 1971) 

Fareham v Jersey Bulls, Ashton and Backwell Utd v Bemerton Heath Harlequins, Quorn (near Loughborough, from attendees at a Weslyan Methodists' Church) v Hinckley Leicester Road (The Knitters based on local industry).  Below: Bemerton Heath Harlequins FC, at the Moon Ground.

DARLINGTON FC

October 21st 2005, the harm that can be done by rich "saviours" was headline news on this day, when former owner of Darlington FC, George Reynolds, was imprisoned for 3 years for tax evasion. It was put before the court that he was virtually penniless which was a far cry from a time when the ex-safe breaker joined the football club and promised "Premier League" football and delivered a 25,000 capacity stadium. Actually, Darlo went out of the League and then out of business. The club reformed and played at the Darlington Rugby Club. Below "Darlington FC",  in 1887 with The Cleveland Challenge Cup.

Based in County Durham, the team competes in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football.

The club was founded in 1883 when a meeting was called at Darlngton Grammar School to address concerns that so few Darlington-based football clubs were entering the major competition in the region, the Durham Challenge Club. The meeting agreed with the view expressed by the local newspaper, that there was "no club, urban or rural, sufficiently powerful to worthily represent Darlington", decided to form a new club, and elected one Charles Samuel Craven, a local engineer, as secretary. Darlington Football Club duly entered the Durham Challenge Cup, reached the final in their first season, and won the trophy in 1885. It played its matches at Feethams, originally in regionally organised leagues. 

Darlington, along with Craven's inspiration, were one of the founder members of the Northern League in 1889, and went on to win the league title in 1896 and 1900; they reached the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup in the same two seasons.

The following season Darlington entered the FA Cup for the first time, only to lose 8–0 to Grimsby Town. 

They were first admitted to the Football League when the Third Division North was formed in 1921, winning the title in 1925 and their 15th place in the Second Division in 1926 remains their highest ever league finish. After their admission to the League, they spent most of their history in the bottom tier. They won the Third Division North Cup in 1934, their first victory in nationally organised cup competition. They reached the last 16 of the FA Cup twice, and the quarter-final of the League Cup once, in 1968. In the early 1990s they won successive titles, in the Conference National in 1990 and the Fourth ivision in 1991. In 2011 they won the FA Trophy defeating Mansfield Town 1–0 at Wembley.

Above; Feethams derelict in 2005. Darlington moved from Feethams to the all-seater 25,000-capacity Darlington Arena in 2003. The cost of the stadium was a major factor in driving the club into administration in 2003, 2009, and 2012. As the fan owned club was unable to agree a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA), it was expelled from the FA. A new club was immediately formed and moved to Blackwell Meadows stadium but the FA ruled that, as a new club, it must have a different playing name from the expelled club. The name chosen was Darlington 1883, owned by the Darlington Supporters Group and that club was placed in the Northern League North Division One, the ninth tier of English football, for the 2012–13 season. They won three promotions in four seasons before the FA approved their request to change to the traditional Darlington FC name.

The club has at times worn strips of black and white shirts, black shorts and black and white socks. The club's crest depicts Locomotion Number 1 referring to the town's railway history (railways had their foundation  in the north-east); as well as a stylised Quaker style hat, referring to the religious movement that had a historic influence on the town, and which was the source of the team's nickname, the Quakers. The club's main rival historically has been Hartlepool United.

SIX SWANS

October 20th 1928 Leicester City beat Portsmouth at Filbert Street 10-0, with Arthur Chandler achieving a club individual scoring record of 6 goals and so the match became known as the "Six Swans Match". SIX? You can guess that Arthur scored a sixth goal after the fans had demanded a "Sixth". The Six Swans is from a German Fairy Tale.

"The Six Swans" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grim in Grimms' Fairy Tale in 1812.

It is of  Aarne-Thompson's "The Brothers Who Were Turned into Birds", commonly found throughout Europe. The story goes like this:

A King gets lost in a forest, and an old woman helps him, on the condition that he marry her beautiful daughter. The King has a bad feeling about this but accepts anyway. He has six sons and a daughter from his first marriage, however, and fears that the children will be targeted by his new wife; so he sends them away and visits them in secret.

The new queen and now stepmother who has learned witchcraft from her mother, finds out about her six stepsons and decides to get them out of her way. She sews six magical shirts and goes to the hidden castle where the children are hidden for safety, then tosses the shirts over the boys and transforms them into swans.

The brothers can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. They tell their still human younger sister that they have heard of a way to break such curses: she must make six magic shirts that will let her brothers turn back to normal out of nettles and can't make a sound for six years, because if she does, the spell will never be broken and she will also transform into swan forever. The girl agrees to do this and runs away, hiding in a hunter's hut and dedicating herself solely to gathering the nettles and sewing in silence.

Years later, the King of another country finds the girl doing this, is taken by her beauty, and takes her into the court with the intention of making her his queen. However, the King's snobbish mother hates her and does not consider her fit to be a Queen. When she gives birth to their first child, the wicked mother-in-law takes away the child and accuses the queen of killing and eating him, but the King refuses to believe it.

The young Queen gives birth to two other children, but twice again the mother-in-law hides them away and falsely claims that she has killed and eaten her babies. The King is unable to keep protecting her, and unable to properly defend herself, the queen is sentenced to be burned at the stake as a witch. All this time, she has held back her tears and her words, sewing and sewing the nettle shirts no matter what.

On the day of her execution, the Queen has finished making all the shirts for her brothers. When she is brought to the stake she takes the shirts with her and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and the six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form, although in some versions, the youngest brother cannot reverse the transformation completely and his left arm remains a wing due to the missing sleeve in the last shirt sewn by his sister.

The queen is now free to speak, and she can defend herself against the accusations. She does so with the support of her brothers. In the end, the evil mother-in-law is the one who is burned at the stake as punishment.

Arthur Clarence Hillier Chandler (27 November 1895 – 18 June 1984) played during the 1920s and 1930s, most famously at The Foxes, where he is the club's all-time record goal scorer, with 273 goals. He also played at Notts County and QPR.

As well as being Leicester's record goalscorer, Chandler also holds the club records for, scoring the most goals in a single top flight season (34, a record which he achieved twice), scoring the most top flight goals for the club (203), scoring the most hat-tricks or greater (17 and the joint record for the most goals in a single game, see above. Chandler notably held the record of being Leicester's oldest goalscorer (aged 39 years and 34 days) from 1935 through to 2014. Remarkably, despite his goalscoring feats, Chandler never scored a penalty. He took two penalties in his career, both of which were saved.

He was part of the Leicester side which finished in the club's highest ever [at that time] league finishes of the "old" First Division runners-up in 1928-9 and in third place in 1927-8. 

The Leicester City club was formed in 1884 as Leicester Fosse FC (after the Fosse Way-Roman Road) on a playing field near the Fosse Road. In 1891 the club moved to Filbert Street and three years later were elected to the Football League. In 1919 the club changed its name to Leicester City FC. In 2002 they moved to the Walkers' Stadium and renamed it the Walkers' Sadium in 2002.