1st September 2020 a Tuesday.
On this day, Burton Park Wanderers, one of 74 Level 10 clubs, are one of those non-league clubs most will never have heard of and perhaps their only claim to fame came when Kettering Town ground-shared with them in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.
The Poppies had lost their home ground in Rockingham Road in nearby Kettering. Then came the FA Cup when the Tier 10 United Counties League club was accepted into the FA Cup for the first time in 2020/21.
They were drawn as "fixture 73" at home to AFC Sudbury (Level 8) in the Extra Preliminary Round. They were only one of 368 non-leaguers playing in the opening round but suddenly, they were in the world-famous FA Cup!
Since 2017, the BBC had broadcast a live FA Cup match from each of the qualifying rounds and for the Extra Preliminary Round in 2020/21 it was to be new boys, Burton Park Wanderers in their tie against AFC Sudbury that was chosen.
For a club whose record home attendance was 253, their FA Cup debut on September 1st 2020 would see them become household names. Well perhaps! But then came the bad news. The tragedy of Coronavirus affected the lives of everyone and sadly one of the Burton Park Wanderers players tested positive for the virus before the match. With the other BPW players needing to self-isolate the FA Cup match was called off and BPW lost their place in the competition as they were unable to fulfil the fixture.
The tie between Maine Road and Squires Gate was broadcast live instead and sadly Burton Park Wanderers again, became a club most of us had never heard of!!!
AFC Sudbury then played Harborough Town (L9) winning 4-2; in the First Qualifying Round, Sudbury lost to Stamford (L8) 0-4. Stamford went on to lose to Royston Town (L7) away, after 2-2 on pens 4-2. Royston lost to Bishops Stortford (L7) 3-0 in the Third QRd. Bishop Stortford beat St Albans City (L6) 2-0, in the Fourth QR, shown on BT Sports and then joined the "elite group". here are the broadcasters.
| Round | Tie | Broadcaster |
|---|---|---|
| Extra preliminary round | Maine Road v Squires Gate | BBC Sport |
| Preliminary pound | Stocksbridge Park Steels v Stalybridge Celtic | |
| First qualifying round | Hashtag Utd v Soham Town Rangers | |
| Second qualifying round | Warrington Rylands 1906 v York City | |
| Hashtag United vs Braintree Town | Twitch | |
| Third qualifying round | Christchurch v Dulwich Hamlet | BBC Sport |
| Fourth qualifying round[ | Ilkeston Town v Hartlepool United | |
| Bishop's Stortford v St Albans City | BT Sport |
Second Round Proper:: Tranmere Rovers (L4)1 beat Brackley Town (L6) 0
Third Round Proper: Tranmere lost to Barnsley (Level 2) 2-0 away.
Fourth Round Proper: Barnsley (L2) beat Norwich (L2) 2-0 at home.
Fifth Round Proper Barnsley lost to Chelsea (L1) 0-1 at home
Quarter-finals: Chelsea beat Sheffield Utd (L1) 2-0 at home
Semi-final Chelsea 1 v 0 Manchester City (L1) both at Wembley.
FINAL: Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City (L1) (attendance 20,000 capped due to Covid): Wembley
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