FA Cup Kicks the Premiership’s Balls
I’ve now been in London just about a month, and during that time, I’ve been doing my best to learn about sports (or sport, as it’s called here) in my new homeland. In particular, I’ve been trying to figure out why people in the UK are mad about football. For the first few weeks, I didn’t get it at all.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I sat in a pub (and later in my flat), and watched the most extraordinary day of English football that anyone here can remember in a long time. It was on that day that I fell in love with the FA Cup.
Before I explain what happened, let me give my American readers a little lesson in English football. Unlike our professional sports leagues, there are literally dozens of professional football clubs scattered around England and Wales. The best twenty play in the Premiership. These are the teams you’ve heard of: Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United among others. The next best twenty-four play in the Championship League. And there are some awfully good clubs in that league, too. The next twenty four teams play in League One, the next twenty-four in League Two, and so on down to League Seven. At the end of the season, generally speaking, the best two or three teams from each league are promoted one level. The worst two or three are relegated down one level. (The relegation rules can be a little complex, so I’m oversimplifying here. If you want the details, try reading this.) So, through the season, each club plays within its league and attempts to win its championship. All in all, it’s pretty straightforward. And for me, with the exception of the rivalries among the big four, it’s not terribly interesting.
The FA Cup is an entirely different kind of animal. Instead of being a league competition, it’s a season-long tournament. And all 92 teams in the top four leagues, plus a whole bunch of others from the lesser ranks, are eligible to play. Best of all, there’s no seeding. Match-ups are generally drawn out of a bag at the start of each round. That means that on any given weekend, a top team like Chelsea might be playing a small-town team like Barnsley. And even better, that the smaller team might win.
Imagine if the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament was open to every team, not just in Division I, but in the entire NCAA hierarchy. And that a Division II team like Florida A&T knocked off a powerhouse like North Carolina or Duke.
Granted upsets like that don’t happen that often. But for fans, there’s always hope. And it’s years like this one that feeds that hope.
Two weeks ago, Barnsley did, in fact, defeat Chelsea in the quarter finals of the FA Cup. That victory came just a couple of weeks after their improbable upset of Premiership powerhouse Liverpool. Hours later, teams from West Bromwich and Cardiff City also secured places in the FA Cup semi-finals to ensure that of the four teams in the semis, only one — Portsmouth — would represent the Premiership.
Today, Portsmouth knocked off West Brom to ensure that the Premiership will have an entry in the final. Tomorrow, Barnsley — which stands to be relegated to League One at the conclusion of Championship League play in a few weeks — will play Cardiff City to see if their Cinderella run can carry them all the way to the final.
In my pub this afternoon, I was joined by a few other FA Cup lovers, gathered around a television at one end of the room, while a larger, noisier contingent shouted on Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premiership match at the other. That match ended in a 1-1 draw, and the two rivals will play again next week. Other than turning around when a particularly overwhelming roar went up, I never cast much of a glance at the big boys slugging it out. There was something far more appealing to me about the match I was watching, and the tournament that pits David against Goliath and gives each an even chance.
So tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., Barnsley appear in an FA Cup semi-final for the first time since 1912 with a chance to get to the finals. Trying to think of a parallel in U.S. sports is almost impossible. Imagine the Cubs getting ready to play game seven of the National League Championship Series, only they were a AAA team.
If you’re in the U.S., find yourself a respectable pub like Ireland’s Four Courts in Arlington, VA and go and watch the game. It starts at 11:00 a.m. on the east coast. And what could be better than brunch, a little football, and an amazing Cinderella tale?
In the meantime, put me down as an FA Cup fan. As for the Premiership, too much hype and not enough enthusiasm. Call me when they’re playing for something that they think matters.