Minnows in the Cup.

The third round of the FA Cup begins on the 2nd of January.  This being the round when the Premier league teams enter the competition.  However the focus of this blog is on the record breaking nine non-league clubs (clubs outside of the top four divisions in English football) still in the FA cup.  This betters the six non league clubs that made it to the 3rd round of the FA cup thirty years in the 1977 - 78 season.

Barrow, nickname the bluebirds, were founded in 1901 and currently play in the conference (4 divisions below the Premier League).  Their home ground is known as Holker Street with a capacity of 4256, however in 1959 when Barrow played the then mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers in an FA Cup 3rd round tie they were able to squeeze in 16,340.  Barrow's highest ever league finish was 8th in the league currently known as League 1. So far in the FA cup Barrow have beaten Tamworth, Eastbourne Borough and Brentford.  Reaching the FA cup 3rd round this season equals their best ever performance in the cup. Barrow will be playing away at Middlesborough on the 3rd of January hoping to continue their run in the cup.  

Forest Green Rovers, nicknames include Rovers, The Green, FGR and The little Club on the Hill, were founded in 1890 and play in the conference. Their home ground is The New Lawn where they have been playing since the start of the 2006-07 season, moving from their old ground which was known as The Lawn Ground. Forest Green Rovers have never progressed past the conference. So far in their FA Cup run they have defeated Ashford Town, Team Bath and Rochdale. Reaching the 3rd round in the cup is their best ever cup run. The New Lawn will be hosting Forest Green Rovers biggest ever match when they play Derby County on the 3rd of January for the 3rd round cup tie.

Histon, nickname The Stutes, were founded in 1904 and currently play in the conference. They play at Bridge Road, the record crowd for this ground (4,103) occurred during this cup run when they defeated Leeds in the second round 1-0. Histon have never been higher than the conference. As well as defeating Leeds in this cup run they have also got past Durham City and Swindon Town. This has been their best ever cup run. They will be hosting Swansea City in the third round of the cup. 

Kettering Town, nickname The Poppies, were founded in 1872 and play in the conference. Their ground is Rockingham Road with a capacity of 6,170. Kettering Town is the club where famous manager Ron Atkinson began his managerial career in the early seventies. Kettering Town's best ever cup run was back in 1901 when they reached the last 16. However in more recent times their best cup run occurred in the 1988/89 season when they made the fourth round. Conference Football is the best level Kettering Town has played at. They have already beaten Burton Albion, Lincoln  City and Notts County in this FA Cup. They will host fellow non-league team Eastwood Town in the third round. 

Kidderminster Harriers, nickname the Harriers, were founded in 1886 and currently play in the conference. Their ground is Aggborough it has a capacity of 6,238. Aggborough was the ground where the first ever floodlit FA Cup match was held in 1955 when the Harriers hosted Brierley Hill Alliance in a preliminary round replay. Kidderminster's best ever FA cup result was when they made the 5th round in the 1993/94 season. League 2 is the highest division Kidderminster have played in. In this current cup run they have beaten Kings Lynn, Cambridge United and Curzon Ashton. In the third round Kidderminster will be playing away against Coventry City.

Torquay United, nickname the Gulls were founded in 1899 and play in the conference.  They play their home matches at Plainmoor Stadium which has a capacity of 6,104.  Famous former Manchester United player Lee Sharpe began his career at Torquay.  Their greatest ever cup run occurred in the 1954/55 season where they reached the 4th round.  Torquay were to lose 1-0 to Huddersfield Town in front of their own record attendance of 21,908.  Torquay United's best ever league finish is 3rd in league two which they most recently achieved in the 2003/04 season. So far in this cup run Torquay have beaten Chipstead FC, Evesham United and Oxford United.  For the third round match up Torquay will be hosting Blackpool. 

    

Eastwood Town, nickname the Badgers, were founded in 1953 and play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division (which is 6 divisions below the Premier League).  This is the highest division Eastwood Town have ever played in. They play at Coronation Park which has a capacity of 2500. This is Eastwood Town's best ever FA Cup run. To reach the third round Eastwood Town have already defeated Kidsgrove Athletic FC, Lincoln United, Harrogate Town FC, Wrexham, Brackley Town and Wycombe Wanderers . In the third round they will be facing Kettering Town away.

Blyth Spartans, nickname the Spartans, were founded in 1899 and play in Conference North (5 divisions below the Premier League) this is the highest division they have ever played in. Their home ground is Croft Park which has a capacity of 4,400. Blyth Spartan's best ever cup run was in the 1977-78 season when they reached the 5th round losing 2-1 in a replay to Wrexham.  So far in thier current cup run the Spartans have defeated Whitby Town, Buxton FC, Sheffield FC, Shrewsbury Town and AFC Bournemouth.  Blyth Spartans will be hosting premier league club Blackburn Rovers in the third round.

Droylsden, nickname the Bloods, were founded in 1892 and currently play in Conference North. The Conference is the highest league Droylsden have ever participated in.  They play their matches at the Butcher's Arms Ground which has a capacity of 3,000.  The current FA cup run is Droylsden's most successful.  They have already defeated Bradford (Park Avenue) FC, Gateshead FC, Belper Town FC, Darlington and Chesterfield.  In the third round Droylsden will be playing Ispwich Town away.  As of the 31st of December Droylsden been removed from the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player.  They are being replaced in the cup by Chesterfield.           

For the fans of these non-league teams seeing their team play in the third round of the FA cup will probably be one of the best presents they will receive this year, and since none of them are playing Liverpool I wish them good luck!   

To everybody else Merry Christmas. 

The Mac Australian Football blog would like to thank Alex Bryant for her assistance with this post. 

Oh no Rebecca Wilson, not again.

So Rebecca Wilson has decided to leave as in no doubt to her, at best ignorance possibly something much worse.  I wasn't able to write anything about her previous article about football because i was so shocked about it's many inaccuracies and deliberately provocative nature of it. However it did prepare me for another article of it's kind which Rebbecca Wilson provided as the other day.

Ok so lets begin, Rebecca Wilson wrote "A beaming Federal Sport Minister, Kate Ellis", "She was looking very pleased with herself".  If your job is all to do with sport as Kate Ellis's is and your at the press conference to announce the beginning of the process that could lead to your country hosting the biggest sporting event in the world i think your entitled and can be justified in looking happy and smiling.

She also wrote  "If Australia is awarded the event (and the early money suggests we are long shots)".  Well at least by bidding were long shots, that still means we have a chance.  If we didn't bid we would be no shots, and have no chance.  You have to be in it to win it.

Next it was "Staging a World Cup would give soccer bosses the right to trumpet to all of us that this is the only world game".  Firstly that's not possible since Australia doesn't have soccer bosses, I think she meant football bosses.  Football fans in Australia all ready have the right to 'trumpet' that football's the only world game since that is actually the case.  A lot of people involved with football in Australia have already been saying this for a long time.  It just seems to be many people involved with sports media in Australia are ignorant of this fact or choice to ignore it for their own personal agenda.

Then come "the terrible A-league".  Does Rebecca Wilson have any professional expertise that helped her make this judgement?  What method of analysis did she use to come to this conclusion about the A-league?  Oh that's right it's just her opinion, just one woman's uninformed opinion.

After that it was "Our swimmers brought home the bulk of the 14 Olympic gold medals won in Beijing.  But appeals for increased funding for the next four years have fallen on deaf ears"  Firstly i like to say what a great effort was by our swimmers in Beijing.  However it's fairly easy to be successful in a small sport globally which only a few sports take seriously.  It's small appeal globally could also be a reason why swimming is not receiving a funding boost.

Finally "rival football and sports bosses have every right to feel miffed about the handout" in their professional roles this is understandable however you would hope as proud Australian's they would realise the great benefits the World Cup would bring to Australia.  Unfortunately it appears as evidenced by her latest 'article' Rebecca Wilson doesn't realise this, or worse still doesn't wish to see the benefits the World Cup would provide coast to coast of this great nation.               

FC St. Pauli a different type of club

What type of German second division club has an estimated 11 million supporters in Germany, about 200 registered fans clubs around the world and more season ticket holders then many Bundesliga clubs?  A club like St Pauli.

From their official establishment in 1910 to the mid 80's FC St. Pauli was just another typical small German club side spending most it's time in the second or third division with the odd season or two in the top division.

FC St. Pauli began to change when in the mid 80's the club decided to embrace the area surrounding it and use it to it's advantage.  FC St. Pauli's home ground is located near Hamburg's centre of city nightlife and red light district.  This led to the FC St. Pauli home matches having a party atmosphere.  One of FC St. Pauli's most important decisions was to ban right wing, nationalist activities and displays in their stadium.  They were the first German football club to implement this and is particular significant because at the time fascist inspired football hooliganism was rife across Europe.  From averaging crowds of under 2,000 thousand in 1981, by the late 1990's FC St. Pauli was regularly selling out it's stadium of just over 20,000.

Now FC St. Pauli is famous around the world for being a different type of club.  The left leaning character of it's supporters, that the club has taken up a stance against racism, fascism and sexism and is now part of it's constitution.  That it's a worldwide symbol for punk and related subcultures.  That it's players walk out at home matches to AC/DC's Hell's Bells and that it's players have made pre-season appearances several times at Wacken Open Air a German heavy metal festival.  FC St. Pauli a very different type of football club.    

Countdown to South Africa: Spotlight on South Africa

With only 548 days till the 2010 World Cup this is a look at 23 players who could possibly be picked for the South African squad to play at the World Cup.

The main factor for the players being chosen is the quality of the league and club side they play for as well as the strength and the depth the national team has in the players position.

Factors that won't be taken into account for players selection are if the player is currently having a dispute with the national side or with the manager or coach of the national side. Also if a player has announced his international retirement yet is still playing with a club side.

First 11

GK. Rowen Fernandez, Club- Arminia Bielefeld, (AWC) 32. Although second choice at his club at this time he is only one of two South African goalkeepers currently playing in Europe.

RB. N. Morris, Club- Racing Santander, (AWC) 29.

CB. Bevan Fransman, Club- Maccabi Netanya (Israel), (AWC) 26.

CB. A. Mokoena, Club- Portsmouth, (AWC) 29. Is the current captain of South Africa.

LB. B. Carnell, Club- FC Hansa Rostock, (AWC) 33.

RM. M. Sibaya, Club- FC Rubin Kazan (Russia), (AWC) 32. Plays for the 2008 Russian League Winners.

CM. Kagisho Dikgacoi, Club- Fulham, (AWC) 25.

CM. M. Modubi, Club- Westerlo, (Belgium) 24.

LM. S. Pienaar, Club- Everton, (AWC) 28.

FOW. B. McCarthy, Club- Blackburn Rovers, (AWC) 32.

FOW. B. Parker, Club- FC Twente, (AWC) 24.

Substitutes

Gk. M. Josephs, Club- Orlando Pirates (South Africa), (AWC) 30.

GK. H. Vonk, Club- SC Heerenveen, (AWC) 40. Played at 1998 World Cup and went to the 2002 edition. His experience could be very useful to a squad facing the expectations of the home fans.

LB. Tespo Masilela, Club- Maccabi Hafia (Israel), (AWC) 25.

CB Matthew Booth, Club- Mamelodi Sundowns, (AWC) 33.

RB Lance Davids, Club- Ajax Cape Town, (AWC) 25.

RB Bryce Moon, Club- PAOK (Greece), (AWC) 24.

CM Matty Pattison, Club- Mamelodi Sundowns, (AWC) 23.

LM Quinton Fortune, Club- Doncaster Rovers, (AWC) 33.

Although he's hardly played a game since leaving Manchester United, he's in the

squad on the potential of the player he can be.

CAM Elrio van Heerden, Club- Blackburn, (AWC) 26.

CAM Siyabonga Nomvete, Club- Moroka Swallows, (AWC) 32

FOW. Thembinkosi Fanteni, Club- Maccabi Hafia (Israel), (AWC) 26.

FOW. Kermit Erasmus, Club- Excelsior, (AWC) 19. Although young he has already

been compared to Wayne Rooney, Pele, Ronaldo and Romario!

The Coach

South Africia's manager is the Brzilian Joel Santana, this is the first time he's

appointed to a national side. Joel Santana has liked his club sides to play in a

defensive style, and to not concede many goals, he's been most successful at club

level saving clubs from relegation.

Exclusions and Inclusions

As of the 6th of September 2009 Delron Buckley (FOW) and Siyabonga Nikosi (CM)

dropped from the squad and Bernard Parker (FOW) and Kagisho Dikgacoi (CM) included.

Brazilian's in the EPL

The EPL hasn't been known for having an over abundance of Brazilians playing in it.  However in recent years this has began to change, here's my choice for an eighteen man squad of Brazilians currently playing in the EPL.

GK- Gomes...................Tottenham Hotspur 

RB- Belletti...................Chelsea 

CB- Cacapa....................Newcastle Utd

CB- ALex.......................Chelsea

LB- F. Aurelio..............Liverpool

RM- Elano.....................Manchester City

CM- Denilson...............Arsenal

CM- Anderson..............Manchester Utd

LM- Geovanni...............Hull City

ST- A. Alves...................Middlesbrough

ST- Robinho..................Manchester City

Subs

GK- Diego Cavalieri.......Liverpool

RWB- Rafael.................Manchester Utd

LWB- Fabio..................Manchester Utd

LM- Gilberto................Tottenham Hotspur

CM- Lucas.....................Liverpool

CM- R. Possebon..........Manchester Utd

ST- Jo.........................Manchester City

Overall a fairly decent squad especially going forward.