Why the FA Cup is the Best Reality TV on Right Now
, Gregory James Wakeman
The drama of the wide-open English tournament is arresting
As a born and bred Englishman whose first, clear memory is Paul Gascogine’s tears in Italia ’90, I was made well aware of the prestige and importance of the FA Cup from a very early age.
Not only is it the oldest competition in football, having debuted all the way back in 1872, but, for decades, the FA Cup final was one of only a handful of games that actually aired live on TV each year. The competition would regularly offer up moments that instantly became iconic, too.
Most had something to do with the beautiful game itself. The prime example being Ronnie Radford’s thunderous strike in non-league Hereford United’s 2-1 victory over First Division Newcastle United in February, 1972, which was quickly followed by the most joyous pitch invasion in sporting history.
While others like Eddie Cavanagh resourcefully evading police during his own mini pitch invasion during the 1966 FA Cup Final between Everton and Sheffield Wednesday, captured the public’s imagination for much less athletic reasons.
THE best pitch invader of all-time...Everton fan Eddie Cavanagh in the 1966 Fa Cup Final. Magical the way he slips off his jacket.. pic.twitter.com/MJ88KYIssz
For American viewers, though, most of whom have only taken an interest in soccer in recent years thanks to the superb coverage on Fox, NBC, and ESPN, the FA Cup, which sees every side from the top 10 tiers of English soccer whittled down in a straight knockout competition, probably seems like an afterthought for most clubs.
Quite frankly, that’s because it is. While every Premier League team is adamant they would like to win it, they also now see it as an opportunity to rest their key players, one that they invariably can’t resist.
This wasn’t always the case, though. In fact, it was only after Manchester United pulled out of the 2000 FA Cup in order to participate in the FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil that its reputation really started to dwindle.
Just because the likes of United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, and Manchester City don’t take the competition as seriously as the Premier League and Champions League, doesn’t mean that Americans shouldn’t be waking up bright and early to see semi-professional outfits compete against their more illustrious peers, though. It makes for incredible television.
Especially since this year’s third round provided some weird and wonderful looks into the beautifully grounded world of non-league football. Where goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards play for passion on the weekends, as they work full-time in various other professions during the week.
No more so is this evident than at Chorley, whose manager Jamie Vermiglio works primarily as the headmaster of Locking Stumps Primary School in nearby Warrington.
Their 2-0 victory over Derby County, managed by none other than England and Manchester United’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney, was one of the biggest shocks of the round. Although it was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that their opponents were so wiped out by COVID-19 that they had to play a team that didn’t even have
