Sweet FA Cup

A famous underdog victory - Wimbledon lift the FA Cup in 1988

Am I the only person who tired last weekend of those whining through a rose tinted haze about how the FA Cup "isn't the competition it used to be"? It's almost as excruciating as hearing ITV banging on about "the magic of the cup" blah, blah, blah.

I watched televised coverage of 3 ties last weekend (something of a rare treat for a non Sky Sports subscribing, married father) and all three games had that little extra 'je ne sais quoi?' absent from standard Premier League games.

Okay, so I wouldn't call it 'magic' but I might be tempted to call it 'authentic'. Those who regularly follow lower league football would, I'm sure, chastise me, tripping over their tongues to explain, exasperated, how it's always been like this and only a foolish glory hunter such as I would feel need to discuss the issue.

It's simply that, with the all consuming glamour of the nation's top flight, we sometimes forget the rich honeypot of English and Welsh clubs, supported in their thousands, across our unique strata of leagues.

I'm not sure what the average attendance in Italy's Serie C would be, for instance, but I can't imagine a club attracting home crowds of circa 23 000, such a figure averaged by League 1's Leeds United in 2008/09.

For a relatively small nation, it speaks wonders of our continuing passion for the game, our continuing will to follow 'our' club through thick and thin. The heritage of these historic clubs, spawned from the very womb of Association Football, peppering the cities, towns and villages of the UK with such high density, is something of which we should be very proud.

Friends of mine, supporters of Crystal Palace FC, have recently had the ignominy of seeing their club fall into the hands of the administrators. The very thought of a man's team ceasing to exist after lifelong support fills me with a sense of utter dread - it does matter; it's a question of community and identity; it's not just a game - yet, as evidenced by AFC Wimbledon, the fans will inevitably find a way.

Leeds United, Scunthorpe, Preston - none of the 'underdogs' actually won their ties, yet all gave their opponents a considerable run for their money, all made their supporters feel proud even in the face of defeat. A very English quality was on show.