Assignment 2: Story 2

The magic of the Vase

Saturday 11 will see the coming together of two non-league football teams at the home of football; Wembley stadium.

Lancashire’s Kirkham and Wesham will face Lowestoft town of Suffolk in the thirty-fourth F.A Vase final. If Kirkham and Wesham win the competition, they will be only the third club from Lancashire to do so.

North West County’s St Helens Town won it in 1986-87 and ex-Northern Premier side Colne Dynamos won it in the season after but folded in 1990.

The FA Vase seems to be rising in statue and the return element of a visit to Wembley saw the crowd sore last season where the contest between Truro City of Cornwall and AFC Totton of Hampshire received a crowd of 27,754.

Great day out

With rumours of nearly 10,000 Kirkham and Wesham fans making the trip it shows what a joyous occasion the Vase can make.

Mick Fuller, manager of Kirkham and Wesham said: “It’s a great opportunity for fans to have a day out at one of the most prestigious stadiums in the world.
“We know it will be the first time of watching us for a lot of the fans making the trip but hopefully we can put on a display that may bring more fans to Kellamergh Park next season.”

Kirkham and Wesham follower Christopher Ward from Preston said: “I’ve never been to Wembley so I can’t wait for the trip. Its amazing how this competitions like this give small clubs such as Kirkham a chance to play at Wembley and it gives fans a chance who may never get to go there.”

The early days

The FA vase made its debut in non-league football in the 1974-75 season after the Football Association decided to abolish the F.A Amateur cup due to the payment of many amateur players.

Over 200 teams entered the first season of the competition which saw Hoddesdon Town of Hertfordshire beat Epsom and Ewell of Surrey 2-1 in front of 9,000 fans at Wembley stadium.

Currently around 400 teams are allowed to enter the draw with two preliminary rounds, six proper rounds, a semi-final and a final. Since 2004 the FA Vase has been restricted to only let teams from the ninth tier of football (North West Counties Division One) and lower to enter. Anyone higher will enter the FA Trophy or the FA Cup.

Only four teams have won the competition more than once, this includes, Billericay Town who have won it three times. Brigg Town, Halesowen Town and Tiverton Town have all won it twice.

Wembley alternatives

A trip to Wembley stadium has not always been the case in the FA Vase; replays of the final, before the modern day penalty shoot out, were played at an alternative ground.

The city ground, where Nottingham Forest play their football, hosted the 1976-77 final replay between Billericay Town and Sheffield. Other replays have been played at Elland Road (Leeds United) and Bramhall Lane (Sheffield United).

The finals also had to be played at a different venue during Wembley’s rehabilitation in the years from 2001 to 2006. St Andrews (Birmingham City), Villa Park (Aston Villa), Upton Park (West Ham United) and White Hart Lane (Tottenham Hotspur) have had to fill the void to host the event.

Mick Fuller said: “With the final being at Wembley it gave us more motivation to do well and try and achieve the dream of getting there. It’s such an incredible arena to play football, one of the very best.”

This is Kirkham and Wesham’s first time in the competition and the Fylde based club will thrive upon getting their name on the Vase before they become AFC Fylde for the 2008/09 season.

Assignment 2: Story 1 & Multimedia: Map mash-up

Kirkham and Wesham are on their way to Wembley

By Gareth Butterworth

Wembley is set to host Lancashire’s Kirkham and Wesham’s biggest game in their short history.

The North West Counties division two team will play Lowestoft Town of Suffolk in the F.A Vase final at Wembley on May 11. It is a tremendous achievement for the side to get there during their first season in the competition.

They were playing on a sub-standard community pitch just a few years ago, but now they are going to play at Wembley. The club were also the lowest ranked team in the competition which shows how far they have come.

Club reaction

The team’s manager Mick Fuller believes the triumph is not over yet. “The lads have done fantastically well to get here so far but they know they can go one further and win this. We’re not just travelling down there for the day out; we want to go there for a reason, to bring the F.A vase back to Kirkham and Wesham” he said.

One player who will not be able to enjoy the day in the same way as the rest is injured midfielder Keith McCullough. “Obviously I’m devastated that injury has kept me out of the squad. It is going to be hard to take in because it was all of our dream to be there.

“I have a belief that the squad is good enough to win it though and I will be happy for the lads. They deserve it.”

McCullough has been in and out of the side all season and did not have chance to stamp his authority on a first team place but his absence will be a blow for Kirkham and Wesham. Mick Fuller said: “I’m disappointed not to have Keith in the squad, he’s calm and decent on the ball and on a nervy occasion like this, sometimes it’s that kind of player who can settle the game down and play football.”

Thousands to travel

There are rumours that thousands of fans will travel to watch the Lancashire club and one of them will be Christopher Ward, a twenty-eight-year old from Preston. “I’ve got my ticket and will be heading down there on the coach with the rest of the fans”, he said.

Christopher added: “I’ve never been to Wembley so it’s games like this that gives us the chance to be in one of the greatest stadiums in the world.

Christopher is also optimistic about the game. “I’ve been to a few games this season and they have blown sides away. They’re a good footballing side which can prove to be the difference in the final.”

The Fylde-based amateur side knocked out a team from a league above their level in every proper round en route to Wembley. This included Coventry Sphinx of the Midland Alliance league and Needham Market Town of the East Counties Premier in the quarter final and semi final respectively.

Christopher Ward added: “I went to watch the first leg of the semi final which Kirkham won 3-2 and it was really entertaining.

“I felt Kirkham was the better side and had every belief that they would get a result in the second leg to take them to the final.”

Future is bright

Lack of stadium facilities meant that Kirkham and Wesham were stuck in the West Lancashire League even though they won it seven times.

But when their new stadium, Kellamergh Park; was finally completed two years ago, they were able to move up the football pyramid in to the North West Counties Division Two which is the tenth tier of English football.

The team are currently second in the league and destined to be promoted into the North West Counties Division One. This has come after the investment of £150,000 from Chairman Dai Davis and President David Haythornthwaite.

The team will be renamed Fylde FC to attracted a wider range of supporters and by 2022 they aim to be a football league team, which is why they have 2022 embroidered on their shirts. The future looks bright for this Lancashire club and it seems it can be evident come May 11.

Map mash-up of Kirkham and Wesham's Road to Wembley

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Preston News via Google Maps

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Alonso Responds to Hamilton abuse

Fernando Alonso has responded in a negative way towards Hamilton's abuse he suffered a few weeks ago. Alonso said that it was an isolated incident and the idea of an anti-racist campaign at Barcelona's Grand prix this year is a bad one.

These provocative comments are sure to stir things up between the two but I don't think Alonso is doing himself any favours. Alonso needs all the support he can and this surely reduces any respect I had for him.

Lewis Hamilton Race Row

I am sure everyone has heard about the abuse Lewis Hamilton recieved in Spain. But are we too quick to judge? I am not saying the actions were not racst but the British media were quick to express on side of the story on the front pages of tabloids and the home pages of online media. For Example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7225523.stm

However the other side of the story was convieniantly covered days after the event. There was a small column in The Sun on 08/02/08 where one of the fans who had painted their face black gave their comments. Toni Caledron, a Spanish Lorry Driver said: "We were doing a parody of Hamilton's Father. The security guards were laughing when they saw us. I'm not a racist. I would like to appologise to Lewis Hamilton and his family if our action caused offence."

Maybe these people did not intend racism but there were racist slurs at the testing and this is a problem we seem to still have in Sport and inparticular Spain. But I feel such a taboo subject should be treated with more care iin the media.

Sport

I have been assigned into a group for the module. In the group we will all have a patch. My patch will be sport, inparticular Formula one. I will blog about this at the moment due to the media hype around the sport which is unusual outside of the season. The reason for this is due to the duress Lewis Hamilton suffered whilst testing just outside Barcelona. The other patches in my group will be Politics, UK Entertainment and Health. The links to these can be found t the right of this page.

Introduction

I am about to enter the blogging world as a begginer with little experience of doing this kind of thing. Appologies to those who do not like the content or are bored by what I publish.

Gareth Butterworth