Who is up first in the Extra Preliminary Round?

As mentioned yesterday, the trophy currently resides in Wigan, which is a town in Greater Manchester in the North West of England.  Wigan is generally known more for its Rugby League than its football as the Wigan Warriors are the most successful team in their sport.  People from Wigan are sometimes referred to as ‘Pie Eaters’ which to me is a good thing – everyone must love a good pie, surely (especially a steak pie with gravy, yummy – I mean a real pie and not just a stew with a lid). 

Wigan was well known in the 1960s and 1970s for its ‘Northern Soul Nights.’ As far as I can figure, this mainly consisted of men in tight tops and tight trousers putting talcum powder onto a dance floor and almost performing the splits – done whilst listening to Motown or Motown influenced music! This sounds fantastic and Wigan Casino was the place to be.  In the 1980s a radio advert told me that ‘Wigan pier, that’s the place to be.’

One of my most favorite bands of the 1990s also came from Wigan. - The Verve.  I saw them 5 times from 1994 to 1998 and I still love their first album 'A Storm in Heaven.' Richard Ashcroft's lyrics really resonated with me in my early 20s. 'You come in on your own and you leave on your own.'  Now I'm a little less, err, miserable but I still love The Verve.  

All this talk about Wigan leads me onto the very first match of our journey together:

The Extra Preliminary Round is drawn from teams that are level 9 and below the league systems (in other words, at least 8 divisions lower than the big boys in the Premiership).   The closest geographical game that I could find to the current home of the FA Cup was draw number 38 in the FA Cup’s Extra Preliminary Round. This is between St Helens Town and Ashton Athletic.  

                        

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Although St Helens Town are the home side in this tie, they are in the current position of playing all their home games on Ashton Athletic’s pitch – so in essence, this opening fixture has both teams in the unique position of playing at home – in Ashton-in-Makerfield which is 4.2 miles south of Wigan (the current home of the FA Cup).  

St Helens are members of the North West Counties League Premier Division – last season they finished 19^th in the league.  The original Town club was in existence from 1901 to 1928, but the club re-formed in 1946. The club’s biggest achievement is winning the FA Vase at Wembley in 1987 and rather much like Wigan, St Helens is known more for its Rugby League prowess.  St Helens is located in Merseyside and another 1980s advert told me that ‘St Helen's glass, has the class.’

Ashton Athletic Football Club was founded in 1968 and they also play in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League – last season they finished 20^th in the league.   Ashton-in-Makerfield is located in the metropolitan borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester. 

This should be an interesting first tie for the beginning of our blog.  Two teams that are located near to the FA Cup’s current home and they know each other well. Not only are they in the same league, but they are currently sharing the same ground (very convenient for the away fans). Judging by last season’s form the tie should be close... but we’ll see what the FA Cup decides on match day, this Saturday, the 17^th August 2013... 4 days time, it’s gonna be great!

See the image below for the distance from Wigan’s DW Stadium (A) to Brocstedes Park (B) – home to both teams in our opening match. The FA Cup journey has travelled a mere 4.2 miles... see you Saturday 17^th August 2013.