The Giant Killing Adventure - 2019/20 FA Cup : The FA Cup 2nd Round Proper – Oldham Athletic V Burton Albion and Chorley Women V Brighouse Town Women

The GKA has noticed that this blog can be a bit sweary at times and I’m hoping that it doesn’t offend adults or stop kids from reading. However, the reality is that footballers and football supporters swear during games – this is because of the emotion and passion of players and fans. When you go and watch a live game, you’ll hear many f-words, especially as crowd sizes increase, and the GKA only reflects the atmosphere of the games.

Okay, enough of this s##t, let’s f##king get on with it…

Saturday 30^th November, 15:00, Oldham Athletic V Burton Albion - I’d like to welcome Oldham Athletic to our blog

Oldham is a town in Lancashire in the North West of England and 7 miles Northeast of Manchester.

Our opening game of the GKA was in Oldham as Avro FC hosted Liverland Remyca.

Oldham Athletic are a different prospect as they were formed in 1895 with the original name of Pine Villa (they changed to Oldham Athletic in 1899). Until 1923 they played in the top tier of the English Football League and in 1913, they reached the FA Cup Semi-Final for the first time.

In 1992 Oldham were founder members of the Premier League and they stayed in that version of the top flight for 3 seasons.

They reached the FA Cup Semi-final again in 1990 and in 1994 – both times they were defeated by Manchester United.

Oldham play in League Two and are 22^nd with 16 points from 17 games.

I’d like to welcome Burton Albion to our blog

Burton’s best performance in the FA Cup came in 2011 when they were knocked out by Burnley FC in the 4^th Round Proper.

Burton Albion are nicknamed the Brewers and they play in League One (15^th with 19 points from 18 games).

The team is in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire. They have been around since 1950 and up until 2009 they were a non-league side.

Looking at the league form it would suggest that Burton are favourites for this game but it’s the magic of the FA Cup and anything can happen. Tickets were easy to obtain as I went on the Oldham Athletic Website and bought one instantly for £15 (£5 more expensive than the previous round at Blackpool FC).

The GKA will be travelling 55.3 miles from our last men’s game at Blackpool…

To Boundary Park in Oldham…

In the GKA official route, Notts County drew an away tie against Northampton Town. I would not have been able to attend this match at it is being played on Sunday 1^st December at 14:00 – clashing with our women’s match below…

Sunday 1^st December, 13:00 Chorley FC Women V Brighouse Town AFC Women

I’d like to welcome Chorley FC Women to our blog

The GKA has a sneaky confession to make – it (me) grew up in Chorley and got excited when Brighouse Town Women got this draw. Of course, the GKA will be a neutral supporter on the day!

Chorley women’s team have been around in various formats since 1978 – Originally called Cumberland Rangers Ladies they were based in Preston and played in Accrington. It wasn’t until 1983 that they changed their name to Chorley Ladies FC – in 2018 they joined forces with Chorley Men’s Team (the Magpies) and changed their name to Chorley FC Women.

They even share the same stadium as the men, playing their games at Victory park. This was the home to my first ever live football experience when I was around 5 years old. In 1989 my high school played on the famous pitch in a local school’s competition and during the late 1980s the Lancashire Chieftains (later to become Wolverines) American Football Team played at the Stadium (I played for their youth team, the Braves).

The GKA will be travelling 38.2 miles from the Liverpool Feds game…

To Victory Park…

In other news…

In our 1976 route Matlock Town drew an away tie against Mansfield Town. We’ll be comparing that game with the modern day experience.

The GKA has already spoken about Tim Tate's book chronicling the 'Secret History of Women's Football.' We have talked about the women's football ban in 1921 and how the FA tried to claim it was due to the physicality needed to play the game. Tim's book mentioned other factors such as financial irregularities and book keeping during some women's charity matches and a genuine fear (at the time) of openly lesbian relationships - for example Lily Par of Dick, Kerr Ladies football team lived her life openly as a Lesbian. In his book, Tim gives credit to Gail Newsham as being an expert on the Dick, Kerr Ladies team.

Last week, I had a very interesting meeting with Gail Newsham.

Gail is an author, historian, sportsperson and campaigner who wrote a book about the Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club. Since 1991 she has interviewed ex Dick, Kerr Ladies players, organised a team reunion and campaigned to get Lily Parr inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame – Lily was the first women to have the honour (2002).