Programme notes: v Barrow, Saturday 15th December 2012
I love the FA Trophy. Sadly the desire to join the bottom end of the Football League now means that too many of the top non-league sides view the FA Trophy with the same level of disrespect as Premier sides do the FA Cup – with so much money in football, even the opportunity to fulfil, what was once, every players dream, the chance to play at Wembley, is no longer good enough.
It is a real sad shame, but no longer surprising. Our visitors today know all about going to Wembley, and winning, having lifted this very trophy on the hallowed turf of Wembley just a couple of years back in 2010. I was born four years after Chesham’s 1968 trip to the Twin Towers, I still turn green with envy hearing the stories about the great day, and if we could emulate that, particularly as a (struggling) Southern League side – surely that will be the greatest footballing moment of my life? All of our lives?
I have attended the odd Wembley FA Trophy final, and although Wembley half empty might not sound the most appealing, there is still something magical about it. I first attended as a 12 year old, heading to Wembley with a similarly young Stephen Barnes, having cut a coupon out of our copies of Match magazine, I think it only cost us about £2 to get in and sit on the old benches to watch Wealdstone complete the double with a 2-1 win over Boston United in 1985. However, perhaps more memorable was the 1996 final between Macclesfield and Northwich Victoria at a time when I was running a non-league football magazine with my partner, we were officially part of the media, taking our seat in the press box, enjoying the pre-match hospitality and snacks provided during the game…certainly a different footballing experience (and certainly a million miles from last weekend, freezing my privates off on a Sunday afternoon at Corby watching…well, let’s not go there).
For Chesham the FA Trophy has been a mixed bag of extremes; unpredictable wins against higher league opposition, mixed in with unforeseen defeats to lower league opposition – but it has brought some fantastic memories to the terraces.
The best in recent time was in 2008/09 when we eventually lost out to Crawley Town 4-2 here at The Meadow, but the Conference side, destined for the Football League, were certainly rattled throughout the game. That match brought an end to a great run that had given some supporters memorable away days including the 3-3 draw at Truro, before beating them after extra-time in a replay back at Chesham (a late night back to Cornwall that day!); after Truro we went to Corby and had a much better time than we did last weekend, despite the running track at their ground of the time, a great atmosphere saw us win 3-2, playing much of the game with just ten men.
That victory earned us a trip to Conference South side Maidenhead United. In the same season as we had gone to Weston-Super-Mare in the FA Cup, and recorded a memorable 4-2 victory, the travelling Chesham United support was at its best it had been for over a decade. Bonded by the joy of standing on a terrace, often miles from home, singing your heart out, supporting the team against the odds…At Maidenhead we matched the Weston score, another 4-2 win amidst jubilant scenes of celebration.
Like I say, it has not always been a competition we have reveled in. Last year was a real low; drawing at home to lower league Tiverton in the opening game, only to lose the replay in the dying seconds down in Devon.
In 2002 we crashed out of the competition at Conference side Woking, no shame in that, but that was to start a run of nearly five years without an FA Trophy win as we went on a run of first game exits against Worthing, Bedworth United, Sutton Coldfield and Andover, before eventually beating Waltham Abbey at home in the 2007-08 competition – that year we would eventually crash out to Team Bath (remember them?).
I love the fact that the FA Trophy turns national relatively early, and gives us the opportunity to play some opponents that add a little something to the fixture, teams you never previously ever imagined playing. Today’s opponents Barrow fall into that category. Located where Chesham is, Barrow and Truro always struck me as two extremes of distances sides might travel to play Chesham, or we might travel to play; but there have been other memorable away days including a seaside trip to Bognor Regis and an overseas visit to the Isle of Wight – it seems the sea and long away days is an excellent catalyst for igniting vociferous away support (or is that the beer?).
Back in 1997 we travelled to then non-league Stevenage Borough, a couple of weeks before they were due to play Newcastle United in the Third Round of the FA Cup. We took three supporters coaches to the relatively local game – I remember it well, I was on what was named the “drinkers coach”, I think the driver ended up stopping three times for “wee-wee” stops on the short trip up the A1. Stevenage had gone shooting up through the leagues, and were now in the Conference, only five years previous they were part of the Ryman Premier league that we had so triumphantly won, including a stonking 7-1 against the Borough at The Meadow. We took great pleasure in singing about that on the terraces: “7-1..Five years ago”. So great is the memory of that win, if we were to play them next week, I’d still be starting a sing-along: “7-1…Twenty years ago!”.
We drew the match with Stevenage, but lost the replay 3-0 at home.
We have had our fair share of FA Trophy replays (not wanting to tempt fate with the prospect of a midweek trip to Cumbria). A couple of years ago we held Salisbury City to a draw at home, but lost the replay; the year before that it was the same with Oxford City, drawing at home, but losing away; but perhaps the most memorable was when we drew at home to Hereford United and travelled to the border of Wales on a Tuesday night, only to br crammed into a horrible corner of the ground, kept especially for visiting supporters…we conceded an early goal, never looked like getting back in to the game, and got home in the early hours of the morning following a crushing 4-0 defeat.
I could go on for pages with FA Trophy memories - were any of you reading this today part of the coach load of people that left early the ground early to board the coach away from Yeading in 1998? Understandable. We were trailing 3-0 with less than five minutes to go. I myself was just heading for the exit when we scored, what seemed to be a consolation goal. I stuck around to see if we could perform the impossible…People could not belive it when we got back on the coach and said the game had finished 3-3. We won the replay 4-0, and went on to record an impressive win at Crawley Town before going out to Hendon.
Or, what about 1991-92 when I drove down to Yeovil on the Friday night and spent the night sleeping in the car ahead of our First Round Proper tie with The Glovers, we lost the game 3-1 in the end; but it was the end of a good run that had seen us beat Burton Albion 4-0 (in a replay), Leyon-Wingate and Tamworth.
Great memories, but none of them will come close to matching the1992-93 season. A year when goals were flowing in the league, and that continued in the FA Trophy. In the first game we beat Leicester United 7-3, that earned us a trip to VS Rugby, a match that we won 6-1 – again, as a club we enjoyed the luxury of taking two coach loads of supporters to the match, with many of the passengers (particularly from the “drinkers coach”) participating in a conga around the terraces (and the local radio car) as Chesham continued to establish themselves as one of the top non-league sides of the early 1990’s.
Next up was the game I have talked about many many times, and will continue to long into the future. Chesham United v Dover Athletic. This was the days before a Conference North or South, the Isthmian and Southern Premier Divisions both fed directly into the Conference. Chesham United were top of the Isthmian League, chased closely by St Albans City and Enfield, but always looking favourites to lift the title; Dover Athletic, top of the Southern League, and seemingly invincible.
Almost 1,000 Dover fans travelled up for the game, convinced that their Invincibles will show their supremacy over their Isthmian league counterparts. It was billed the clash of the titans, it was the Southern League v Isthmian League.
The Meadow was electric. Videos exist of the game, if you haven’t seen it yet, try get hold of a copy. I have enjoyed many goal celebrations as a Chesham fan – the play-off win v Slough, the previously mentioned Weston-Super-Mare and Maidenhead cup games, a goal at Enfield that took us to the top of the league in 1992, to name just a handful – but Darren Coleman’s header that won the match against Dover will take some beating. The Chesham fans exploded with joy down The Cricket Ground End, whilst up towards The Meadow End hundreds of visting supporters loooked stunned...Their mighty Dover were losing, to an Isthmian league side. That shouldn’t happen, should it?
The rest of the match lasted an eternity, but we held out to imprint one of the greatest memories on the minds of the Chesham supporters that were part of a crowd in excess of 2,000 here at The Meadow.
True to form with the story of Chesham United in the FA Trophy, this immense high was immediately followed by a low. We lost the next game in the competition, at home to a Sutton United side that, a couple of weeks later we would beat 7-0 in a league, but it was the Surrey side that went on to meet Wycombe Wanderers in the semi-finals.
I really hope we can progress in this year’s Trophy, it is a fantastic competition that I hope more of the bigger clubs will take serious as the rounds progress; but for little Chesham, it has already been a great cup run, and the dream lives on. I’ll leave you with one final thought, particularly if you pride yourself on going to all games, home and away; for the last three seasons we have been knocked out of the competion in replays after drawing at home… See you in Cumbria?
Enjoy the game, and thanks for your support.
Alan Calder
