The Bootiful Game Issue 2 The Bootiful Game Issue 2 | Page 45

" Sadly the club that reached
the first round of this great
competition on seventeen
occasions during its 101 years
of senior existence no longer
exists. They suffered from
financial problems at the end of
the century after losing their
main sponsor. United then
struggled to cope with a cruel
arson attack on their Moors
Social Club in 2003 and
eventually folded in 2005.
Spennymoor have since
returned and they are now
called Spennymoor Town F.C.
Along with Brigg Town only two
current members of the NCEL
have made the first round of the
F.A. Cup.
" One is Worksop Town. As
well as achieving this feat the
Nottinghamshire based side
also boast the proud
record of
having
competed in
more F.A
Cup
campaigns
than any
other team
at this level
having
fought for the
famous old
trophy on 108
occasions.
" Their best ever
showing was back in
1955/56 when they
reached the third round of the
competition for the first and only
time in their history and they
have participated in the first
round on nine occasions.
Their first adventure into the
latter stages of the competition
ended abruptly at Stamford
Bridge in 1908 when they were
beaten 9-1 by a rampant
Chelsea team in front of a crowd
of just under 19,000. George
Hildson a former England
international who scored
fourteen goals in eight
appearances for his country
unsurprisingly caused major
problems for the Worksop
defence as he scored six on a
cold winter’s day in the capital.
Their next notable trip to Lo ndon
in the F.A. Cup ended very
differently. In 1923 “The Tigers”
travelled to White Hart Lane to
face Chelsea’s bitter rivals
Tottenham Hotspur. In a result
that sums up the F.A. Cup the
visitors stunned Spurs and the
nation by holding the team that
had won the competition two
years previously.
" Customarily an F.A. Cup
replay would be held at the
home ground of the team that
had previously played away
from home, but on this occasion
the replay was in London as the
Worksop ground was
viewed as
unsuitable.
This was a
decision that
haunted the
followers of the
then Midlands
League outfit
for years to
come according
to the clubs
website.
Tottenham were in
no mood to repeat
their previous mistakes
and two days after the
initial 0-0, Worksop fielded an
unchanged side and were
battered 9-0.
" Despite that result the non-
leaguer’s left their mark on
Tottenham as this quote that
was re-cycled from an old
programme and published on
Hotspur HQ in 2014 suggests:
“The Worksop match remained
an embarrassment to Spurs for
a long time but the Midland
Leaguers had no complaints.
They took home about £1,000
big money in those days.”
" The only other team that are
currently in the NCEL who have
reached the first round of the
F.A. Cup are Yorkshire Amateur.
Unlike Worksop Town who last
completed that feat in 2001
Amateur haven’t battled there
since 1945-46. Strangely they
were knocked out of the
competition despite beating
Lincoln City 1-0 on home turf.
This was due to the fact that
they lost 5-2 on aggregate as all
the matches from the first round
to sixth were aggregate affairs
for the first and only time in the
history of the competition.
The members of the NCEL will
be determined to make sure that
next year there will be more
clubs to have reached the first
round proper of this grand old
competition. If any can achieve
that feat then it is guaranteed
that there will be another great
memory etched into the history
of the F.A. Cup.
Worksop Town 1955-56 FA Cup Record
Round
Versus
Result
1st Qualifying Round Brunswick Institute
Won 8-0
Replay
(H)
Beighton Miners
2nd Qualifying Round
Won 3-0
Welfare (H)
3rd Qualifying Round Bentley Colliery (H)
Won 9-2
4th Qualifying Round
Corby Town (H)
Won 1-0
1st Round Proper
Skegness Town
Won 4-0
2nd Round Proper
Bradford City (A)
Drew 2-2
2nd Round Proper
Bradford City (H)
Won 1-0
Replay
3rd Round Proper
Swindon Town (A)
Lost 1-0
Issue 01 @TheBootifulGame 45