Watching Tottenham Hotspur take the field at Rossett Park was one of the most surreal experiences I had in my 14 years as a Spurs fan. There was the mighty Tottenham, fourth in the Premier League, a huge London club, entering the field on a small municipal ground north of Liverpool after changing clothes in an improvised pub. Spurs was scheduled to play for Marine AFC, a club that operates in the 8th division of English football, in one of those improbable FA Cup draws that Cup fans talk about eagerly, but few really see.
In fact, this was the biggest mismatch in the 149-year history of the FA Cup. Never two clubs so far apart at the table have met, much less in the minnow field. Rossett Park was surrounded by a fence to better catch the stray balls that could easily end up in the gardens of the row houses that lined both sides of the field. It is the quintessentially English type of terrain that seems to just appear in the middle of a residential neighborhood without looking out of place.
In fact, the only thing that seemed out of place … was Tottenham Hotspur. Watching the video of Gareth Bale walking around before the match doing an inspection of the pitch was amazing. Who would expect an international superstar in Crosby? “From Madrid to the Navy,” ESPN + announcers gushed after Bale made an appearance in the second half off the bench. But this is the FA Cup for you. It’s magical, you know.
The grounds were closed to fans due to COVID-19, but that did not stop the faithful from finding the best observation points outside the fences in order to watch their venue play their biggest game in the club’s history. A woman drank white wine while two little girls nearby blew horns of joy during Spurs’ free kicks and set pieces. A man watched the game from behind a bush beside a life-size cutout by Jurgen Klopp. You could see faces on the TV peeking through the windows of the houses.
The atmosphere was one of unbridled enthusiasm and contagious hope. The marine would not beat Tottenham Hotspur. Everyone knew that. It hardly mattered. Those who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the match were there to be part of the story.
The smile didn’t leave my face during the entire game.
The FA Cup is one of the most equal competitions in world football. The concept is simple: take all clubs in England, from the pub team to the top, throw them in a hopper and choose them at random in a giant knockout tournament. The mechanics are slightly different, but that’s more or less the essence. The day’s revenues are divided. And while a team outside the top flight hasn’t won everything since West Ham in 1980, it’s always been a celebration of the lower divisions. Small clubs that tie a big one in the first rounds can earn more of all their annual revenue with just one match. Sometimes they even win.
The fact that this year’s FA Cup is taking place amid a global pandemic that is currently occurring uncontrolled across the UK (and worldwide) has made Sunday’s match at Crosby even more special. With football clubs at the highest levels of the sport postponing matches due to positive test results, it is a small miracle that the match has taken place. For a club like Marine, which, like so many other clubs outside the league, depends on the day’s income to survive, hooking a white whale like Spurs and then not being able to allow even spectators must have been cruel.
Without exaggerating the horn of this blog, this is what led us to start fundraising for a sponsorship that ended up raising US $ 12,000 for the Navy and resulted in the Captain of Cartilage logo on the back of the Navy shorts. It was that same sentiment that prompted 30,000 Tottenham fans to buy “virtual tickets” at £ 10 each for a game they couldn’t even attend. Spurs fans opened their wallets to support a club that most of them had never heard of, because they love the FA Cup and what it stands for, they love the history of the Navy magic race and because they love supporting the base football at the same time when your survival has never been so threatened.
Football can be a maddening sport. The proliferation of money at the highest levels of the game and its enormous popularity around the world, over time, has transformed it from a working-class diversion to one that has almost eliminated everyone except the wealthiest fans from watching the games. . He became so focused on finance and corporations that many complain that he lost touch with the fans themselves who helped him to gain prominence. No matter what new “improvements” like VAR and … whatever the handball rule sometimes seem to suck the fun out of everything. For a few months last spring, the coronavirus prevented the world from even the most banal fun that sport can bring.
Sunday’s departure was different. It was a reminder of the good that football can do – that fans can come together in seven divisions to enjoy the mutual appreciation of the sport. It reminded me of why I started watching football. There was joy in that almost empty Rossett Park, and it had little to do with what was happening on the field. I can say with some certainty that even if Marine had achieved the unthinkable and defeated the Spurs, I would have been just as happy to be part of that story as I was disappointed to be out of the competition.
This did not happened. Marine defended firmly at the opening of the match and held on for a good 20 minutes. They almost took the lead when Neil Kengni fired a shot from the post, almost passing Joe Hart. That was the highlight of the match for the home owners. Spurs won 5-0 after a hat-trick by Carlos Vinicius, a free kick from Lucas Moura and a debut goal by 16-year-old midfielder Alfie Devine.
The match was never really in doubt. That is not the point. It was a celebration of everything that makes the FA Cup – and football in general – so great. It didn’t matter that Spurs’ team B defeated Marine. The fact that this ridiculous match took place between a Premier League giant and a tiny neighborhood club made up of waste pickers, teachers, plumbers and grocers who play football on the sides, transcended anything that could have happened on the field.
When Officer Michael Oliver blew the final whistle, the Navy players looked exhausted, but not beaten. Despite the great defeat, they played well, gained some respect in the eyes of Tottenham players and were able to leave the field with their heads held high. Tottenham left a bag of kits for players – shirt exchanges were banned due to COVID-19 regulations – and a promise to send the match worn shirts to Crosby after being washed.
Navy players will one day tell their grandchildren about how they lined up in tiny Rossett Park against the mighty Tottenham Hotspur and played against Gareth Bale, Moussa Sissoko and Lucas Moura. Navy goalkeeper Bayleigh Passant, 20, may have sent five goals, but he avoided a fine free kick from Bale. It is suspected that the Navy squadron will rarely have to pay for a drink at the bar for a while. In contrast, Tottenham players had to leave London for a while, visit a course they would probably never visit in a million years and experience Marine AFC’s excellent hospitality.
“I have a lot of respect for José Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur as a football club from that,” said Navy coach Neil Young after the match. “He did what he said he would do with the selection of his team, brought in players he could easily have left on the bench and Tottenham, as a club, supported us wholeheartedly. Over 30,000 virtual tickets have already been sold for this game, which is simply phenomenal.
“I want to give a big shout to the whole football community for this. Tottenham fans agreed with that, so a big thank you to everyone at the Marine Football Club. This will prepare us for a long time. I have so much admiration for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club after today. “
José Mourinho also understood what this match meant. “Since 2004, I have been in England and I have never played against such a team in the pyramid,” he said. “I’m not English, but I know what that means for everyone, so I brought a good team, not only for the result, but also for the meaning of the cup”.
The final score was a 5-0 win for Spurs, but it was a game that meant much more. Tottenham may go to the fourth round of the FA Cup, but it was all football that won on Sunday.