WESTSIDE GLORY
The very long road to Wembley has begun and the victors are already dreaming.. only 13 more wins to lift the famous Cup, lads!
JUST 31 days after Arsenal lifted the FA Cup at Wembley for a record 14th time with their victory over Chelsea, the football season proper started again this week.
Not the Community Shield, forget that – that’s just a glorified friendly, flag waving for the big boys ahead of the commerce-fest that is the Premier League.
No. The FA Cup – the worl d ’ s oldest cup competition, started again, just a month after it had finished. The dream started again, for clubs, players and fans, across the country.
Not the same dream as Arsenal have, obviously, bviously, because that comes true as often as not. For the teams that took part in the extra preliminary round – in the
182 ties that were played on Tuesday and Wednesday night, the dream will remain a dream. But make no mistake – this was the real thing.
For 20 of the teams this week, this was their debut in the FA Cup, the first time the door had creaked open. Two of them, Billingshurst of the Southe rn Combination League Division One, and Westside, of
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Combined Counties League First Division, met in deepest Sussex. Billingshurst, after four years of applying, had finally got the nod this summer to the chagrin of others in their league. For Westside We a team, born out of the Westside Church in Wandswor th and formed only in 1996, it is only their second season at this level.
Both are non-league step six sides – level 10 in the national set-up – the lowest level for which you qualify to play for the old pot.
For these two teams, this was a big night.
Billingshurst chairman Kevin Ti l ley, whose youngest son James plays for Grimsby in League Two and eldest Nick was in midfield for his dad’s team on Tuesday, spelled it out: “This was our first time in the FA Cup in 129 years – a long time coming.
“It was a bit of a shock to get in. We had applied every year, but had never met the requirements. We have only been a senior club for four years. It has been quite something. Covid has made things much more difficult – organising training, not being able to have team meetings in the changing rooms.”
Westside chairman, physio, founder and retired civil servant Graham Holder – one of the five still left at the club who played in their first match in the parks of Kingston in 1996 – agreed. “This was such a big moment, the biggest in our history. It’s massive,” said Holder ( left, with Mirror Sport’s Tony y Banks).
“Just for the lads to say they had played in the FA Cup is something. In September 1996 we walked out for our first game and put the nets up in a park in Wandsworth. Here we are 24 years later, and there are five guys left, including myself, who were in that team. I was player-manager.
“We are a community club, with about 30 teams, and most of the team have come through our youth sides. We started off as a purely Christian club, but as we have grown we have players from all faiths and walks of life.”
It was a tough, hard tackling scrap on Tuesday at the tree- lined Jubilee Fields, but in the end the Westside bench ( below) were celebrating a 2-0 win, with goals in each half from Sian Forsythe and Tevon Webster.
For Billingshurst, the dream was over for another year. But they have been there. The expressions on the faces of their players as they trooped off told of the hurt.
A crestfallen Tilley, who had mowed and marked out the pitch before kick- off, said: “We didn’t turn up. There were nerves. But never mind. We have got here. We will be back.”
Into the Sussex night trooped the crowd, a good 100 up on Billingshurst’s normal gate. And for Westside – only 13 games to go for Wembley glory, lads.