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Watching Tottenham Hotspur come out onto the Rossett Park pitch has been one of the most surreal experiences I have had in my 14 years as a Spurs fan. There was the mighty Tottenham, fourth in the Premier League, huge London club, marching across the pitch of a tiny municipal pitch just north of Liverpool after changing clothes in a makeshift pub. Spurs were due to play at Marine AFC, a club that plies its trade in the 8th tier of English football, in one of those unlikely FA Cup draws that Cup fans talk nostalgically about but rarely see.
In fact, it was the biggest lag in the 149-year history of the FA Cup. Never have two clubs so far apart in the table face each other, and even less on the minnow field. Rossett Park was lined with fencing to better catch stray balls that could easily end up in the gardens of the townhouses that lined both sides of the pitch. It’s the kind of quintessentially English land that just seems to appear in the middle of a residential area without looking out of place.
In fact, the only thing that looked out of place … was Tottenham Hotspur. Watching the video of Gareth Bale walking around before the game to inspect the pitch was amazing. Who would have expected an international superstar in Crosby? “From Madrid to Marine,” ESPN + announcers gushed after Bale made a second half on the bench. But this is the FA Cup for you. It’s magic, you know.
The pitch was closed to spectators due to COVID-19, but that didn’t stop worshipers from finding the best vantage points outside the fences to watch their local play their biggest game in club history. A woman drank white wine while two nearby little girls blew air horns with glee during Spurs’ free kicks and set pieces. A man watched the game from behind a bush next to a life-size cutout of Jurgen Klopp. Faces could be seen on television staring out the windows of residential houses.
The atmosphere was filled with unbridled enthusiasm and contagious hope. Marine was not going to beat Tottenham Hotspur. Everyone knew it. It didn’t matter much. Those who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the game were there to be a part of history.
The smile didn’t leave my face the whole game.
The FA Cup is one of the most equal competitions in world football. The concept is simple: take all the clubs in England, from the pub team to the top, throw them in a hopper and choose them at random in a knockout tournament. The mechanics are slightly different, but that’s more or less the point. The income of the day is shared. And while an outside elite team hasn’t won everything since West Ham in 1980, it’s always been a celebration of the lower divisions. Smaller clubs that get big at the start of rounds can earn more of their annual income in a single game. Sometimes they even win.
The fact that this year’s FA Cup is taking place against the backdrop of a global pandemic currently raging unchecked across the UK (and the world) 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’s a little miracle the match took place. For a club like Marine who, like so many other non-league clubs, depend on match income to survive, snagging a white whale like Spurs and not even being able to allow spectators must have felt cruel.
Not to mention too much about the horn of this blog, that’s what prompted us to start fundraising for a sponsorship that ended up raising $ 12,000 for Marine and resulted in the Cartilage Free Captain logo on the back of the shorts. Marine. It was that same sentiment that led 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 even heard of, because they love the FA Cup and what it stands for, they love the history of racing magic of Marine and because they like to support grassroots football at the same time. while its survival has never been so threatened.
Football can be a maddening sport. The proliferation of cash in the game’s highest levels and its massive popularity across the globe has over time transformed it from a working class diversion to one that has almost shunned all the richest fans. to attend matches. He’s become so focused on business and finance that many complain that they’ve lost touch with the very fans who have helped him rise to prominence. Never mind that new “improvements” like VAR and … whatever the rule of handball have sometimes seemed to suck the fun out of it all. For a few months last spring, the coronavirus prevented the world from diverting even the most mundane of what sport can bring.
Sunday’s game was different. It was a reminder of the good football can do – that fans can come together across seven divisions to enjoy the sport’s mutual appreciation. It reminded me of why I started watching football in the first place. There was joy in this nearly empty Rossett Park, and it had little to do with what was going on on the pitch. I can say with some certainty that even if Marine had done the unthinkable and defeated Spurs, I would have been as thrilled to be a part of this story as I was disappointed to crash out of competition.
This does not happen. Marine defended vigorously at the opening of the match and hung on for a good 20 minutes. They almost took the lead when Neil Kengni threw a plunging shot off the crossbar, almost past a stunned Joe Hart. It was the highlight of the game for the home side. Spurs went on to win 5-0 behind a hat trick from Carlos Vinicius, a free kick from Lucas Moura and a goal over his first club from 16-year-old midfielder Alfie Devine.
The game was never really in doubt. This 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’ B squad crushed Marine. The fact that this ridiculous match even took place, between a Premier League giant and a tiny neighborhood club made up of garbage collectors, teachers, plumbers and grocers playing soccer on the side, transcended everything that could have happened in the field.
When official Michael Oliver blew the final whistle, the Marine players looked exhausted, but not at all downcast. They played well despite the big defeat, earned some respect in the eyes of Tottenham players and were able to leave the pitch with their heads held high. Tottenham left a bag of kits for the players – jersey swaps were banned due to COVID-19 regulations – and a promise to send the jerseys worn by the match to Crosby after they were cleared.
Marine players will one day tell their grandchildren how they lined up at tiny Rossett Park against mighty Tottenham Hotspur and played against Gareth Bale, Moussa Sissoko and Lucas Moura. 20-year-old Marines keeper Bayleigh Passant may have scored five goals, but he kept one hell of a free kick from Bale. It is suspected that the Marine team will rarely have to pay for a drink at the pub for some time. In contrast, the Tottenham players were able to get out of London for a bit, visit a ground they probably would never have been to in a million years and experience the excellent hospitality of Marine AFC.
“I have so much respect for José Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur as a football club from that,” Marine manager Neil Young said after the game. “He did what he said he would do with his squad selection, he brought in players he could easily have left on the bench and Tottenham as a club have supported us wholeheartedly. Over 30,000 virtual tickets have now been sold for this game which is simply phenomenal.
“I want to thank the whole football community for this. The Tottenham fans have it right behind that, so a big thank you to all the members of the Marine Football Club. This will put us in place for a long time. I have so much admiration for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club after today. “
Jose Mourinho also understood what this game meant. “Since 2004, I have been in England and I have never played against a team at this level in the pyramid,” he said. “I’m not English, but I know what it means to everyone, so I brought a good team, not just 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 a lot more. Tottenham might qualify for the FA Cup fourth round, but it was all the football that won on Sunday.
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