FA Cup, Trophy and Vase draws - all you need to know
All the early draws have been made
Rishi Sunak's awkward admiration of Southampton Football Club tells me one thing for certain, he's not a proper football fan because who calls for a General Election the day before the first rounds of the FA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Vase are released by the Football Association. I spent the morning of my, clearly subconsciously booked, day off flicking between the news channels as the constituency declarations rolled in and scouring the lists of all 1,675 clubs accepted across the three competitions. In my head, it looked like the scene where Neo sees the matrix and Morpheus says 'he is the one' but in reality, I was grappling with awkward PDFs in my living room.
This time of year in the football calendar always feels a bit like that week in between Christmas and New Year when you're not entirely sure what day of the week it is and you've spent more time with your family than you thought humanely possible. Some teams have announced their entire squad for the season before they've even signed a single form, there are others running bleep tests whilst some are still finishing off an anomalous cup run and pre-season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. But you know you're on the straight and narrow to a new season kicking off when those First Round ties are there in black and white as the 'the draw is complete' post drops on socials.
If you are looking for an answer to 'where should I begin my Road to Wembley journey?', I'd get Lowther Road into my sat nav as there's not much better a match-up than a Combined Counties v Hellenic in the First Round Qualifying. Wokingham Town (the history, the heritage, what more could you ask for) will welcome Cheltenham Saracens to Berkshire on Saturday 24th of August, both sides finished likely lower than they'd have hoped last season so will be looking to begin with a bang.
There's not much better a match up than a Combined Counties v Hellenic in the First Round Qualifying. Wokingham Town (the history, the heritage, what more could you ask for) will welcome Cheltenham Saracens to Lowther Road on Saturday 24th of August, both sides finished likely lower than they'd have hoped last season so will be looking to begin with a bang.
All the FA Cup news:
Emirates FA Cup draw: Extra Preliminary Round and Preliminary Round and what it means for Berkshire clubs
All the FA Trophy news
Isuzu FA Trophy draw: Preliminary Round and First Round Qualifying and what it means for Berkshire clubs
All the FA Vase news
Isuzu FA Vase draw: First Round Qualifying and Second Round Qualifying and what it means for Berkshire clubs
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