FA Cup Giantkillers: Heroes or Zeros

 

The 3rd and 4th rounds of the FA Cup have thrown up more unlikely heroes, lower league and amateur players taking on the big boys and bloodying their noses. Small time players making the big time in their one off finals, showing up their overpaid counterparts, every one a hero….. or are they?

I have a slightly different take on this, I think a lower league team gaining a good result against their Premiership rivals reflects badly on those from the lower leagues, let me explain. Havant and Waterloovile are a team of amateurs playing every week and quite often losing against other amateur teams. Today they lead Liverpool, twice, at Anfield, that is what they are capable of. If they played at that level every week would they be in the middle of  The Blue Square South league? I doubt it.

Theirs is no doubt a team full of hard luck stories and how they could have made it, well they didn’t. They probably have the talent as they’ve proved today but did they have that something that turns talent into performance? They are not alone, the lower leagues are full of English players discarded by bigger teams. The talent was there not the mental fortitude. This reflect badly on the English system that is unable to coach that ability to perform EVERY week not just on the big occasion. It reflects badly on a society that discourages doing your best at all times. how many kids are put off doing well by peer pressure? We laugh at success, we mock those that do well, we reap what we sow.

So it is that another team will be praised fro raising their game to a level they are probably capable of reachin every week. Don’t knock the big boys they produce week after week, question the amateurs and ask them as they surely are asking themselves tonight, why do’t you do that every week?