This Saturday, the 11th of November, Corsham Towns enter the FA Vase competition in the 2nd Round, our first match in the competition since our heartbreak penalty shoot-out defeat in the Semi-Final back in April to eventual winners of the Vase, Ascot Town (I’ve still not watched the highlights).
Corsham were given byes in the early rounds this season until this stage following last year’s run in the competition. The Quarryman must now face an away fixture at Hamble FC who compete in the Velocity Wessex Premier League. This is a repeat of our 2021 FA Cup match with them that ended with progress for us by three goals to two. Corsham had looked comfortable that day but Hamble scored two goals in injury time and nearly took the tie to penalties.
Hamble’s best run in the FA Vase was in the 2017/18 season when they reached the 5th round on their maiden campaign. This season they have beaten Bridport 2-3, Andover New Street on penalties, and our fellow Hellenic League rivals Wantage Town 2-7 in the last round. They currently sit mid-table in their league which is the same step as the Hellenic Premier, having won 4, drawn 4 and lost 5.
The FA Vase effectively replaced The FA Amateur Cup in 1974, in that year The FA Council had decided to abolish the official distinction between amateur and professional footballers and this meant the end of The Amateur Cup and Amateur Internationals involving England.
In its first season, 220 clubs entered, but they did not include those that had dominated in The Amateur Cup. Enfield, Hendon, Dagenham, Skelmersdale United and others at their level were immediately allocated to The FA Trophy.
For the first time in history, small clubs – even village clubs – had the chance of playing in a national final at Wembley.
Corsham will be hoping to go one step further this season following last year’s record-breaking run but Hamble will be a tough one no doubt and with the fight for promotion taking centre stage this year we will need luck on our side once again.
