2016-17 FA Cup 3rd Round, map and attendance list with fixtures
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Links…
-The competition…FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-3rd Round: fixtures/teams… (us.soccerway.com/national/england/fa-cup).
-BBC’s page on the FA Cup…FA Cup (bbc.com/sport/football/fa-cup).
-FA Cup Factfile’s 2016-17 FA Cup 3rd Round Tie-by-Tie Preview (facupfactfile.wordpress.com).
-Faces behind the FA Cup third round: ‘At this level these are the days you live for’ (by Louise Taylor, Nick Miller and Michael Butler at theguardian.com/football on 6 Jan. 2017).
-FA Cup third round: 10 things to look out for this weekend (by Greg Bakowski and John Ashdown at theguardian/football on 6 Jan, 2017).
By Bill Turianski on 3 January 2017; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Update…as per the league tables, here are the teams who had the biggest Cup-upset(s) & Cup-draws of the 3rd round (Millwall, Plymouth Argyle, Lincoln City, Blackpool, Sutton United)…
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The map…
The map shows the 64 clubs who have qualified for the 2016-17 FA Cup Third Round Proper. Also on the map page is the 3rd Round fixture list, and there is a list of the 64 clubs’ current home league average attendances (well, somewhat current: attendance figures to 1 Jan. 2017).
The 3rd Round is when teams from the top two divisions of English football join the competition…
In the 3rd Round, the 20 clubs from the Premier League, and the 24 clubs from the Football League Championship enter the competition. Included with those 44 teams are the last 20 teams still alive from all the 5 Qualifying Rounds and the 2 earlier Rounds. This season that breaks down to 5 Non-League teams still alive, as well as 19 teams from the lower two divisions of the Football League (Leagues One and Two).
The lowest-placed of those 5 Non-League teams that have qualified is West Midlands-based Stourbridge FC (see short write-up and illustration below). The other 4 Non-League teams still alive in the competition are all from the 5th-division/National League: Barrow AFC (of coastal Cumbria, up in the north-west of England), Eastleigh FC (of Greater Southampton, down in the south of England in coastal Hampshire), Lincoln City FC (the highest-placed Non-League club, currently, and hailing from Lincolnshire), and Sutton United FC (a club traditionally considered as from Surrey, but now officially situated in the southern edge of Greater London).
The lowest-placed team still alive in the competition, for the second straight round, is West Midlands-based Stourbridge FC…
-From the Guardian/football…Stourbridge reach FA Cup third round for first time with Northampton win (by Press Association via theguardian.com from 13 Dec. 2016).
-From the West-Midlands-based Express and Star…FA Cup shock: Stourbridge 1 Northampton Town 0 – So, where were you, BBC? And where were you, BT Sport? (expressandstar.com/sport).
-See the highlights here…Stourbridge 1-0 Northampton Town – Emirates FA Cup 2016/17 (R2) | Goals & Highlights (1:59 video uploaded by FATV at youtube.com).
7th-level-side Stourbridge beat 3rd-division-side Northampton Town 1-0, at their War Memorial Athletic Ground, on a chilly Tuesday night in the Black Country, in front of a solid crowd of 2,520, in a game which had been rescheduled from 9 days earlier, due to an icy pitch. University student/part-time bartender Jack Duggan (then-aged 23) scored the winner for Stourbridge in the 85th minute, after a goal-mouth-scramble saw the ball drop in front of Duggan, who fired home from close range. Duggan couldn’t celebrate too much with his teammates after the match, because he had university classes the next morning. It was a true giant-killing, seeing as how Stourbridge were placed 4 divisions and 89 league-places below Northampton. Plus Northampton manager Gary Pope had paid enough respect to Stourbridge to field a virtually unchanged lineup from the Cobblers’ previous weekend’s league fixture.
Stourbridge FC are in the Northern Premier League, and are from the town of Stourbridge, which is situated about 11 miles west of central Birmingham. {Note: I wrote a bit more in-depth about Stourbridge, including an illustration, in my 2nd-round-post, here.} Owing to the cut-glass industry traditionally associated with the town, Stourbridge FC are known as the Glassboys. Stourbridge (est. 1876) will be making their 3rd Round debut in the 2016-17 FA Cup. Led by local-born manager Gary Hackett, who has been manager since 2003, Stourbridge have been lower-Non-League-Cup-specialists these last 8 seasons. In that time-period, Stourbridge have qualified for the FA Cup 1st Round 5 times, the 2nd Round 4 times, and now the Glassboys are into the rarefied air of the 3rd Round, after beating Northampton. And Stourbridge have a decent chance of advancing to the 4th Round, because, for the 3rd Round, they have been drawn against a 4th-division side – Wycombe Wanderers – who, though playing well (and are in 5th place in League Two, currently), are essentially a 3rd/4th-division yo-yo club, and very well might be prioritizing another promotion-run, over a Cup-run. Stourbridge will travel the 83 miles south-east to Adams Park in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on Saturday the 7th of January, to face Wycombe Wanderers. Stourbridge will be taking 2,200 supporters there.
Below: 2016-17 FA Cup 2nd Round. Tuesday, 13 December 2016. War Memorial Athletic Ground, Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Stourbridge 1-0 Northampton Town…
Photo and Image credits above –
3 screenshots from youtube video, Stourbridge 1-0 Northampton Town – Emirates FA Cup 2016/17 (R2) | Goals & Highlights (uploaded by FATV at youtube.com). Shot of stoked-up Stourbridge supporters at the match, photo by PA Wire via itv.com/news. Shot of Jack Duggan banging the goal home, photo by Reuters via bournemouthfootball.net/stourbridge-1-0-northampton-town. Manager Gary Hackett congratulating Jack Duggan, photo by Express and Star at expressandstar.com/sport/2016/12/13/stourbridge-1-northampton-town-report/stourbridge-v-northampton-town-fa-cup-second-round-replay-the-war-memorial-athletic-ground.
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The 6 televised matches do not include any of the 5 Non-League teams (not even Sutton United v AFC Wimbledon)…
None of the 5 Non-League clubs’ matches will be televised, although two 4th division clubs’ matches will be broadcast – Plymouth Argyle away to Liverpool on the Sunday, and Cambridge Utd hosting Leeds Utd on the Monday. The other four matches being televised all involve 1st or 2nd division clubs: West Ham v Man City on the Friday, Man U v Reading early on the Saturday, Preston North End v Arsenal for the late Saturday match, and Spurs v Aston Villa for the late Sunday match. Stourbridge will be taking 2,200 fans {see this article from the Guardian/football, Faces behind the FA Cup third round: ‘At this level these are the days you live for’ (by Louise Taylor, Nick Miller and Michael Butler at theguardian/football on Friday 6 Jan. 2016)}.
So, the powers that be seem to have decided that the magic of the Cup, while still perhaps in existence, does not necessarily apply to the minnows, once the big clubs join the party. I would rant about it, but I am sort of ranted-out. Besides, I couldn’t say it any better than FA Cup Factfile did, in a tweet, where he methodically ticks off the reasons why all 5 of the matches involving Non-League clubs – especially Sutton United versus AFC Wimbledon – deserve to be televised (see embedded tweet below)…
My reasons why any one of the 5 #facup 3rd Rd ties involving #NonLeague clubs should have been chosen by TV to be shown live
RT if you agree pic.twitter.com/q2iuNYwhbH— FA Cup Factfile (@FACupFactfile) December 30, 2016
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Thanks to all at the links below…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Blank relief map of Greater Manchester, by Nilfanion (using Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater Manchester UK relief location map.jpg.
-Blank relief map of West Midlands, by Nilfanion, at File:West Midlands UK relief location map.jpg
-Current average attendance figures from Soccerway.com.
-Current average attendance for lower Non-League club (7th Level), at non-league-matters.co.uk.
Thanks to @FACupFactfile for following @billsportsmaps on Twitter.
