FA cup, does it serve the purpose?

New Radiant Vs Sosun club; Sosun club held the blues until the second half of extra time under pressure

The structure of Maldivian FA Cup has always been quite astonishing. The main purpose for FA Cup is to give chance for lower league clubs to compete against the big guns and to minimise the difference between the leagues to make our football more competitive. But do we really serve the purpose or am I wrong. ‘It isn’t the main purpose?’

This year, a total of 22 teams participated in the knock out tournament including 6 clubs of the first division. But guess what? Only 2 teams of lower divisions get the chance to play with the first division clubs in the quarter finals. But does this system serve the purpose?

The picture is completely different in all the other leagues in the world. If you compare to English FA Cup, the top clubs are to face the lower league teams in the second round. The lower league clubs play the first round and after each round there is a draw for the next round, eliminating any bias in the allocation of the matches.

If we look further, Spain’s Copa del Reya and Italy’s Coppa Italia which uses different methodologies gives an equal chance for the lower leagues to compete with the top clubs. If we look at South Asian Region Nepal and even Pakistan has a similar system.

If Maldivian FA gives a chance for the lower leagues to play, it would not only bring a new life in to the football of Maldives, it would create or give an opportunity to bring new faces in to our football. Most of the clubs are craving for new faces and nothing much has been done to rectify it.

We are in an era of football when we have the best talents so far, but what about our future? A change in FA Cup system might give an opportunity for the young and the players who do not get the opportunity to play against their dream stars.

How about excitement! Today we saw the championship team of England, Barnsley beating the defending champions, Chelsea in the quarterfinals and Cardiff beat Middlesbrough. Three semi finalists of FA Cup are championship teams and it proves the competitiveness of English football. Maybe I am too optimistic.

I believe, the same system with slight modification could be brought in to our game. The effort Sosun Club put against New Radiant proves that lower division teams can have a chance of winning against the big guns. Some might say if we give opportunities, the first division teams would have loads of goals against them. But did we give them an opportunity to prove otherwise?

The only voice I heard from the radio on that day was ‘Sosun Club. Hop Hop’. We want to see more of that. We want more cheers from the supporters. The rising of atoll clubs, the talents of other islands to come and face the big giants. But now, it’s only limited to two!

Though the drawback would be when a lower division gets the chance to win the FA Cup as the FA Cup winner gets an automatic ticket to regional club tournament AFC Cup. It is possible that a lower division can win the FA Cup. But the question is whether they could compete with the foreign clubs? Players would be inexperienced and it would be difficult to compete at that level.

In my point of view it’s too early for a lower division team to compete at a regional level and hence we could counter it like many of the foreign leagues by giving the best two teams of Dhiraagu Dhivehi League the chance to play in the AFC Cup. However, if we make that choice the FA cup might not be appealing as it is right now. So we need to keep that in mind as well.

A further deep thinking and research is needed in our football system. It’s not only FA Cup, but so many areas need change!

I am borrowing a quote from Barack Obama - ” It’s time for a change. Don’t say we can’t. Say We can”

It’s time for a change. A change in our football system. Don’t say we can’t. Say we can.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Send your comments about this article Name: Email: Powered by thesitewizard.com