Pitmen Chat - Independent HTFC Fans Forum

Hoping we might be in two of them...

The list of accepted clubs and round exemptions have been announced and are on the FA website.
We have been accepted into both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. We are exempt until the preliminary round of the FA Cup (to be played 19th August) and we will begin our FA Trophy campaign at the earliest stage, first qualifying round (9th September). This is, of course, as you would expect for a Step 4 club but with what has happened over the last few months it is good to know that we are in and that the ownership difficulty hasn’t stopped us from entering by the required deadlines.

https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/jun/29/ ... s-20233006

I have read on the Darlaston Town website that the draw for the first two rounds of the FA Cup (the second of which will include us) will be released next Friday, 7th July.

daft question but for as long as i can remember htfc have always entered the fa trophy how come never the fa vase? just club preference??

Pitmenftw wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30 2023 1:58 pm daft question but for as long as i can remember htfc have always entered the fa trophy how come never the fa vase? just club preference??

The FA Trophy is for clubs at Steps 1-4 (National League down to Northern Premier League Division 1 West and equivalent).
The FA Vase is only for clubs at Step 5 and 6 (Midland League Premier/Division 1 and the equivalents around the country). We have never played at Step 5 in all the time I’ve supported the Pitmen since the mid 90s, so we have never been eligible to play in it during this time. Older fans on here such as Pitman Keith and Perton Pitman may be able to tell us if we have any FA Vase history from an earlier time.

to my knowledge we've never played in the Vase. Even back in our WML days we entered the trophy every season, but some clubs in the same league entered the Vase with great success. Halesowen made it to Wembley a few times with VS Rugby and Willenhall also making the final.
We had a bit of a blind spot with this in my opinion. We made the last 32 of the trophy in the late 70s, but other than that we had no success at all. In those days there was no hard and fast rule for clubs at that level so some went into the trophy and some the vase.

I think we did reasonably well in the FA Trophy in 2004..



Though suddenly that seems a long time ago



Research shows that the FA Vase was deemed a replacement for the FA Amateur Cup when the distinction was abolished..

But there is also a significant difference in prize money..

https://www.thefa.com/competitions/fa-t ... prize-fund

https://www.thefa.com/competitions/fa-v ... prize-fund

I have just seen on Chasetown’s Twitter that the draws for the first two rounds of the FA Trophy will also be released next Friday, 7th July.

Perton Pitman wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30 2023 2:41 pm to my knowledge we've never played in the Vase. Even back in our WML days we entered the trophy every season, but some clubs in the same league entered the Vase with great success. Halesowen made it to Wembley a few times with VS Rugby and Willenhall also making the final.
We had a bit of a blind spot with this in my opinion. We made the last 32 of the trophy in the late 70s, but other than that we had no success at all. In those days there was no hard and fast rule for clubs at that level so some went into the trophy and some the vase.

There were rules it was down to success grading in your league and ground gradings

Wow, what a couple of draws.

I have never been to RC Warwick but I am a bit torn as to whether I want them to win or Darlaston given that Darlaston is only 10 minutes from my house.

Hopefully Darlaston will overcome Warwick and we can play a side we probably haven't met in a competitive fixture for 40 -ish years.

The game against Walsall Wood in the trophy will be very intriguing

Good to see some local fixtures in these competitions

...as well as a share of the gate money £££££

Cynic...

Darlaston came from behind to win 3-1 so we will be travelling to Bentley in a couple of weeks for a very tough tie.

any one going to Darlo Saturday there isn't a lot of parking so go early

sheriff wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17 2023 12:35 pm any one going to Darlo Saturday there isn't a lot of parking so go early

There’s plenty mate. If the car park is full they open the other gates to an overflow car park (well, it’s just grass). This is what they did when I went to their play-off semi-final against Dudley Town two seasons ago.

sheriff wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17 2023 12:35 pm any one going to Darlo Saturday there isn't a lot of parking so go early

You do know they play in Bentley now mate?

Don't turn up at the old ground, where there was absolutely no parking, that hasn't been used for about 20 years.

yes mate

hear the post code if needed WS2 0EA see you all there4

bigbryg1 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18 2023 10:53 am hear the post code if needed WS2 0EA see you all there4

As per pre- and post-match comments thread...

Del wrote: ↑Thu Aug 17 2023 1:10 pm Match scheduled for: Saturday 19 August - kick-off time: 3:00pm
Venue: The Paycare Stadium, Bentley Road, North Bentley, West Midlands WS2 0EA
Link to opponents official website: https://www.darlastontown1874fc.com/