One 30,000th of a Trophy is Mine!

As I wait by the mailbox for my 0.003% of a trophy to arrive, it’s my pleasure to announce that Ebbsfleet United has won the FA Trophy, the other other cup in English football. For those that aren’t aware that such a thing exists, the FA Trophy, technically the Johnstone Paint Trophy for sponsorship purposes, is the cup competition for the four levels of English football directly below the football league, including the Conference, the Southern League, etc. Ebbsfleet, formerly Gravesend and Northfleet, went to Wembley for the first time ever today and dispatched Torquay United 1-0. As one of the 30,000 people that sent in their cash in exchange for the right to tell a perfectly good manager what to do, I now have my first football silverware … kind of.

The goal was courtesy of former Torquay man Chris McPhee, a little additional salt in the wound for the Gulls. McPhee had a rollercoaster of a day at Wembley, first having a weak penalty saved by Torquay keeper Martin Rice, then making up for it with his goal. There was plenty of back and forth, with good chances for each side. Torquay probably had their clearest chance in the second half, when a Tim Sills header was cleared off of the line by Ebbsfleet defender Stacy Long. The Fleet-dominated crowd was already wild long before the whistle blew, and went absolutely mad after it, as the trophy goes to a Kent side for the first time in its 39-year history.

I suppose that since the trophy itself has been around over a hundred years, originally meant for an international competition that never got off of the ground, I shouldn’t really want to see it ripped into 30,000 parts and distributed among us internet owners. I’ll settle for visiting it next time I’m in Kent. Still, a trophy for the team is one hell of a return on my £35 Myfootballclub membership investment, and not a bad start for the concept of internet ownership.

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Category: England, World Football