The success within the underdog story isn’t always just about the sport. This story delves into Marine’s 2021 FA Cup success and how their breakthrough impacted the club on and off the pitch.
In 2020, Marine AFC, a Crosby based team (coastal town in Merseyside, England) were in the 7th tier of non league, started off their campaign with hopes of a successful season under manager Neil Young. The club wanted to return back to the 6th tier of English football after they received their first ever relegation in the club’s history back in 2019.
The FA Cup became a platform for Marine to showcase themselves to the footballing world and acted as a vehicle to demonstrate their on-pitch success which Neil Young had hand crafted. Teams enter the competition at varying stages, with non league teams competing in the ‘Qualifying Competition’ knockout rounds of the tournament. For context, Premier league teams don’t enter until Round Three of the ‘Competition Proper’, which is actually 9 rounds into the FA Cup.
Marine managed to get to the First Round proper where they faced Colchester United, a League 2 side. Getting this far in the competition was an achievement in itself for a club of Marine’s size and everyone expected their run to end here. This was reflected by the bookkeepers with odds upwards of 10/1 for Marine to win.
Dan Owen-Setty, a Crosby resident and lifelong fan of the club, spoke about the Marines away game against Colchester, “I was watching it in school on my laptop and I was thinking surely we can’t beat a league two side”.
The game ended as a 1-1 draw before Marine beat the professional side 5-3 on penalties in, at the time, the clubs biggest ever win
“And after we won that it became very real, we beat another non league side and it was like we could feasibly get to the Third Round and maybe have a really big team”.
Marine fans’ dream came true as they carried on their historic run by beating Havant and Waterlooville, a fellow non-league side, in Round Two. Niall Cummin’s last minute goal in extra time sealed the deal which entered Marines name into the Round Three draw. Niall’s goal would be immortalised outside the ground with a mural of his celebration, symbolizing the club’s passion and raw emotion.
At this point in the competition Marine were making some real noise as the lowest ranked team left in the cup, with the sport’s biggest names now entering the mix.
Dan Owen-Setty’s belief in Marine only grew as a result, “Every game we played we were like surely it has to stop at some point. It was getting a bit unbelievable”
Marine drew Tottenham Hotspur at home, meaning the league leaders would be heading to Crosby and the Marine Travel Arena. This tie made history with the Mariners (Marine) being 161 league places lower than Spurs (Tottenham), the largest gap between two teams in the history of the FA Cup.
Dan Owen-Setty spoke about the historical draw,
“It was crazy, honestly I don’t normally watch the draw but me and my family did.
Seeing Marine’s name on the screen was crazy, and then seeing we had a home tie and it was against Tottenham of all sides it was just absolutely unreal we all went crazy at home.
“Everyone was getting involved in it, everybody in Crosby knew it was happening”.
Matthew Sexton is a lifelong fan of the club and is part of ‘The Crosender Way’ team (an independent supported group for Marine fans with over three thousand social media followers). He looked back at the FA Cup draw against Tottengam and described it as, “unbelievable really, you couldn’t really ask for a better draw could you…. You just couldn’t believe that it had actually happened”
As Dan Owen-Setty said, everyone was getting involved. Even the neighbouring big clubs such as Liverpool and Everton held out a helping hand. Both clubs offered Marine use of their training grounds ahead of the big clash, with Liverpool even going as far as giving the non league side their scouting analysis about the Spurs side.
Local schools got behind the club as well. Merchant Taylors’ Boys School, a five minute walk up the road from the Marine Travel Arena, issued a video in which the headmaster offered his support for the club and urged Marine to, “show them Spurs some Northern steel”.
However, due to the rise of Covid 19, the government had certain restrictions in place which affected the amount of people allowed to gather in one area. Matthew Sexton details, “You couldn’t actually go to watch the match which was really disappointing”. This impacted the Marines’ plans. Originally the club planned to have a low number of fans in the ground socially distancing but a change in restrictions prevented this from happening. This stopped Dan who had a ticket for the game, “I had a physical ticket for it. I was gutted when they announced that the Covid restriction meant that I couldn’t go”.
Usually in FA Cup ties, it is more beneficial for the smaller club to be away from home, because the ticket money is split 50/50. Therefore, you want to go to the bigger grounds and earn more money. However Marine, who still relished the chance to host Spurs, would only be getting half of ticket money at their venue (2,800 capacity), considerably smaller than Tottenham’s new ground in London (62,850 capacity). As a result of the aforementioned restrictions, Marine wouldn’t be receiving any ticket money at all, a huge blow for the 7th tier side.
Consequently, a virtual ticket system was set up. This allowed fans to support the club by purchasing an e-ticket for the game which would later see their names placed on a wall just outside the ground. Tottenham fans found this and decided to support the club before they clashed on the pitch. This led to the purchase of over 30,000 e-tickets, a massive showcase of support for the club whilst providing a huge financial boost. Matthew described this when he said, “the virtual ticket scheme which raised nearly a million pound for the club which would have never have happened if there was fans in the ground and that’s lead to where we are today”.
Unfortunately, Marines FA Cup magic came to a halt as they were beaten 5-0 by Tottenham Hotspur, however it is a day in which the club and locals will never forget. The impact of the game still reverberates around the club to this day.
Since the historic game, Matthew Sexton described how the Mariners went on to achieve two promotions, seeing them reach their highest level of the English pyramid in their history. “we are now two divisions higher competing at the highest level the club have ever been at”. When asked about where future goals for the club Matthew went on to say, “just trying to make use of it and try and climb even further maybe even into the football league”.
How did this impact the club moving forward?
The money which was generated from the club’s sensational run has been put back into the club and surrounding areas. Dan Owen-Setty spoke about the clubs use of the funds, “The club facilities before the Tottenham match were run down
The money that we got from the tv sales, and the virtual ticket sales – which is more than we would have got from normal ticket sales went towards a bar and bistro for the club which is outside the ground and it has become a real place for the community to join in”.
Marine have always been a large part of the local community in Crosby. They even have a dedicated strand in the club called ‘Marine in the Community’ which hosts events and reaches out to those who might need support. During Covid the group made packed lunches and safety delivered them to the elderly of Crosby who couldn’t leave the house or see family. With the increase of funds since the game, the group have only grown and been able to have a greater impact on the local area.
The owners are also planning on putting the money back into the club. Matthew Sexton spoke about the proposed plans, “now looking to move into a completely new stadium as a result of the increased crowds and the increased traction around the club”.
The traction garnered by the club has increased the attendance massively as Matthew Sexton explained that the crowds have ‘quadrupled’ since the Cup run. The game highlighted the club to a lot of people in Crosby who had never really considered going to non-league regularly. A lot of fans who began to feel dissociated from the big clubs such as Liverpool and Everton, found a new home at Marine which provided a family friendly and homely atmosphere.
Marine’s story isn’t just a normal footballing underdog story, there’s millions of those everywhere you look. Marine’s story showcases the beauty of what an underdog story is, as well as what it can do for a small town and a beautiful community.
