In front of 21,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, the largest crowd at a sports event in the UK since the onset of the pandemic back in March 2020, Youri Tielemans’ laser beam was all the offense Leicester City would need to knock off European powerhouse Chelsea and secure the FA Cup title for the underdogs.
Nothing will ever rival the improbable 2015-16 Premier League title that Leicester secured 5 years ago. A feat so remarkable (oddsmakers had them at 5,000-1 longshots) that you can almost hear the Hollywood script writers finalizing the screenplay adaptation as we speak. But in the wake of club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s tragic passing in a helicopter crash a year and a half ago, this victory was extra sweet for reasons that extend well beyond sport.
After the full time whistle blew, many Leicester supporters were visibly emotional. It was later revealed that several Leicester players had shirts with Vichai’s face printed on them underneath their uniforms during the game as a tribute to the beloved owner. If the Glazer family (who are the cause of semi-regular protests over their ownership of Manchester United) are at one end of the spectrum in terms of owner/fan relations, then the Srivaddhanaprabha family would be at the polar opposite. Beloved by the Leicester faithful, the family has been a constant presence with the club, and in the community alike since purchasing the team in 2010.
We’re only a few weeks removed from the attempted coup by European powerhouses to break away and form a stand alone Super League. A notion instantly rejected by the majority of fans as elitist, tone deaf, and bad for the sport in general. What the Super League sought to establish (i.e. a license to print even more money for the already uber wealthy owners at the expense of the competition based model of soccer played world wide), Leicester City delivered a resounding argument for why the promotion/relegation system should be kept in place. In a single elimination tournament such as the FA Cup, anything can happen, which is why parameters in the game should be about competition, and not bankrolls.
The FA Cup is the oldest competition in the world of soccer, with origins dating back to 1871. The competition is eligible to any club all the way from the Premier League down to level 10 in the English football league system, making it truly unique in the sense that anyone could win. It’s essentially the epitome of everything the Super League is not, in terms of what it stands for. A record 763 clubs took part in the tournament in 2011-12, a staggering figure that North American sports fans would have a hard time grasping as it would be the equivalent of every MLB/NHL/NFL/NBA team competing multiplied by 6.
While the tournament has lost some of its lustre in recent decades because of the emphasis put on competitions like the Premier League, the FA Cup remains an important trophy in English soccer. Traditional powerhouses such as Arsenal (winner of the FA Cup a record 14 times over) generally rise to the top, however because of the nature of the “win or go home” tournament, it really becomes March Madness on steroids where Cinderella runs are not uncommon. And it’s for exactly that reason, that David can take down Goliath at any point, that the competition will remain an important part of soccer culture across the Atlantic. For although the Super League concept ultimately failed, many of those owners remain oblivious as to why fans were so outraged at the proposal. Perhaps Saturday’s result will give them the wake up call they need.
The 2021 title is Leicester City’s first FA Cup in club history.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner