The Men’s Berks & Bucks Senior FA Cup has had a fantastic week in the spotlight, with some brilliant games of football played. Some tense moments, some scalps and a penalty shootout – everything you would expect from cup football.
I love the County Cup. In fact, I think there should only be three Cup competitions for non-league clubs. The FA Cup, FA Trophy/Vase and County Cup. Abolish all League Cups.
The B&B have done a brilliant job over the last few years expanding the scope of their senior men’s competition, which has been running for 148 years and is only seven years younger than the FA Cup. It’s got the history.
But too often it’s maligned by us supporters, and I think that’s a shame, because if this week showed anything, there’s much life in the old dog yet.
So here are some thoughts on how to boost the competition and its profile going forward. These are not in any way criticisms of the competition or of the Berks & Bucks FA, just to be clear. Merely some thoughts on how to take it forward and make it something supporters will come out for.
Each round of matches take place on the same night
This week was a beautiful example of the excitement that can be generated by a concentrated moment for a competition.
Where the FA Cup coalesces around a weekend for each round, the County Cup followed on Tuesday night with all seven matches of the Third Round taking place and reaching conclusion – including one penalty shootout win for Burnham at Maidenhead United.
It was a compelling evening of concentrated action; there was chatter on social media about the draw and decent engagement for us at the full-time whistle.
Fingers crossed the same thing can happen for the Quarter Finals with Reading FC finally entering the action.
Pro-clubs start earlier
Speaking of Reading. The Royals need to lead by example here as Berkshire’s senior football club. There are probably reasons within the club, schedules and the like, as to why they aren’t coming in until the Quarter-Finals, but if MK Dons and Wycombe Wanderers can begin in the First and Second Rounds, then so should they.
The benefit isn’t necessarily to the pro club here. It is to the non-league club that hosts them (one excellent rule is that the three pro clubs always travel in the Berks & Bucks Cup). The crowds aren’t quite what they used to be, but will still be higher and financially beneficial to the host club.
One suggestion would be to pre-draw the First and Second Rounds, with the pro clubs being given a bye to the Second Round. That way, six clubs in the First Round would be battling for a home tie against a professional outfit.
Make more of the County rivalry
The Berks & Bucks FA is one of only a handful of County FAs that explicitly cover more than one county by name. Lots cover multiple counties due to historic boundary changes (and the B&B has challenges there as well), but I’d like to see more made of the county split.
I can’t decide if I think it should be Berkshire teams vs Berkshire teams until the Quarter Finals, or Berks vs Bucks teams until the Quarter Finals.
I think I favour the former, with more very local derbies generating increased interest early on. The complications lie in the number of clubs with B&B affiliation now officially in Wiltshire or Oxfordshire, such as Shrivenham and Wantage Town, and you would undoubtedly have to fudge it somewhere along the line because of the number of teams from each area, which would change season to season.
For 2026/27 I make the breakdown in the men’s Senior Cup competition as follows: Berkshire (19 teams), Buckinghamshire (18 teams), Other (4 teams) our of a total of 41.
Additional debates
Where the Final is held, at least in the men’s competition, is always a furious debate. If it’s bigger sides in the Final, fans aren’t necessarily keen on what they’d call an ‘inferior’ ground to the level (that’s not really up for debate; it happens!)
Then there’s location, if it is deemed to far one way or the other. I’d like to see the Final venue chosen at the start of the season, and it rotated around the senior grounds (a logistical and scheduling challenge, admittedly).
A live draw is something Football in Berkshire tried with the County FA a few years ago, to the general apathy of the audience, unfortunately.
I think it could work if, like this week, the matches have all taken place at the same time and it’s communicated when the draw will be held later in the week (which it very much has done).
Do you agree? Or do you have your own ideas to boost the competition? Let me know in the comments below.
