Welcome aboard the home of Hype Train Football Club. The 2020/21 grassroots football season is just around the corner, with HTFC beginning life in East Berkshire Football League's Division 1 on Saturday 3rd October away from home against Iver Heath FC. As part of the season, cup fixtures were announced tonight for all EBFL clubs ahead of the new season. All aboard.
Hype Train FC Cup Competition Schedule:
With an 8-game pre-season schedule almost done and dusted, if the coronavirus pandemic does not bring grassroots football to a grinding halt, we will begin life away at Iver Heath in Division 1 action on Saturday 3rd October 2020. This is followed by a home league encounter against Hambleden FC on 10th October, before we make the trip to one of our on-field rivals, Stoke Poges Saints, on 17th October 2020.
Aside from league action, and with smaller sized leagues in place to combat a potentially early end to the season, EBFL member clubs have been able to fill their spots in several cup competitions, with multiple draws taking place on Thursday 24th September 2020 at an EBFL Committee meeting.
One outside cup competition we will be competing in is the Maidenhead & Norfolkian Cup, with the Blue & Gold set to face Phoenix Old Boys' 4th squad at home. If successful, we will face a quarter-final away from home against Iver Heath FC or Old Windsor FC Reserves.
Elsewhere, we have chosen to be part of the Legea Ultimate XI Cup, an innovative cup competition that was ended prematurely last season due to the spread of the pandemic last season. The competition features a group stage, followed by two mini-tournaments for the winners of the groups and the runners-ups of each group. Drawn into Group C, we will take on AFC Winkfield's Reserve outfit and the only two teams from the newly-minted EBFL Development Division, Chalfont St Peter FC and Wokingham & Emmbrook.
The draw for the Ascot & Fielden Charity Cup, with the club reaching the semi-final last season without seeing out the fixture list, has yet to be announced, though the club will be involved again next season.
Internally, due to our elevation into Division 1, we are no longer eligible to compete in the EBFL Presidents Cup, though we were drawn away from home to divisional rivals, Townmead FC, in the EBFL League Cup, the cup competition featuring all EBFL member clubs.
Player-Manager Robert Austin on the start of the EBFL season:
"The entire squad that are joining us for the second season know how much we enjoyed a cup competition - our excellent efforts in the EBFL League Cup, the Ascot & Fielden Charity Cup and the Berks & Bucks FA Junior Cup, were definite highlights of our season.
Looking ahead, we are ecstatic with the Legea Cup draw - we have somehow managed to avoid teams in our own division and the EBFL Premier Division. There's two young development teams as well as AFC Winkfield to contend with - making us the team in the highest division within the group, so naturally we are a scalp - but of course we don't take anything for granted and will not have our guard down, but we feel that the competition is there to attack and progress if we apply ourselves.
Additionally, we're looking forward to a tough trip to Townmead in the League Cup - they're a strong and much-improved side - I'm expecting a good, tightly-contested game between the two sides when it comes time to kick-off.
There's then the curious case of Phoenix Old Boys - when paired together last season in cup competition it took over half a year for our eventual game to be played due to poor weather conditions that followed the fixture, so fingers crossed for dry conditions this fall.
Now the cup ties have been made, and with the season quickly upon us, good luck to everyone involved in these cup draws and maybe see you down the line."
View the club's cup opponents below:
Want to know more about The Hype Train?
The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in Fantasy sports reporting, starting with Fantasy Premier League (FPL), before expanding to MLS Fantasy coverage in 2018.
We pride ourselves in providing beautiful graphics, statistics, in-depth analytical reporting and free weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb rankings tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review games, live sport, and professional wrestling.
In 2019, Hype Train Football Club was formed, becoming the first Fantasy Football website to take to the field. HTFC is a socially active team across social and web channels, providing regular match highlights, match reports, comprehensive player statistics and unique player profiles.
The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog' in 2016 by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), and were again shortlisted as a finalist in 2019 in the 'Best Fantasy Football Blog' category.
You can follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, follow Hype Train FC on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive content, or visit our website here at www.thehypetrain.co.uk
All aboard.
