March 9th 2008 - Middlesbrough FC, UEFA Cup finalists of 2006, are given a masterclass by Cardiff City on their own patch and lose the opportunity to progress to the semi finals of the FA Cup. In this most strange of years in modern FA history, 3 out of 4 teams at the semi final stage - West Bromich Albion, Barnsley and Cardiff City - will come from the second tier of the English game. That guarantees at least one Championship side in the FA Cup Final this May.
1927 is a pretty important year for Cardiff fans. In what has been a brilliant FA Cup run in 2008, 1927 has once again become cliche - the year in which City became the first (and only) Welsh club to ever take the trophy out of England. Now with the 'Big Four' out of the way, City fans believe that they can win the world's oldest football competition and reap the rewards which come with it.
For you see, the Holy Grail of the FA Cup isn't just the right to play the Premier League champions in the Community Shield season opener, nor just the chance to carve themselves into FA Cup history. It is also the gateway into the new dimension of European competition in next season's UEFA Cup. That prospect must be exciting for Portsmouth, Barnsley and West Brom. However for Cardiff the latter prize would only be a pipe dream. Even if they stand victorious at Wembley with the Cup in their grasp, Cardiff would not be playing the likes of Fiorentina or Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup.
In what remains to a bizarre arrangement of national boundary, competitive fairness and strictly bound red-tape, the Welsh teams which ply their trade in the English game linger in limbo when it comes to European competition. The teams who are affected - Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham in the professional tiers and Newport County, Merthyr Tydfil and Colwyn Bay in the English non-league pyramid - are simply 'associated members' of the league and their participation is based upon the foundation of certain 'rules'. One of these rules is that they would not be able to represent the FA (or England) in European competition, as they are Welsh clubs who are under the jurisdiction of the FAW (the Welsh FA). Bit of a bummer really.
Now that Michel Platini, the UEFA kingpin, has decided to look at giving Cardiff special dispensation into Europe if they were to win the FA Cup, the FA have sprung into action by also guaranteeing a review into the matter. AS Monaco have rubbed shoulders with Man Utd in the Champions League in the past, yet they come from a principality even smaller than our own. Yet they play in Ligue 1 and have the chance to play in Europe as French representatives. So why can't Cardiff do the same?
If only it was that simple. Monaco doesn't have a national league - but ever since 1995, Wales has. Back in the day the likes of Cardiff and Swansea freely competed in Europe through winning the Welsh Cup. But when the Welsh Premier League was set up FIFA and the FA stated that only teams in that league could contend for places in Europe to represent Wales. Seeing that the six English league Welsh teams wanted to stay in the English league (whilst the likes of Barry Town and Bangor City went into the Welsh Premier) they were unable to play in the Welsh Cup as well, as they played in the English league and their own cups.
Thus, since 1995, the teams participating in Europe to represent Wales were purely from the Welsh football league system - not including the exiles of above six teams. And let's be fair - Welsh they maybe through and through, and although there is growing improvement from the Welsh Premier crop, they stand little chance of progressing very far in Europe.
It all seemed a bit silly, especially when back over the last 30-40 years the legality of European qualification was a headache for the teams who played in the Marches. Whilst the FA states that the 'Welsh exiles' can't play in Europe by winning their cups, we invited the likes of Shrewsbury and Hereford to compete in the Welsh Cup but because they were English; we refused them a route into Europe as a Welsh representative. This tat-for-tat has denied true winners of what is rightfully theirs for decades.
So what is a modern answer? Is there a way of giving true winners the rewards they deserve and transcend the boundary of Offa's Dyke?
Big Sam Hammam once said that he would make sure Cardiff City would play Barcelona one day in the Champions League in a golden era of the football club. I wonder how he was going to arrange that, considering that it was never possible under the rules! But that does bring up an important consideration if Cardiff and Swansea - who both look to be on the rise - do make it to the Premier League.
I might be optimistic, but I know one day a Welsh club like Cardiff or Swansea could be contending for a European place in the Premiership season after season. This legality would therefore keep cropping up and up and there is no doubt that with so much money to be had in the game today, the Welsh clubs will undoubtedly fight tooth and nail to get the European place they deserve. A solution should be found - even if it means they become 'English'.
It is clear that if City want to have the money and have the chance to play in Europe, they have to become an English club in the eyes of the FA and the world. This would mean being based in England. Chester City actually play their home games in Wales, whilst their offices are in England - but of course the Anglo-Welsh border does run through the city boundary.
As much as I would like the FAW to become stronger and have a league system just like our Celtic cousins up north, it is clear that the Exiles are a lost cause. The sooner we tidy up the techicalities of national origin, the sooner the Welsh exiles can get settled into the league they truly want to be a part of.
