The English Game Review
Period dramas aren’t to everyone’s taste, and the story of class wars in Britain has been told over and over again. Sometimes, it’s been told extremely well (I, Daniel Blake for example), but often the theme can be repetitive, insensitive and glamorised. Perhaps the same could be said about the FA Cup — some love it, but nowadays more seem to dislike it. Bringing the two together could be a disaster.
Netflix’s new drama series about the early days of the FA Cup in the late 1800’s however, is another example of this theme being done well. The show is a perfect example of telling a class war story in a sensitive and realistic manner.
Of course, with football being a huge element to the story-telling throughout the series, there will perhaps be more appreciation from viewers who are football fans. But you don’t need to be a fan to understand. Football back in the 1800's was much more simple, in fact there was no such thing as tactics. Pass the ball to someone on your team and keep dribbling until you reach the goal posts. Then shoot. That’s until two football genius’s — Fergus Suter (played by Kevin Guthrie) and Jimmy Love (played by James Harkness) — travel down to England from Scotland to play with a working-class Lancashire team, Darwen.
Darwen had made it to a quarter-final of the FA Cup against the Old Etonians — an upper-class football team. After conceding five goals in the first half, Suter suggests some simple changes such as using players further out as wingers, and they finish the game with a draw. This is our first glimpse of the tactical game we know today.
Football — the FA Cup in particular — is a recurring theme throughout the series, centred around the teams Darwen, Old Etonians and Blackburn. But there are many more layers that are just as captivating. It’s easy to watch a series like this and hate the rich, posh people, and this isn’t much different. There are plenty of characters to dislike for their pompous, ignorant lack of understanding of the hardships working-class people go through every day just to survive. But there are a couple of exceptions.
Arthur Kinnaird, also known as Lord Kinnaird (played by Edward Holcroft) and his wife, Margaret Alma Kinnaird (played by Charlotte Hope) have their eyes widened to the difficulties of living without the wealth and privilege they are lucky enough to have. Instead of burying their heads in the sand though, they both go on separate journeys to find ways of using their status to help people, and come together to be a powerful bridge between classes.
We see the desperation of the working-class after they repeatedly get ignored by those in power. Their already small wages repeatedly get cut, while the rich stay rich. James Walsh (played by Craig Parkinson), who is a member of the cotton guild and owns the mill in Darwen — the only true source of income for the town — tries to stop the cuts, but he is ignored just as the workers are. He eventually decides to act against the guild, and give the workers 5% of their wage back.
A town full of people struggling to get by, worrying every day whether they can afford to feed their family, their only escape is a small, cosy pub. They fight for their voice to be heard, but it gets ignored time and time again by people lucky enough to have the kind of money that could help working-class towns like Darwen. Football becomes not only a distraction from their tough, mundane daily life, but also a way to stand up to the upper-class. To stand as equals, and perhaps one day even beat the rich.
In the current day, we see managers from other countries come to the UK to manage teams such as Manchester City and Liverpool, and every year they argue that the FA Cup puts too much pressure on their players. But this show reminds you just how ingrained the competition is in the creation of this sport. The FA Cup should never be forgotten, it gave a voice to the working-class, and it carries on giving opportunities to smaller clubs, cities and towns.
Hannah Parker
