Wembley date for Exeter City Men’s Disability Team
Exeter City Men’s Disability Team secured victory in The FA People’s Cup in partnership with BBC Get Inspired this weekend and got their dream ticket to the Emirates FA Cup Final in the process.
The team’s journey started as one of over 6,000 teams to sign up, and they competed in the first round in February. They then progressed through their regional semi-final to qualify for the national final in Birmingham.
As well as being named the best amateur team in the country within the adult male disability Premier League category, the team will now receive tickets to the Emirates FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on 27th May and receive their trophy on the pitch.
Coach John Coles had as much reason for pride as anyone in the competition after coaching his son Josh as part of the team. Coles took over as caretaker manager in November and described the team then as “rock bottom.” Coles had no doubt of the potential though and credited the team. “They’ve picked themselves up. It’s been a long hard road to get here and they deserve this. We had a bad start today but they picked themselves up with great team spirit. We had all different goalscorers in the final which says a lot about the team and how they all work together.”
Josh Coles, who scored the opening goal in the 4-1 victory over South Tyneside in the final, agreed. “Every single player deserves credit. We had a rocky start, but everyone put a shift in.”
England Cerebral Palsy captain Jack Rutter was in attendance watching The FA People’s Cup finals and full of praise for the different disability categories on show. “It’s hugely important having three categories now because the spectrum of disability is massive. You can be really impaired in your movement, or have a more minor disability, so it’s more even and everyone can compete. Congratulations and well done to Exeter City, and also to the other teams who took part. You learn more from losing than you do winning so pick yourselves up and we’ll hopefully see you next year.”
Kelly Simmons, Director of Participation and Development at The FA, was pleased to see disability categories so well represented. Simmons said “Congratulations to Exeter City on their incredible performance in the finals. As the governing body of the sport and we’re passionate about providing football ‘For All’. The FA People’s Cup reflects that and it’s great seeing teams like Exeter City enjoying their football alongside the other categories. We hope they enjoy their trip to Wembley!”
The FA People’s Cup attracted a record 45,000 amateur players in total across sixteen different categories of the tournament with the number of participants up in every category from last year. This year’s tournament, the third year the FA has run its flagship grassroots competition, also saw the exciting inclusion of the higher education category for the first time.
The winners for each category can be seen below:
• U14 (male) – Sproatley Juniors
• U14 (female) – Kingston Select
• U16 (male) – Dorking Wanderers
• U16 (female) – Sprowston Girls
• Adults (male) – Woolpack United
• Adults (female) – Plymouth FC
• Higher Education (male) – Filthy Fellas
• Higher Education (female) – Wockey FC
• Veterans (over-35s, male) – Liberties Vets
• Veterans (over-35s, female) – Hackney Jurassics
• Walking (50+ and mixed) – Wokingham UB50s
• Disability (youth mixed) - Cedarsfield
• Disability Premiership (male) – Exeter City
• Disability Championship (male) – Warriors
• Disability Division One (male) – Portland
• Disability (female) – Aston Villa
Catch up with all the winning posts from the competition on Twitter with @FA and @BBCGetInspired and show your support your local teams using #PeoplesCup
