Confirmed: The FA Cup Match AFC Wimbledon Emphatically Did Not Want

A Perfunctory Result, A Painful Reality

On Monday evening at Kingsmeadow, it looked as though York City should have been comfortable. They were ahead in their FA Cup First Round replay before a red card and an unexpected equaliser for the home side changed the match entirely. A last-minute York goal pushed the tie to extra time, but Wimbledon eventually prevailed by the odd goal in seven.

That dramatic 4-3 victory confirmed the fixture that many associated with the club simply did not want. The weekend after next, AFC Wimbledon will travel north to Buckinghamshire. They will face the club that occupies the Football League place once held by their own.

The Dilemma for Supporters

For the next two and a half weeks, familiar arguments will resurface. The lords of the Buckinghamshire manor will likely seek to maximise the public relations opportunities afforded by the media spotlight, attempting to astroturf the occasion. Their manager, Karl Robinson, has already displayed a certain tone-deafness, his reaction to the draw being one of unbridled excitement. “I was made up,” he said. “I did a dance around the living room in excitement. I’d love it to happen. It’s one I want. It needs to happen.”

This is not “just another match” for the supporters of AFC Wimbledon.

For them, this is not an occasion for banter or to be treated as some grand local derby. Many now face a genuine crisis of conscience. To attend is to hand over money to the very entity built upon the theft of their club’s league place. A significant number will not travel under any circumstances. If the away end has swathes of empty seats, it will not be because Wimbledon have “no fans” or “don’t care enough”. It will be a principled stand.

A Victory That Feels Like a Loss

The argument that the original Wimbledon “didn’t deserve a club” in 2002 is not only morally repugnant but factually incorrect. The fact that the supporter-owned club won its way back into the Football League does not mitigate the events of ten years ago. That club in Buckinghamshire remains a pariah in English football for a reason. Elsewhere, in a much less fraught tie, full-time professionals beat part-time opponents from the Southern Football League Premier Division 6-1, a reminder that on the pitch, money often talks loudest.

There are few positives. Perhaps there is a boil that needs to be lanced. Perhaps the club will benefit financially from those who boycott the trip and instead donate their ticket money directly to AFC Wimbledon. But everything about this game shouts ugliness. No amount of PR spin can obscure what AFC Wimbledon supporters have built, and when this FA Cup tie is over, that fundamental truth will remain.