David versus Goliath match-ups are the bread and butter of football’s knockout cup folklore. And in the FFA Cup it doesn’t get much more David and Goliath than the Glebe Gorillas of the Sydney Amateur Football League taking on the National Premier League’s Manly United.
The Gorillas travel to Manly’s Cromer Park on April 20 to try and keep their unlikely run alive.
The Gorillas are only six years old, but have powered through this year’s tournament without conceding a goal. Their past two matches have been comprehensive 3-0 and 4-0 victories over the Yagoona Lions and Penrith Rovers respectively.
They take on a Manly United side who are sitting in fourth on the NSW Premier Leagues table. They are also in a rich vein of form, having dispatched of the Gladesville Ravens 8-1 in their last FFA Cup outing.
The Gorillas almost didn’t make it to the FFA Cup this year. They were on the brink of bankruptcy in January before being bailed out by the Tudor Hotel in Redfern, with the pub coming on as the Gorillas’ sponsor.
The potential for upsets is at the core of the romance of the FFA Cup and cups like it. The part-timers taking on the full-timers, the plumbers and cabinet makers taking on the hair-styled pros, the fifth-division Jamie Vardys of 2011 taking on the Champions League-bound Jamie Vardys of 2016.
While the FFA Cup is still in its infancy in Australia, the potential for these romantic match ups is clear. While the Gorillas are a long way from taking on Melbourne City or the Western Sydney Wanderers just yet, they are determined to press on.
Manager Adam Burns said the team wouldn’t be content to have made it so far. Burns added the side wouldn’t be intimidated by the trip to Manly.
“For us the real giant killing would be knocking Manly out in their own backyard. We’re yet to concede a goal in the tournament and have only conceded three in the league so far, but it will be some feat if we manage to keep Manly’s strikers quiet,” Burns said.
Football fans have agitated for a country-wide knockout cup for decades and if the Gorillas can spring an upset and make it through to the next round, their cries will have been vindicated.
The Glebe Gorillas take on Manly United on April 20 at Cromer Park, Manly, at 7:15pm.
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