Budweiser Cup

Clubs have US owners. Now we have a US brewery sponsoring the Football Association Cup aka FA Cup.

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and pre-dates everything except the formation of the very first clubs, after all, you need clubs to take part. More here: http://www.thefa.com/thefacup/more/history

Okay the beer purporting to be Budweiser is made over here and used to be owned, along with Pillsbury and Burger King, by a former employer of mine called Grand Metropolitan. My interest died in 1991 when we were laid off.

I have rarely drunk the brand. The US version was a cross between a chemical spillage and washing up water, albeit after the dishes had been removed. The UK version is bland and just another pilsner/lager.

The Czech version is however a different proposition. A decent strong flavoured pilsner not from Plzen (the city that gave its name to the type of beer) but České Budejovice in southern Bohemia. Not an attractive town but worth a visit for the beer and breweries; Budweis Budvar and another called Pivovar Samson.

Of the two, I prefer Samson to the blue and white labelled Budweis.

I last went in the 90's for a day trip from Zastávka when I had a day off school. The youth hostel was basic and the beer halls very "rustic" but the beer was perfectly served up.

So where was this going before I got side tracked?

Oh yes, the FA Cup. What is called the First Round Proper gets underway this weekend. Small local clubs however been playing through a myriad of rounds to get this far and by November, there are a few minnows looking to make their names, fame and fortune, at the expense of bigger fish.

Good luck to the minnows.