The 40th season of The FA Trophy starts on Saturday with 51 ties in the Preliminary Round. The teams in Trophy action include one previous winner of the competition and three previous finalists.
Geoff Chapple's Kingstonian actually won it in successive years, in 1999 and 2000, with both victories coming at the old Wembley. K's entertain Whitstable Town at the weekend, with both sides currently in the Isthmian League's Division One South. K's are having a great season, topping their division and still going strong in The FA Cup after knocking out Braintree with Dean Lodge's four-goal haul last Saturday.
The former Trophy finalists are Leatherhead (1978), Mossley (1980) and Leek Town (1990). Leatherhead host Sittingbourne in Saturday's Preliminary Round, Mossley have a home tie with Stocksbridge Park Steels and Leek travel to Lancaster City. Hillingdon Borough re-formed in 1990, 19 years after the old club played in a Trophy Final.
Suprisingly perhaps, there are more than a dozen previous FA Vase Finalists now trying to make progress in the earliest round of The Trophy. They include Brigg Town, Vase winners at Wembley in 1996 and Upton Park in 2003, and AFC Sudbury who were Vase runners-up three years running from 2003 to 2005. Brigg are at home to Willenhall Town, another Vase finalist, and AFC Sudbury go to Waltham Forest.