Any team can apply to enter the FA Cup, if they have already played in the FA Vase or FA Trophy. A record 624 teams were accepted this year, including Team Bath FC...

History will be made this weekend in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, as a University team takes part in the world's most famous cup competition for the first time in 122 years.

A team from Bath University will face Barnstaple Town this Saturday, hoping to progress towards the competition proper. They will be looking to emulate the last university sides to play in the competition, Oxford and Cambridge, who both played in season 1879-80.

The team could not be better prepared as it has the backing of top-class physiologists, conditioning experts and specialist coaches, and the football club gears training to each player's needs.

The reality for the players is somewhat less glamorous however. Most of the players are kept afloat by student loans and share digs with other students. Midfielder John Nicholls is Team Bath's star player. He had three years at Torquay United and is often compared to David Beckham, because his girlfriend used to be in a Spice Girls tribute band!

"It's really exciting to be playing in the first round. There is going to be a real buzz about the game and we are all looking forward to it", said Nicholls.

The driving force behind the emergence of the team is 84-year-old Ivor Powell, a star footballer with Aston Villa and QPR in the 30s and 40s and now president of the university's football club.

Team Bath FC brands itself as the country's first semi-professional university football club. It players are recruits from the reject lists of professional and semi-pro clubs. They give the players two-year contracts, full-time training and semi-pro standard competition. It also provides them with a taste of university education through its tailor-made HND course in coach education and sports performance.

The team compete in the Screwfix Western League Premier Division and have achieved a highest attendance of 23 this season. The expectation is that that may well be topped this weekend.