Upton Park to stage Vase final

Brooking, former West Ham United and England midfielder, made the draw for the next stage of the exciting non-league cup competition at the Boleyn Ground. Now a leading radio and TV pundit, Brooking spent his entire football career with the Hammers, making more than 600 appearances, and was capped 47 times for England.

Speaking exclusively to TheFA.com at the draw, Brooking revealed that his football career did not end with his departure from West Ham United. He said:

"After I packed up for West Ham I went and played Sunday morning football for Havering Nalgo in the Brentwood league. "I played for them for about ten or twelve years. I had to pay my £2 a week subs. The only concession the lads used to give me was not having to take 14 sets of muddy kit home for my wife to wash!"

Having twice won The FA Cup, scoring the only goal of the 1980 final against Arsenal, Brooking knows how much the cup competition for non-league players from the lower divisions means. In fact, this season's final of The FA Vase will be played on the same day he scored the winning header against Arsenal 22 years ago.

He said: "When you get to the last 64 you keep your fingers crossed that you are going to get a home draw and not be drawn against one of the fancied sides away. 

"If you get to the last 16 it gets really serious and you start wondering whether it could be your year."
For the 64 teams who have made it through to the Third Round Proper, this is the equivalent of The FA Cup. Brooking said:

"It's very special to get to this stage of the competition and there's a lot of expectancy. "The clubs who had a good result in the Second Round at the weekend have savoured it and celebrated it and now move on to the next challenge."

At the draw earlier this afternoon, last season's winners Whitley Bay were presented with a replica of The FA Vase as a lasting reminder of their victory over Tiptree United.

Manager Andy Gowens said:

"It's a great honour for the club to be presented with a replica of the FA Vase. It is something for the players and the supporters to treasure.

"We hope to get the real thing back this season but there is a long way to go before we can start talking about that. Saturday was a really hard game against Billingham Synthonia in the Second Round Proper. We will not get any harder games than that."

The FA and Carlsberg revealed at the draw that West Ham United will stage the final of this season's competition on May 10, 2003. Brooking said:

"I am delighted that West Ham has been selected for the final this year. It's a great ground. I think it's important that if you have worked your way through to the final that it is played in a good quality stadium. Whoever is lucky enough to get through on May 10 will really enjoy the occasion."

Keep logged on to TheFA.com over the course of the season to see which two teams will be battling it out on May 10th for the 2002/03 FA Vase.