Premiership vs Carling and FA Cups

Just a day after Premier League runners-up Chelsea won the FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium against new EPL champions Manchester United 1-0 after extra time, earning them a double league cup and making history as only the third team to win both cups, questions as to the relevance of meaning of either or both cups emerge. Is winning both titles more important than winning the Premiership? Did Chelsea make up for their loss by winning both cups? Do the Red Devils have nothing to fret over, losing the FA Cup to earn them a double? Do the Carling and FA Cup even compare to the Premier League?

Premier League's status comes from the fact that it is the top flight league in England. Teams from five other lower leagues attempt to inch their way to the top every season to reach the Premiership, where the strongest teams survive and the weakest get relegated. To use a simple analogy, those at the Premiership are at the peak of the mountain. There's nowhere else for them to go but down; those at the top only have to maintain their position. The idea of competing against the cream of the crop on the pitch, that is the best teams to have made it this far, gives birth to the idea that nothing else is more prestigious than winning the Premiership. Carling Cup and the FA Cup are mere bonuses. But are they?

The question posed by some people as to the value of either cups pushed me to think about the issue. Are they really less valuable? Pondering over the matter, I realized it is not. Its less prestigious and mere 'bonus-only' status stems from the idea that on the way to the championship, each finalist faces at times teams weaker in all aspects, providing an easy alley to the trophy. Take for instance Chelsea. Admittedly, Macclesfield, Nottingham Forest and Norwich City are weaker in the sense that they belong to League 2, League 1, and the Championship, respectively. Results even showed we faced the weaker side, with the Blues scoring six, three, and four goals, respectively against each team. On the other hand, United faced Premiership teams Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Reading. However, this gives the impression that had the Blues faced teams as tough as United did, they wouldn't have made the finals.

Another reason why the view that both league cups are inferior is biased is that people forget that while opponents could come from lower leagues, they are just as capable to cause an upset. Best example, Southend United beating Manchester United in the Carling Cup, leading them to an early exit. Middlesbrough also almost lost the race early on as their fourth and fifth rounds were decided by penalties, winning against Championship side West Bromwich Albion and League One team Bristol City. During the third round Hull City also gave them a good race. Prior to the finals, Chelsea faced a tough challenge against lower half Premier League team Blackburn Rovers, while Manchester United faced Watford.

Focusing on the FA Cup, there's so much more upset to remember. West Ham, a Premier League team then, lost to Swansea City, which belonged to Division 3, 1-0 in 1998/99 season; Leicester City, from the EPL, lost 2-1 to Wycombe Wanderers from Division 2 in 2000/01; and Everton, also from the EPL, lost to Shrewsbury Town from Division 3 in 2002/03 also with 2-1.

Finally, if there's anything more beautiful about both Carling and FA Cups than the Premier League, yes there is one, it is that both provide a stage for lower league teams to have a taste of prestige and victory which they don't often feel in their own leagues. It provides a way for them to cause memorable upsets to the teams looked up to by thousands or even millions for belonging to the top flight league. Both might provide an easy way for some of the stronger teams to reach the final but at least for some periods of time, the weaker teams get to stand on equal footing with the giants, making them feel just as big, or even bigger.