Macbeth, ACT I SCENE I (abridged), by William Shakespeare

(Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches in blue and white bobble hats and scarves)

First Witch: When shall Fitz and Homerton meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch: When the Michaelmas term is done.

When the football’s lost and won.

First Witch: Where the place?

Second Witch: Long Road Pitches.

Third Witch: There to meet with Fitzwilliam.

First Witch: I come, Joe Lockhart!

Third Witch: Cuppers calls!

Second Witch: Anon!

Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Athens and Sparta. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Liam and Noel Gallagher. Homerton and Fitzwilliam. Rivalries that transcend history, space, and time.

Later today (26/11) at 7:30pm, legions of eager fans will descend to Homerton’s new sports pitches on Long Road to witness the latest installment of the Fitz-Homerton saga, as these two Goliaths of college football face off in the 2nd Round of this year’s Cuppers tournament.

Recent history

The to and fro between the two sides extends beyond the fresh memory of the Cuppers 2020-21 final, in which Fitz triumphed 1-2 to take home the silverware.

Reaching back to the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, neither side was able to come away with victory in their league run-ins, sharing 1-1 draws on both occasions.

From then it wasn’t until 2019-20 that the two sides came face-to-face with each other once again, as Homerton suffered the agonies of relegation in 2014. A Cuppers 2nd Round tie was on the cards in 2016-17, but Homerton bitterly fell to 1st Round defeat against Gonville & Caius I.

2019-20 was graced with two encounters between the rivals, with Fitz storming to both a 0-6 league victory and 1-3 (AET) Cuppers win in the 2nd Round.

With Homerton failing to come out on top against Fitz in the best part of a decade, today will either see that streak snap or hold.

Words from the Captains

The match is ‘season defining’. We’ve already had so many ups and downs and have been struggling to field a full strength team to build momentum in the league, but winning against Downing after having been 5-3 down in Cuppers was the highlight of my whole college football career. The last final was a day to remember, even though we ended up losing in what was a very tight match. It was a fantastic experience where we learnt a lot about our opponents that we hope to use against them this time around. Fitz have obviously got quality all over the pitch, but we know we can match them player for player and take the game to them. - Joe Lockhart, Homerton

This game is about as big as a 2nd Round Cuppers match can get. We’re looking to win it for a sixth time in a row and they want to avenge their loss in the final, but we want to show that the win last year wasn’t luck - despite the claims made by the Homerton squad since the game. A win for us here would set us up perfectly to defend our title so it obviously means a lot. They have a great player from Hughes Hall [Vadim Bakatin] who, combined with Blues Vice Captain Louie Roberts and their other quality university and college players, will make them a tougher match than our previous league fixtures. Although we’ve had a good start to the current league season, it’s important to us to show that we can go into higher quality matchups, especially away from home, and still produce the results in front of opposition fans. Love makes us strong, but their hate makes us unstoppable. - Sonny McPherson & Tom Randall, Fitzwilliam

Players to watch

Homerton

Liam Matthews: 1st-Round Cuppers hero, after coming on against Downing I to produce a Tim Krul-esque performance for the penalty shoot-out with an injured elbow. Cat-like reflexes, hawk-like vision, pitbull-like aggression. Peaky Blinders-like accent.

Vadim Bakatin: With the experience of once playing alongside Kylian Mbappé at AS Monaco under-19s level, Bakatin joined Homerton as a free agent earlier this month. In what will be his debut for the side, the attacker is certainly a wildcard - an unknown quality.

Fitzwilliam

Lumi Kanwei: Built like a monster truck yet plays like a rolls royce. Kanwei has been tearing up the college Premier League so far this season, with seven goals to lead the top-scorer table by some margin. But he has never scored against Homerton...

Sonny McPherson: As comfortable on the ball as he is cutting shapes around the Lola’s dancefloor during ‘Sunday Life’. Similar to David Beckham, both in play-style and dodgy haircut. He currently has five assists to his name in the 2021-22 college football campaign.

Predictions

Liam Kline (Senior Sports Editor): Homerton 1-3 Fitzwilliam

Sasha Grantham (Staff Writer): Homerton 3-2 Fitzwilliam

Tele Agusto (Staff Writer): Homerton 1-4 Fitzwilliam