I sometimes work at Wembley - now I'm going back for the FA Vase final

Biggs works in the communications department for the FA and on Sunday, May 22 he will be playing at Wembley for non-league side Littlehampton Town.

The 30-year-old worked alongside his colleagues to produce content across England social media channels throughout the memorable 2020 Euro championships last summer.

The Staffordshire University graduate plays in the number ten role for Littlehampton, who sit top of the Southern Combination League and eased into the final with a 4-0 victory at home to Loughborough Students last Saturday and became the first side from Sussex to reach the Vase final.

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The whole experience is a dream come true for the FA employee. “You can’t forget you’re playing at Wembley and it’s probably beyond all our wildest dreams,” he said.

“The semi-final was like ‘I can’t believe I’m playing a match of football where the prize is going to Wembley’, so now it’s more, ‘I can’t believe I’m going to play at Wembley, in a competitive game, not just a staff kickabout’.”

49 pictures of the semi-final win that got Littlehampton Town to Wembley.

Littlehampton will be taking on Newport Pagnell Town of the United Counties League Premier Division South. Newport reached the final at Wembley after knocking out Hamworthy Town 6-5 on penalties.

In his role at the FA, the former Southampton employee produces tweets from the England and FA accounts – and even had to wish his own side for the quarter-finals.

“I put a post out at the quarter-final stage saying good luck to all involved in the FA Trophy and FA Vase, someone messaged me and said why are you wishing yourself good luck?

“And after this round there was a post, and it is the FA’s competition, so you must promote it to congratulate the four teams going to non-league finals day.”

Littlehampton boast an incredible following for a non-league side and progressed through to the final in front of the sold-out Sportsfield.

Biggs was in awe of the support and expects an even bigger turnout for the trip up to Wembley in May,

“Honestly, I find it mad when I turn up and see 3,000 fans packed around, to see that turnout has been incredible,” he said.

“You don’t get that level of support, especially at the level we play at. The atmosphere they create in the stands is special. We’ve been given just over 6,000 tickets; I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ll be asking the FA for more. “

Despite making it all the way to the final, Littlehampton did lose in the fourth round 5-0 to Athletic Newham but were reinstated into the competition after it was found that their opponents had fielded an ineligible player.

Biggs started dreaming of glory after the fifth-round match against Brockenhurst where the Marigolds were missing several players including Biggs himself.

“The guys went 3-1 up but Brockenhurst scored two late goals, it went straight to penalties and when we won that, I thought, we might have a chance here.”

The 30-year-old is no stranger to professional football, having worked previously at Crawley Town F.C and Southampton FC, which limited his own football career as he had to work weekends.

Biggs has only returned to Saturday football in the past few years as he has had more free time but some of the Littlehampton players have been there for years,

“For them this dream of ever playing at Wembley faded for a lot of us when we were failed footballers. For them I feel more excited than for myself. I still pinch myself, it’s still exciting for me but for them it feels one step further.”

Biggs worked throughout the summer with the nation’s heroes who performed brilliantly throughout the tournament such as captain Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw.

But he said: “I haven’t asked any of the England players for advice, I think a few of the FA staff will be coming to the game.”

Despite what could be the most successful season of his playing career, the former Crawley employee will be retiring from his playing days at the end of the season.

“I will be stopping playing after the Wembley game, I promise I had already decided to, I was already going to pack it in, finish up playing at the end of this season.”

Biggs has a busy time ahead with the Women’s European championships this summer and then the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in November – and playing non-league football is a big commitment on top of that.

“It’s quite time-consuming, Saturdays are taken up by playing football. I have to travel up to London on a Tuesday and a Wednesday for work which then means getting back in time for a game, finishing up late and then needing to be on the train at 6am the following day isn’t always easy.”