I'm not the world's greatest sports fan (probably in the bottom 10%), but my English ancestry comes to the fore this time of the year because tomorrow night our time will be the FA Cup Final- the biggest event on the football calendar (that's real football as opposed to the various brands of carry-ball). Having said that, I won't be staying up late on Saturday night to watch it.

This year is a testimony to the traditional English triumph of muddling through. The finalists are Cardiff City and Portsmouth.

"So what?" you are thinking.

Cardiff is in Wales which was not a drama years ago, but apparently it is now… not its geographical location but the fact that a Welsh team could win the FA Cup.

Back in the Dark Ages (before desktop computers were invented), the English Football League incorporated teams from Wales and Northern Ireland. In fact, the victory in 1922 by Swansea (another Welsh team) led to the renaming of the English Football Cup to the FA Cup.

Over the last couple of decades, Wales and Northern Ireland have instituted their own football leagues and FA Cups- the Scots have always been independent blighters. But some of the remaining Welsh clubs have elected to stay in the English League because the standard of competition is higher and more prestigious (which equals more money).

Parallel with this muddlesome structure is the rise of international competitions such as the European Club Championship and the UEFA Cup- the latter is a competition for the winners of the various equivalents of the FA Cup.

So the problem arose- could Cardiff City be allowed to play in the UEFA Cup if it won the English FA Cup, especially if there also exists a Welsh FA Cup? UEFA indicated there wouldn't be a problem for them, but the FA held out for a bit longer, only deciding in the last few days that they would definitely allow Cardiff to represent the FA.

Isn't it great to realise that the richest, most professional football association in the world just basically makes it up as they go along– pretty much like the rest of us?

By the way, it's no accident that several suburbs of Newcastle are named after Welsh cities- many Welsh coal miners came to Australia to open up the coal industry here in the 1800s.