Balague on Biggleswade United: FA Vase tie will lure me back from Qatar!

I won't be there.

I will instead have temporarily left the desert and be at the Keech Hospice Care Stadium to watch my beloved Biggleswade United take on Lakenheath FC in the third round of this season's FA Vase, before returning to Qatar for the rest of the tournament.

Last Saturday's convincing 3-0 win over London Lions puts us at this stage of the competition for the first time in our history and we are all enjoying the run too much to want it to end any time soon.

Missing this game was never an option.

We are now just five rounds/six matches - the semi-final is a two legged affair - from a place in a showpiece Wembley final on May 21 next year. Someone's got to get there; why shouldn't it be us?

Whether we make it all the way remains to be seen. What is certain is that we will enjoy the ride for as long as we can.

The money we are earning for passing each round, while not life-changing, is nonetheless very welcome indeed. Our victories in the four rounds of the competition that we have negotiated so far have brought £3,000 into the club and a win against Lakenheath would add a further £1,125 to our coffers.

The prize money obviously rises with every round and in addition to the money earned on the journey, the winners of the final will earn a further £30,000 with £15,000 going to the runners up.

But as important as money is to help Biggleswade United to function on a daily basis, it is a long way from being our main motivation for wanting to remain in this most wonderful of football competitions for as long as possible.

Our dream has always been to build a club in, and for, our community and there is nothing we would like more than to increase the number of fans roaring us on towards Wembley.

And if up until now you haven't decided to follow your local community club, now is the perfect opportunity to get a taste of grassroots football because there are some out there that claim - erroneously - that club football has now stopped and all eyes are on the upcoming World Cup.

The truth of course is that while football and the top levels across the world may well have paused, the grassroots game all over the land is still very much alive and kicking including our men's first team who this Saturday will be looking to extending their unbeaten run to nine games when they welcome London Colney to the Keech Hospice care Stadium tomorrow (Sat ko 3pm) before visiting Shefford Town & Campton on Tuesday night (ko 7.45pm).

After two seasons with the Keech House Hospice as our named stadium sponsor we are now currently in negotiation with two potential backers for the naming rights to our ground. Our agreement with Keech was never commercially-based and while we are now looking for partners that can help us financially, we fully intend to maintain our links with the hospice and continue to organise money raising activities on its behalf.