There are lots of things about football in 2025 that can feel inauthentic. Light shows before kick offs, the relentless stress of FPL, a Champions League table that still doesn’t quite make sense (can it be a league if you don’t play every other team in the league?). Football is the perfect sport because of its simplicity—you can strip away every aspect of the game other than ‘put the ball in the other person’s net’, and it still makes sense. It doesn’t have to bounce once, doesn’t have to be done within a shooting clock, and you don’t need a bat. Stick it in the onion bag, and you’re away.
The FA Cup at its best reminds of this, and the sight of Tamworth Striker Beck-Ray Enoru getting a piggyback to patch up the net so the game against Tottenham could get underway was the perfect image to articulate why the Third Round is the apex of sporting competition. Ange getting sworn at by you, your mates, and their mates was up there, too. You can hear that photo.
So, we jumped into the lenses of Getty Images’ photographers across the country to find our favourite photos from the round.


Ange Postecoglou said it perfectly before the game, when he was genuinely asked if his “multi-million dollar” players would be “shocked” that The Lamb Ground dressing rooms didn’t have central heating. “They are actually not multi-million dollar players; they are human beings,” he replied. “They are very understanding; they are good people, so they would never go to a place like that and disrespect it. Most have come from places like that. Some worse, let me tell you.”
There was something more going on on Sunday than understanding, though. You can see it in their faces. Being a professional in 2025 is impossibly complicated, but every single one of the Spurs players started out their route to the top with an entirely straightforward and pure love for football.
Looking around Tamworth’s volunteer-powered set-up this weekend, you’d hope they were transported back to playing for their first grassroots team. That innocent joy. Pure authenticity. No wonder they were all smiling.



But no one was beaming wider as much as Big Ange. The FA Cup is his wet dream. He’d do Saturday’s trip every week if he could. Just take his brave boys to every corner in the country, where he banters with fans behind the dugout and gives really sincere post-match interviews correcting journalists about the differences between Biggleswade Town and Biggleswade F.C.

Son Heung-min to host a Millennium barn dance at Drayton Manor. Properly policed. Must not, repeat must not, turn into an all night rave.