FA Cup aces Harrogate Railway are in Sky heaven to the tune of £100,000.
That's the windfall the Northern Counties East League premier division club will net after their mouth-watering FA Cup second round tie at home to Second Division Bristol City was selected as one of Sky Television's live games.
As first revealed on the Press' award-winning website www.thisisyork.co.uk yesterday, the tie will be screened live on Sky TV on Sunday, December 8 with an 11am kick-off.
And the club, who have already trousered more than £30,000 from their record-breaking FA Cup exploits, are in for another boost with the tie getting the go-ahead to be played at their own Station View arena.
Initially, there were fears that the ground might not be able to hold such a prestigious game. That could have meant a switch to a recognised League ground such as York City's Bootham Crescent or the Valley Parade base of Bradford City.
But Railway, who are the lowest league team still left in the competition, have been given the go-ahead to stage the tie.
Said Rail boss Paul Marshall (pictured above right): "The lads deserve a decent cut of the money as they're the ones who got us there.
"It's made the club really, it's put the platform for us to move up the non-League pyramid.
"It's going to be a mad three weeks now getting ready for the match. We're going to be getting as many volunteers down to the ground as possible to help us put a big show on. It's going to be all hands to the pump."
Sky Sports' managing director Vic Wakeling said: "This is probably the smallest club ever to feature in a live television
match, and certainly the smallest ground we've ever visited.
"It's a very difficult rig for our technicians, but it's games like this - and Saturday's match at Bath University (Team Bath v Mansfield) - which have built the tradition of the FA Cup and we are delighted to be going to Harrogate."
Updated: 12:15 Wednesday, November 20, 2002
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