Always scheduled to coincide with an international break, Non-League Day provides a platform for clubs to promote the importance of volunteer-led community football while giving fans across the country the chance to show support for their local non-league side. Visit the Non-League Day website to find your nearest game this weekend.

Following our meeting with Chesterfield earlier this season, Chelsea have now played 16 matches against non-league teams. All have been in the FA Cup, with many containing a rich narrative we tell here…

First Cup tilt ends in controversy

You must rewind all the way to the 1905/06 season, Chelsea Football Club’s first, to find our maiden non-league showdown. The seventh competitive game in our history was an FA Cup first preliminary round tie against the First Battalion Grenadier Guards team. Unattached to any league at the time, the Army side were comfortably defeated 6-1 in front of 5000 fans at Stamford Bridge, earning the Pensioners gate receipts of £160.

We edged past Southern United of the Southern League in the second preliminary round, a solitary David Copeland goal doing the damage in a game played at Brown’s Grown in Nunhead. Our first ever meeting with Crystal Palace - also formed in 1905 - followed, and such was the controversy surrounding the tie it led to a change in the football rules.

The day we were due to travel to Sydenham to take on Palace, Jacky Robertson’s men were already booked to host promotion rivals Burnley in Division Two at the Bridge. Efforts to move the fixture were in vain so, controversially, Robertson sent his reserves to south London, where they were beaten 7-1.

The first teamers, meanwhile, won the more important league fixture 1-0 thanks to Bob McRoberts. The FA rule ensuring teams always field their strongest XI in the competition was introduced because of the cup walkover.

'It is easily understood that Chelsea have high hopes of promotion to the First Division but, nevertheless, the national Cup should be treated with a little more respect,' sniffed The Daily Mirror, warning: 'It will be a bad thing for them when the claims for exemption for the qualifying rounds come to be considered next year.'

Club records that remain

Despite the Daily Mirror’s concerns, Chelsea were subsequently exempted from the FA Cup qualifying rounds. But it wouldn’t be long - the first round in 1908 - until we drew non-league opposition once more, Worksop of the Midland League.

The tie was switched to Stamford Bridge at the request of Worksop, who ended up taking over £381 from their share of the gate receipts. On the pitch, the Pensioners recorded what remains our biggest FA Cup victory, a 9-1 thrashing. George ‘Gatling Gun’ Hilsdon’s six goals in that one match is also a club record.

Dreams that rise and fade

In 1910/11, Chelsea reached the FA Cup semi-final for the first time. We beat three non-league clubs on the way, including Leyton, after a replay, Chesterfield of the Midland League, and then, in the quarter-finals, Swindon.

That day a new record attendance of 77,952 was set at the Bridge, with over £2500 taken in gate receipts. That is still our record home FA Cup crowd. Alas our Cup dream ended against Newcastle in the semis.

We beat Southern League Southend 5-2 in January 1913, but 12 months later suffered the first cup upset of our history, beaten 1-0 in a replay by another Southern League side, Millwall. Playing three-quarters of the second game with 10 men had not helped our cause.

The next FA Cup game we lost was the final in 1915. Our run to Old Trafford, where Sheffield United comfortably beat us, had started in the first round in fairly ignominious fashion. We drew 1-1 with Swindon and needed a late equaliser just to take the replay to extra-time, eventually running out comfortable 5-2 winners.

Theatre of Chips and respectful cheers

We beat Swindon again in the first season of normal football after World War One, going on to reach the semis. It would then be another 84 years before we faced non-league opposition once more.

Scarborough of the Conference were our FA Cup fourth round opponents at the now disused Athletic Ground, or ‘The Theatre of Chips’ as it was known because of a sponsorship with McCain. On the North Sea coast it was far from easy-going for Claudio Ranieri’s much-changed Blues, who laboured to a 1-0 win courtesy of an early John Terry goal. The Seadogs could count themselves unfortunate not to have grabbed a late leveller and take the tie back to SW6.

Which brings us to this season, and a first game on home soil against a non-league opponent since 1920. Chesterfield topped the National League back in January but were blown away by four first-half Chelsea goals, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku among those on the scoresheet. Hakim Ziyech netted a penalty after the break, but the final word did go to the Spireites when Akwasi Asante scored from close range in front of the 6000 travelling fans. Just as when we met Chesterfield in 1911, on that occasion opening the scoring, the Chelsea support inside Stamford Bridge applauded the goal as a sign of respect for their opponents’ endeavour.