Grass roots football

Discover the best kept secret in UK sport

You don’t have to be a football fan to have heard of Manchester United, Manchester City or Liverpool. Not so Bowers & Pitney, Hornchurch, Witton Albion and the thousand-plus others from Hadrian’s Wall to Land’s End that make up one of the best kept secrets in sport. Mark Harris Chairman, Northern Premier League, explains.

Rarely written about and often unknown outside of their own villages, towns and cities, clubs in the National League System (NLS) nevertheless play an essential role in their local communities.

The NLS is the umbrella term for the six levels of the English football pyramid below the English Football League (EFL), often dubbed ‘ non-league ’ , despite every club belonging to one of 57 leagues across the country.

The NLS pyramid

The NLS pyramid is unique in the world of football. It enables any ambitious team to progress from parks football to the Premier League if they have the drive, facilities, and finance to do so.

There is a single division at the apex of the pyramid, with the number of divisions doubling at each level downwards to Step 6. Promotion and relegationbetweenthedifferentstepsaremandatory,with two clubs being promoted and relegated between Step 1 and League 2 every year.

Different leagues manage the levels of the NLS. Each is autonomous but sanctioned by, and under the auspices of the Football Association (FA), supervised by the FA’ s Alliance Committee (for Steps 1 –4) and Leagues Committee (for Steps 5 – 6). For example, Steps 1 and 2 are managed by the National League,whilstSteps3and4compriseregionalcompetitions – the Northern Premier, Isthmian and Southern leagues, known collectively as the Trident Leagues.

The different levels of the English football pyramid can be confusing. The Premier League is the top tier of English football, so Step 1 of the NLS is the fifth tier; Step 2 is the sixth, and so on. We should probably standardise, but it sounds a lot better to say your club is playing at Step 3 than in the seventh tier!

Non-league myths

Most clubs who fall through the EFL trap door into the NLS look at their predecessors and shudder. After all, it took Barrow almost half a century to regain Football League status after dropping out in 1972.Southport,Workington,BradfordParkAvenue and, more recently, York City, are still trying.

A spell in non-league can help turn clubs ’ fortunes around. Bristol Rovers, Colchester United, Lincoln City and Shrewsbury Town are examples of clubs who accepted they were playing at a lower level, brushed themselves down, got on with the business of winning promotion – and succeeded.

In times past, the main difference between professional football and non-league was that professionals got paid and no-league plays did it for the loveofthegame.Thiswasalwaysafallacybutnowadays the distinction is even more blurred.

Most National League clubs are full-time, and whilst all players at Steps 2 and below are part-time, some clubs like York City (National League North), South Shields (Northern Premier League and others have also gone full time in search of promotion to the higher levels of the pyramid.

Laying solid foundations

Although, sadly, money plays a big part in footballing success at all levels, there is more to professionalism than money.

The majority of NLS clubs may only get 100 fans attending games but they are often vibrant businesses. All clubs at Steps 1 – 4 are licensed to operate annually by the FA. They are required to demonstrate their viability via regular financial up-dates. They also have to up-grade stadium facilities as they progress upwards through the leagues.

Thanks to financial support from the FA via the Football Foundation, hundreds of clubs have invested heavily in their facilities, up-grading spectator areas, installing 4G pitches and supporting infrastructure to generate additional income.

In the NLS, twice-weekly games are just the tip of the operating iceberg. The Northern Premier League ’ s 81 clubs have around 3,000 adult, junior, women ’ s and disabled teams. Soccer schools, mental health initiatives and food banks are just a few examples of community engagement taking place now. Over 90% of our clubs have attained FA

South Shields Captain Robert Briggs signs a two-year contract extension. The 29-year-old was able to commit to the club’s full-time training regime thanks to the flexibility of his other employer.

Soccer schools, mental health initiatives and food banks are just a few examples of community engagement. Over 90% of “

our clubs have attained FA Charter Standard status, which recognises the role those clubs play in their

local communities. ” York City Football Club announces pre-season friendlies with Whitby Town and Championship side Middlesbrough.

Witton Albion’s pre 2021/22 NPL Season kicks off on Saturday 24 July against Northwich Victoria. Bristol Rovers got on with the business of winning promotion and succeeded. This month, Under-16s playmaker Kyrie Pierre join Aston Villa in a record fee for the club’s Academy.

Charter Standard status, which recognises the role those clubs play in their local communities.

Unique fan experience

The collapse of the European Super League, thanks to a combination of government intervention, the FA taking a firm stance and, above all, football fans collectively making their opposition clear, highlights why hundreds of thousands of people watch NLS fixtures.

The owners of the ESL clubs showed how disconnected they are with their fans. In non-league football, no club owner or director can afford to ignore their fans – quite literally.

Whilst Premier League income through turnstiles and secondary spend from paying spectators makes up 20 – 25% of gross revenues, at Step 2 of the NLS downwards, fans contribute around 90% of all income.

Outside Steps 1 and 2 there is no TV money to be shared, so food and beverage sales often make the difference between losing money and breaking even. Social clubs and bars are the focal point of every non-league club, second in importance only to the pitch!

Enjoyingasensiblypricedpieandpintinsafesurroundings, mingling with the players after the game and feeling part of an extended family are all part of the unique fan experience in the NLS. After all, if Liverpool’ s Mo Salah misses a sitter, most fans can ’t approach him afterwards to find out how. At our level of the game, you can.

It remains to be seen whether supporter disillusionment at the top level of the game translates into supporters turning instead to non-league football. But there is no doubt that it is a safer and significantly cheaper alternative.

NLS post-pandemic

Like the local communities they serve, NLS clubs have been hit hard by the pandemic. Both the 2019/20 and 2020/21easons were curtailed. Government regulations meant no paying fans could be admitted to matches, thereby cutting off clubs ’ primary income source. Live streaming of matches only generates a fraction of income from turnstiles and can never generate the same level of F&B income.

When the new season kicks off on 14 August this year, the vaccination programme will hopefully enable us to mount a full season with limited interruption. Like the rest of the hospitality sector, we can ’t wait to get fans back into our stadia – and not just for financial reasons.

Fans are an essential part of the football product, and never more so than in the NLS. Thanks to social media, there is no shortage of keyboard warriors who believe that every stage of the pandemic should have been predicted and managed differently. That was never the problem.

The real challenge lay in trying to predict the government’ s response to COVID-19. So, what are we doing to make things better?

As administrators, we can put contingency plans in place, but there are so many factors that can impact on whether our clubs can stage football matches safely. In the meantime, we will encourage our clubs to maintain Coronavirus protocols and do all we can to keep fans, players, volunteers, and everybody who loves non-league football safe.