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[Football] The Non-League Football Thread- 2021/22 Edition



atfc village

Well-known member
Mar 28, 2013
5,018
Lower Bourne .Farnham
Yes - picked a right one there didn't he! I'm sure my mate said a Blackburn fan went down for something at the Chorley match I mentioned earlier. He has previous so that was a bit silly.

Been out in Chorley a couple of times but that was early 90's. Remember a Yates with railings by the bar - I think that was for the northern queuing method.

Micropubs galore now plus a few decent pubs . The Shots last game last season was at Fylde ,games were getting called off due to the Covid situation .Sadly our game didn't as we would of headed to Chorley for a blissful 9 hour crawl.
 




LU7 RED

Active member
Nov 5, 2010
562
Leighton Buzzard
Micropubs galore now plus a few decent pubs . The Shots last game last season was at Fylde ,games were getting called off due to the Covid situation .Sadly our game didn't as we would of headed to Chorley for a blissful 9 hour crawl.

Christ can't do 9 hours anymore, suppose I've done 7 hours including beers on a train before!
 




















LU7 RED

Active member
Nov 5, 2010
562
Leighton Buzzard
Statistics including attendance averages for Southern Combination Premier Division.

https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/divisions/18/

Great - Love all the attendance stuff. I watch Leighton Town when possible in the Midland Spartan Premier, same level - beat Eastbourne Town in the vase last season (2-1 I think). Been getting average 300 too, 320 a couple of times. Like a couple of teams here, if you can average 300 odd at step 5 that's really good.

The club nearest me growing up was Bournemouth FC (in the Wessex league). Real one man and his dog crowds!
 


milliepops

Active member
Nov 8, 2011
252
at home
With the Isthmian League not having any contingency plan for what looks like will be an elongated pause in the season another null and void decision looks increasingly likely.
Maybe this season can be paused till hopefully August 2021 and then just carry on from there. With all the sides having 30+ games still to play that would give the league ample time to actually complete a season and see promotions and relegations decided by results rather than the PPG scenario. It would also give the sides who have made a decent start to push on and try to climb the pyramid rather than rewarding the sides with few points and minus goal differences who are the only ones who benefit from the season being binned.
 






milliepops

Active member
Nov 8, 2011
252
at home
The cancelling of the 20/21 non league system has begun.
National League North and South declared null and void but the National League will continue. FA will have to ratify the outcome of the voting process.
Can only assume that all leagues / divisions below will do the same.
 


Poojah

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2010
1,881
Leeds
The cancelling of the 20/21 non league system has begun.
National League North and South declared null and void but the National League will continue. FA will have to ratify the outcome of the voting process.
Can only assume that all leagues / divisions below will do the same.

The National League is an interesting one. So far clubs have voted 13-7 in favour of completing the season, with Wrexham and Dover abstaining (the latter declaring that they will not play any more games this season). So that’s 7 clubs against continuing, presumably due to cost, and potentially another 2 still to come.

What then for those clubs who could not afford to continue? Refuse to play? Furlough players and play the kids? Not withstanding the fact that we are nearly into March and there remains half the season to complete, can a league which finishes with several of its members missing (or missing in spirit) be considered complete?

On a personal level, I hope not, because we’re almost certainly heading the other way if so and this does not look to be a good time to be getting sucked into the non-league abyss. It’s a terrifying thought.
 




atfc village

Well-known member
Mar 28, 2013
5,018
Lower Bourne .Farnham
The National League is an interesting one. So far clubs have voted 13-7 in favour of completing the season, with Wrexham and Dover abstaining (the latter declaring that they will not play any more games this season). So that’s 7 clubs against continuing, presumably due to cost, and potentially another 2 still to come.

What then for those clubs who could not afford to continue? Refuse to play? Furlough players and play the kids? Not withstanding the fact that we are nearly into March and there remains half the season to complete, can a league which finishes with several of its members missing (or missing in spirit) be considered complete?

On a personal level, I hope not, because we’re almost certainly heading the other way if so and this does not look to be a good time to be getting sucked into the non-league abyss. It’s a terrifying thought.

I can see furlough happening at Aldershot and kids playing . We can't get relegated and doubt we're good enough for the play offs . Hereford have said they'll play the trophy QF against us next
Saturday . 2 byes 2 rounds running would of been farcical .
 


milliepops

Active member
Nov 8, 2011
252
at home
The National League is an interesting one. So far clubs have voted 13-7 in favour of completing the season, with Wrexham and Dover abstaining (the latter declaring that they will not play any more games this season). So that’s 7 clubs against continuing, presumably due to cost, and potentially another 2 still to come.

What then for those clubs who could not afford to continue? Refuse to play? Furlough players and play the kids? Not withstanding the fact that we are nearly into March and there remains half the season to complete, can a league which finishes with several of its members missing (or missing in spirit) be considered complete?

On a personal level, I hope not, because we’re almost certainly heading the other way if so and this does not look to be a good time to be getting sucked into the non-league abyss. It’s a terrifying thought.

The integrity of the National League will surely be called into question if you have teams refusing to play or just putting out 'scratch sides' to fulfil fixtures. Plenty of sides in the division now have nothing to play for with no relegation.
If I was one of the sides struggling at the bottom of League 2 I would be lobbying the EFL to not allow any relegation this season. If the league below is allowing no relegation then why should they automatically expect their promotion places to be honoured.
Whole National League scenario comes across as a complete shambles. £10 million of Lottery funding squandered to complete less than half a season and talk of legal action questioning the voting process which led to the null and void decision. The way the money was distributed to the sides has also been debated with many clubs feeling the grants were issued unfairly.
Proper contingency options should have been put in place before the campaign started. Asking clubs to vote on various outcomes once the season commenced was always likely to end up with clubs voting for the best interest of themselves.
National League board should also have got in writing the promise of grants rather than loans which are required to compensate for the lack of spectators.
 


Poojah

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2010
1,881
Leeds
The integrity of the National League will surely be called into question if you have teams refusing to play or just putting out 'scratch sides' to fulfil fixtures. Plenty of sides in the division now have nothing to play for with no relegation.
If I was one of the sides struggling at the bottom of League 2 I would be lobbying the EFL to not allow any relegation this season. If the league below is allowing no relegation then why should they automatically expect their promotion places to be honoured.
Whole National League scenario comes across as a complete shambles. £10 million of Lottery funding squandered to complete less than half a season and talk of legal action questioning the voting process which led to the null and void decision. The way the money was distributed to the sides has also been debated with many clubs feeling the grants were issued unfairly.
Proper contingency options should have been put in place before the campaign started. Asking clubs to vote on various outcomes once the season commenced was always likely to end up with clubs voting for the best interest of themselves.
National League board should also have got in writing the promise of grants rather than loans which are required to compensate for the lack of spectators.

Indeed. I was slightly surprised last season that there weren’t already pre-defined rules about what should happen in the event a season is curtailed; granted a global pandemic is fortunately a rare event however the cessation of football was not without historic precedent. The fact there were no scenarios mutually agreed prior to this season kicking-off is utterly naive and bonkers in equal measure. And that’s at all levels, by the way.
 










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