Congratulations Evesham United

The Euros are well under way and I have enjoyed much of what I have watched. We are now at the stage where both Irish teams have left the competition leaving our hopes in the hands of England and Wales. Meanwhile, the summer machinations of the non league game go on.

Common sense has prevailed. Evesham United appealed against being forced to travel to the far north and won their case. Cinderford Town clearly had their eyes on the Hereford money and Evesham got hold of the rule book for the Southern League.

The rules state that the league champions will be promoted. I have never known it any other way, although ground grading, the mass exodus of playing staff, petty politics and I am sure other things all have their turn in bending the rules to breaking point.

So everything turns back the way it was, and those teams who thought they were affected by the Cinderford "I want the Hereford money" decision are no longer affected. Evesham United are back in the Southern League South & West where they were last year.

The team most affected by Cinderford and who should probably be compensated by them are Stamford of the Northern Premier League who were told that they could stay up and may have recruited on that basis but now they must be relegated as per the original decision.

I told you I should wait until August before setting up my who has transferred to which league spreadsheet. I can handle it though ... poor decision ... lack of backbone ... reversed decision ... poor compromise ... I changed my mind ... the team just upped and left ... experience of the non league game during an average summer. What more surprises are there before we begin again?

Bloody Cinderford Town

I am getting my football fill today by watching the women of Wales take on the women of Norway at Spytty Park, Newport. Tash Harding appears to be making an impact on the opposition as she clatters into that Norwegian leaving her sprawled on the turf. The reds do seem to have more of the match in this first half but when the Norwegians start passing the ball they seem to have better quality.

Now, let me look at this Cinderford refusal to accept promotion. Is it because they face a long trip to Kings Lynn Town? I think it more likely that they want the money that will come from matches against Hereford and Salisbury. The Southern League South & West division has caught my attention and if all goes well I intend to watch it closely but I hope Cinderford get relegated if their decision was based on getting more money from the big games.

In my opinion they have cost Evesham United a lot more money than they would have paid out and Evesham should be compensated for the selfish stance of Cinderford. If Cinderford lose all their good players, manager, and get relegated then, and only then, will I forgive them. I hope Evesham now go on and get promotion from the Northern Premier South as they were not going to get it from a division with Hereford and Salisbury in.

I now find out that the Kent Invicta League has become the second division in the Southern Counties East League which is no change in reality, merely a change in designation. It may mean two teams switching between leagues rather than one but it is exactly right given the attempt by the F.A. to get standardisation across the various regions of the country.

We just have the East and West Midlands to sort out now along with the South West Peninsula League which I support as non standard due to the distance from the centre and the fact that the south west is a low wage area so everything costs so much more percentage wise than anywhere else in the country.

The Essex Senior League do need a second division to become "standard" but the Essex Olympian League is level 11 and they are level 9 so there is no obvious level 10 standard in the area. Perhaps one of the many London leagues could fulfil the role but we will have to wait and see what the F.A. have planned for that particular old haunting ground of mine.

Right, back to the Welsh women and I promise to tell you nothing about the match.

Close Season

It is times like these that leave me missing the overcoverage of football from August to May. I often get hold of information from the internet, follow a link from there, then a link from there until I come across something quite obscure. I think that is how I first came across the idea of the football pyramid which has fascinated me ever since.

I was very frustrated listening to a football commentator talking about the "Combination Counties League" as he clearly knows too little about the lower leagues to be allowed on national television. Was he trying to merge the Combined Counties League with the Southern Combination League? I think not, and I put it down to pure ignorance. So he fits in well with most football supporters.

I was sat in church once when the minister asked the question "Does Worthing have a football team" to which the answer from the congregation was "NO!". It was not irony. They clearly had no idea that there are two teams in the town, one of which has just been promoted from step 4 to step three (level 7) of the pyramid and the other, Worthing United, were in the national press when two of their players were killed as a result of an airshow crash. It seems that only the Football League matters to the mass of ignorami out there.

What we need is more coverage of the sport at the lower level on television. Did I just say that? With wall to wall coverage on SKY and BT and BBC and ITV I can enjoy all week watching football now. I do pity my poor wife but as long as I let her watch Emmerdale at 7pm I am allowed my football from 7:30pm or 7:45pm until we share time on the Firestick from 9:15pm or 9:30pm.

Not any more.

The season is over.

We only have the Euros to look forward to in June.

Hang on.

That may be enough to keep me watching football every night.

Great times.

See you soon.