I was reading an old copy of the Non League Paper and Ian Ridley posed the question:
"Is the term Non-League out of date?"
I could argue that the term Non-League has never been correct, but it was more correct in the days when the level below League Two (Football League Division Four) was the Football Conference. Clearly this was a conference and not a league so the term was applied correctly.
Back in the day most of the teams outside of the Football League were amateur organisations paying "expenses" only although it was often acknowledged that these expenses were more like a wage in some cases. These days many teams in the National League are fully professional outfits.
I read a case in the last couple of years suggesting that the Football League should absorb the National League and cut the rest of non league adrift. That might be good for the top clubs but the gulf would grow quickly if "League" benefits were paid to National League sides and the other clubs received nothing.
Clearly now the term "Non-League" is an obvious misnomer as the National League, National League South & North, Southern League, Isthmian League and Northern Premier League are all leagues in their own right. The phrase is merely used to describe leagues below the Football League.
If the term is now outdated then we need to come up with another term that accurately describes what we are trying to portray. The Premier League is above the Football League and all other leagues are below it. I like the increase in the use of the term English Football League as there are others and in my opinion some other countries have leagues that are more appealing to me than our own.
When Spain were doing well a colleague asked me why and I stated quite openly that it was because the Spanish League is better than ours. You can argue that only a few teams can win the Spanish League but look at the Premier League and only six teams have ever won it. With Blackburn being one and Leicester another I had to check which two top six teams have never won it. Sniggering ever so slightly I discovered that it is Spurs and Liverpool. I am an Arsenal fan so that was a little boost as although Manchester United are way ahead we have at least won it.
The National League has received a great boost since BT Sport started its coverage of the matches and I have enjoyed many of the matches I have watched.
It used to be said that sometimes the standard of matches was better than Football League games as players who wanted to work other jobs but were good footballers played at this level. The result was that many players produced intelligent football rather than the big hard thug like game so prevalent in the lower reaches of the Football League.
The term Football Pyramid has become more prevalent in recent years and I would like to promote that, partly because I have a facebook page with football from all levels covered and partly because I like the idea that I could in theory take St Simeon's School fifth team from the seventeenth division of the local league all the way to the top of the Premier Division.
That dream is nowhere near reality of course because the resources that have to be poured into a club as it rises up the ladder rise exponentially. Ground grading prevents many clubs from progressing. Wage bills have to go up and one relegation can make a club no longer financially viable. Players usually find their own level and it is rare (although it does happen) that a player can rise up several levels as the club develop.
Going back to what we should call the "Non-League" leagues I do like the idea of "The Pyramid" which includes the top four levels as well as what is now known as Non-League. Amateur is out as professionalism has crept into the non-league game but I remember the days when that phrase was an emotive argument and many league still retain the word "Amateur" as part of their title.
"Pyramid Base" is a good phrase as it describes the solid structure underlying the tall tower at the pinnacle of the game. I still want to see more teams kicked out of the Football League to strengthen the "Non-League" game and I would limit all leagues to 20 teams as a standard. If that were to happen the top five leagues would contain the top 100 clubs and those are nice round numbers to keep the F.A. who are focussed on their 2-4-8-16 design for the pyramid.
My preference would be 1-3-9-27 design which matches the shape of Great Britain and it allows for the always required shuffling of teams between leagues to even things up when a particular part of the country has too many teams either promoted or relegated. It will never be perfect until we start cutting the country into nicely shaped squares to satisfy the F.A.
I am pleased to hear the news that the Northern League are going to adapt to help shape the new pyramid as they have in the past wanted to keep their game to themselves and I can understand that when the cost of travelling is now so high that a team in the wrong league can become bankrupt in a single season.
So there you have it, my argument to replace "Non-League" with "Football Pyramid Base".
"Is the term Non-League out of date?"
I could argue that the term Non-League has never been correct, but it was more correct in the days when the level below League Two (Football League Division Four) was the Football Conference. Clearly this was a conference and not a league so the term was applied correctly.
Back in the day most of the teams outside of the Football League were amateur organisations paying "expenses" only although it was often acknowledged that these expenses were more like a wage in some cases. These days many teams in the National League are fully professional outfits.
I read a case in the last couple of years suggesting that the Football League should absorb the National League and cut the rest of non league adrift. That might be good for the top clubs but the gulf would grow quickly if "League" benefits were paid to National League sides and the other clubs received nothing.
Clearly now the term "Non-League" is an obvious misnomer as the National League, National League South & North, Southern League, Isthmian League and Northern Premier League are all leagues in their own right. The phrase is merely used to describe leagues below the Football League.
If the term is now outdated then we need to come up with another term that accurately describes what we are trying to portray. The Premier League is above the Football League and all other leagues are below it. I like the increase in the use of the term English Football League as there are others and in my opinion some other countries have leagues that are more appealing to me than our own.
When Spain were doing well a colleague asked me why and I stated quite openly that it was because the Spanish League is better than ours. You can argue that only a few teams can win the Spanish League but look at the Premier League and only six teams have ever won it. With Blackburn being one and Leicester another I had to check which two top six teams have never won it. Sniggering ever so slightly I discovered that it is Spurs and Liverpool. I am an Arsenal fan so that was a little boost as although Manchester United are way ahead we have at least won it.
The National League has received a great boost since BT Sport started its coverage of the matches and I have enjoyed many of the matches I have watched.
It used to be said that sometimes the standard of matches was better than Football League games as players who wanted to work other jobs but were good footballers played at this level. The result was that many players produced intelligent football rather than the big hard thug like game so prevalent in the lower reaches of the Football League.
The term Football Pyramid has become more prevalent in recent years and I would like to promote that, partly because I have a facebook page with football from all levels covered and partly because I like the idea that I could in theory take St Simeon's School fifth team from the seventeenth division of the local league all the way to the top of the Premier Division.
That dream is nowhere near reality of course because the resources that have to be poured into a club as it rises up the ladder rise exponentially. Ground grading prevents many clubs from progressing. Wage bills have to go up and one relegation can make a club no longer financially viable. Players usually find their own level and it is rare (although it does happen) that a player can rise up several levels as the club develop.
Going back to what we should call the "Non-League" leagues I do like the idea of "The Pyramid" which includes the top four levels as well as what is now known as Non-League. Amateur is out as professionalism has crept into the non-league game but I remember the days when that phrase was an emotive argument and many league still retain the word "Amateur" as part of their title.
"Pyramid Base" is a good phrase as it describes the solid structure underlying the tall tower at the pinnacle of the game. I still want to see more teams kicked out of the Football League to strengthen the "Non-League" game and I would limit all leagues to 20 teams as a standard. If that were to happen the top five leagues would contain the top 100 clubs and those are nice round numbers to keep the F.A. who are focussed on their 2-4-8-16 design for the pyramid.
My preference would be 1-3-9-27 design which matches the shape of Great Britain and it allows for the always required shuffling of teams between leagues to even things up when a particular part of the country has too many teams either promoted or relegated. It will never be perfect until we start cutting the country into nicely shaped squares to satisfy the F.A.
I am pleased to hear the news that the Northern League are going to adapt to help shape the new pyramid as they have in the past wanted to keep their game to themselves and I can understand that when the cost of travelling is now so high that a team in the wrong league can become bankrupt in a single season.
So there you have it, my argument to replace "Non-League" with "Football Pyramid Base".
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