Fill the Terraces: the success of Non-League Day

There are four main leagues in English football: The Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two. From the celebrity lives and high wages of the Premier League to the low paid yet competitive League Two, these are the places teams in England aspire to play in.

But for clubs who are not yet at that standard, they play in the league below known as Blue Square Bet, or Conference to me and you. This consists of a handful of part-time teams with little cash and national following and acts as the first pyramid block for teams to rebuild their growth. This is not the lowest league though, as there are yet more that home part-time teams and players who mainly play for dignity rather than money and ego boosts. These leagues are usually split by northern and southern areas, depending on the location of the club.

Since the Premier League formed in 1992, it has always been the dominant, older brother of the other football divisions in England. The top tier league has first choice when it comes to elite footballers, television rights and even stadiums, taking into account the Olympic Stadium and its handover to West Ham United rather than League One’s Leyton Orient, despite the latter being closer. The main reason for this is the power of money and the amount of income depends on the status of the club. Huge, successful English teams like Chelsea earn their money through sponsorships, player and merchandise sales and even fans, whilst small teams in Non-League don’t have well-paying sponsors or a huge following of fans to buy merchandise. This lack of income sometimes outweighs the expenses and small teams outside the top four English divisions often enter liquidation and eventually fall through – Chester City and Rushden & Diamonds are just a few examples.

Last season the BBC conducted a survey on the cost of watching Premier League clubs compared to that of Non-League clubs. The survey showed Arsenal had the highest adult match-day ticket at £126, whilst Cambridge United of the Conference offered the most expensive ticket to fans at just £19, more than six times as lower. In addition, Arsenal again had the highest selling price of a season ticket costing £1955, whilst Luton Town had their league’s most expensive season ticket selling at £515, almost three quarters less than their Premier League rivals. Tea was also the most expensive in the Premier League, with both Manchester clubs selling theirs at £2.50 a cup, whilst Conference sides varied from 80p-£1.80.

With the obvious lack of funding in Non-League football deemed unnoticed, a social media experiment was set up by friends in 2010 to see if they can increase attendances in matches below the top four divisions. James Doe, founder of the experiment and supporter of Queens Park Rangers, wanted fans of the Premier League and Championship to stop supporting their teams for a week and instead watch their local, smaller club. Knowing that it would be difficult to part a diehard fan from their club on a weekend, Doe announced that Non-League Day would coincide with international break, meaning none of the top two division teams would be in action.

As well being a follower of Non-League Harrow Borough, Doe was passionate to spread the scheme across Britain and help similar teams playing at a similar level: “Given the current financial climate, clubs outside the football league need all the support they can get, so your presence at a game will be genuinely appreciated,” he told the Non League Day website.

In 2010, the debut year of the scheme proved a huge success as gate receipts raised by 30% on the day. With such a high increase and popularity in the idea from the start, Non-League Day quickly received backing from Premier League and Football League teams, MPs, celebrities and more importantly Non-League clubs themselves. The scheme also gained partnerships with influential campaigns such as ‘Kick It Out’, ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ and ‘The Football Supporters Federation’.

One high profile name that was very much keen on Non-League Day was Sky Sports and EA Sports FIFA commentator Martin Tyler. A man whose much-loved voice echoes around football fan’s living rooms most weekends was not only the FA Premier League Commentator of the Decade, but also first-team coach of Isthmian League Premier Division club Kingstonian. With his understanding of how important it is to back smaller clubs both in the stands and financially, Tyler was appointed ambassador of Non-League Day and helped promote the scheme during his commentary with Sky Sports.

With such publication, 2011’s Non-League Day was even more of a success than that of their first year. Teams like Hyde, who later won promotion, and Bishop’s Stortford doubled their average attendance whilst Rugby Town attracted their biggest crowd through the gates that season. In addition, Darlington and Wrexham saw an increase of 1000-2000 supporters than that of the year before, even with the former being in a higher division back then. This may have been down to the new ‘Ground Hop’ feature in which fans could witness three live, local games in three different leagues on the same day. The price of this was £38.50 for all matches, one of them being Bishop’s Stortford, and included shuttle buses to each stadium.

With the scheme growing annually, this year was set to be Non-League Day’s biggest. Scheduled for Saturday 7th September and professional clubs as well as those participating are calling for fans to visit their local teams.

Ahead of the big day, Martin Tyler also explained to me his thoughts on the scheme: “I started as a Non-League fan going way back and Woking Town are still my team today; people still can’t believe I don’t support a league team. I’m very proud to be involved in Non-League Day and didn’t need asking twice on putting my label on it.”

Martin also said why football fans should get behind the scheme: “You will have a lot of fun. You wouldn’t be herded in and out and you can enjoy the freedom. I think most of all though, you’d be surprised by the quality of the football that you watch.”

For last seasons big day some Non-League teams got a helping hand from bigger English teams, with Arsenal lending their luxury team coach to Boreham Wood allowing them to travel in style to their away game against Salisbury City. Teams across the Non-League also gave free entry for different styles of following. Sheerwater gave their fans a free entry to their match if you followed them on Twitter, whilst if you dressed as a pirate then Bexhill United would have let you in free of charge. Furthermore, Wingate & Finchley were offering a pay-what-you-want scheme allowing fans to contribute what they feel appropriate to watch their team.

With all the fun and cheap entrances offered by clubs, Non-League Day 2012 proved very successful. According to the Charlton Athletic website, in the Ryman Premier Division Wingate & Finchley had an extra 138 people compared to their last home match for the game against Concord Rangers, whereas the biggest crowd development happened at Maidstone United against Dulwich Hamlet with an attendance of 1,989, the biggest in the league since April 2010 – It is hoped and anticipated that 2013 will be even better.

With the overall lower prices found at non-league clubs, Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron told the BBC that football fans should boycott league clubs for at least one match and switch their focus to non-league sides. This was in protest of the high league ticket prices that saw an increase of 11.7% over the last 12 months. Despite the difficulty in setting up a boycott, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation Malcolm Clarke said he would consider Farron’s request but is yet to proceed with an answer.

On the other hand, there is evidence that Non-League Day ticket prices have matched or even outweighed that of Premier League teams. As mentioned above, the BBC survey showed that Wigan Athletic had the cheapest Premier League season ticket valued at £255, whilst astonishingly nine of the 24 Conference teams had their cheapest season ticket selling for more. Newcastle United, contenders of the Europa League, were also selling their cheapest adult match-day ticket at just £15, whereas four Conference teams had a higher asking price including Alfreton Town and Lincoln City. Programmes averaged around £3 in both leagues whilst Kidderminster Harriers offered fans a pie for £4, 10p more than the Premier League’s most expensive pie at Fulham. Despite Fulham being a wealthy area in West London, people may argue that pie prices are determined by the location of the club with local produce being a factor.

In conclusion, Non-League teams will never have the money and support it desires compared to its older brothers, but Non-League Day has certainly contributed to raising awareness and income in lower league football. Through the annual growth of spectators at the grounds to the promise of cheaper pricing and high standard of football, the scheme has certainly achieved its objective and will forever grow through its partnerships and backing from bigger football clubs and organisations.

However, looking at the BBC survey it is still unclear as to why some Conference clubs are offering a higher ticket price to that of Premier League clubs when arguably most people would much prefer to watch the latter. The location, and therefore cost of land, could be a factor, or it may well be that smaller clubs are trying to regain money lost from the recession. If that is the case, fans could easily not turn up in protest of the high ticket prices and the football club would eventually lose out on both income and support.

An idea to make Non-League Day even more of a success is to create partnerships between higher football teams and their local, smaller teams, for instance Southampton and Eastleigh or Manchester United and Hyde. Like Arsenal and Boreham Wood, this partnership can be as small as offering their team bus to sending out a few youth or ex-international players for half time entertainment to draw the crowds in.

To find out more about Non-League day click here.