Just what is Non-League football, anyway?

The first time I came across the term, 'non-league' football was in a newsagent in a London train station. There was a book called The Supporter's Guide to Non-League Football for sale in the book section and I can remember thinking how strange that sounded. I assumed that 'non-league' must refer to barnstorming teams that roamed the country looking for pick-up games on village greens. Or maybe they were teams made of rugged individualists who could just about stomach the discipline of playing a team sport, but drew the line when it came to working under a league structure. Whatever it was, it sounded a strange thing to write a guide for and an even stranger thing to buy a guide for.

The confusion for me was over the term 'league.' In football (and only in football - in Rugby it has an entirely different connotation) 'league' football is fully professional football. This term derives from the Football League, which up until the early nineties was the sole governing body for fully professional football teams in England. There were 92 teams in the Football League spread over four divisions, and if you were not one of these 92 teams then you were at best semi-professional and by definition, 'non-league.' Things have gotten more confusing since then. In 1992 the top division of the Football League (the first division) broke away and formed the Premier League. Although no longer technically part of the Football League the teams in the Premier League are still considered 'league' teams in the colloquial sense. Not long afterwards a formal agreement was made which allowed the two best non-league teams to join the bottom division of the league, and the two worst teams in the league to be relegated to non-league. This means there are now a dozen or so clubs with long league histories playing in non-league football. A few have gone part-time, but most have remained fully professional clubs with full-time players hoping to regain their league status with each new season.

Whew! I could keep going on this, but I'll take a break and talk about what non-league football is really all about.

Non-league football is a bit like minor league baseball. It is a more intimate, and less expensive option than a top division club. After that the similarities break down. Unlike minor league baseball teams, the clubs are all completely independent. They do not rely on a parent club to supply players, coaches or equipment. Bath City players are contracted to play for Bath City only. They cannot be 'called up.' They can be signed by a bigger club, but only if the bigger club pays Bath City a mutually agreed transfer fee. Also, because of relegation and promotion, Bath City could, in theory, be playing in the top division in five years time. It is ludicrously unlikely to happen, however the mere existence of the possibility keeps non-league supporters like me dreaming of it happening more than we will admit to. The dream, no matter how far fetched, can make you extremely devoted to your club.

Oh sure, there is plenty of devotion and loyalty at all levels of English football. I'm sure that when Man U fans shell out £931 for their season ticket this year they are certainly showing a lot of devotion, but that's not what I'm talking about. Man U fans have a very realistic chance of watching their team win at least one title, probably more, for their £931. Even if by some freakish luck United were frozen out in all competitions then at least you would see some high quality football (and no doubt complain endlessly to anyone who would listen how hard done you were because your team had not won anything).


Non-league fans are on the road less-travelled, though. Non-league fans ride on coaches with other non-league fans to go stand in the bitter cold and rain among a crowd in the low hundreds to watch football of sometimes dubious quality, and do it with a smile on their face. Premiership fans moan when their club doesn't win the title or gets relagated to the Championship, but non-league fans dance for joy when their club is promoted to a league no one else has ever heard of. If you like things nice and easy, clean and comfortable, smooth and professional, then you won't like non-league. It is for people who are can be truly dedicated to something just for the sake of being truly dedicated to something. It is for people who will show utter love and devotion for an institution that will never fuful their dreams. It is, to be honest, a rather polite and gentle form of masochism. If Robert Kipling was still alive today he would add an extra paragraph to 'If' about non-league football fans.

Non-league football is also incredibly English. It is the most English thing I have come across in my ten years in England. It is so English that few English people can actually bear it. I will talk about this more later.