Love football love this (Non League Football in General)

Member Name: welling1

Product:	Non League Football in General
Date:	14/06/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: People, the social, sense of being part of a club, cheaper tickets

Disadvantages: Nothing

Right here we go, I have been waiting a while for the lovely people at dooyoo to let me review this and I am as glad as I would like to in a way enlighten people and encourage them to take in non league football!!

How did I get into non league football?

Eight years ago -
I am 14 years of age and I am a Charlton fan and I like to take in a game at my team who are in the premier league. After many ups and downs they have got to the promised land and after my dad has waited 40 years to get there he wants to take in as much as the action as possible and he wants me to be by his side. We have followed Charlton from their days in the old division one watching the likes of Luton, Southend and Oxford, so with the prospect of Man United and Liverpool coming to town we wanted to be there as, surely after only getting 6,000 for the previous games mentioned, we could do the same. But hold on there are 20,000 fans - where have they come from? Who are they? There must be a mistake. But no, all those with the bright season tickets which, due to my dad's job we could not get us he is a shift worker and we could not commit to every week, are off to see their new team. So we picked at the games we could get to and went, if memory serves me right, Middlesbrough, West Ham and Aston Villa, then here they come the big boys Liverpool. I can't wait I am buzzing. Mydad gets on the phone and is ready to get the tickets. He gets off the phone and sits me down as if you would if there was bereavement and tells me we can only get tickets for this game if we purchase for two lesser games. I go crazy - there must be an error you can't to that, this is like pressure selling. Imagine kids of 7 and 8 who cannot get to the other games you cannot commit to and telling them they will have to watch the highlights. So I had had enough with the money in the game and prevailed and I decide to look a little close to home - WELLING UNITED!

Why Welling United and who are they?

Welling United are based in Welling, Kent and play their football in the Conference South are two levels below league two, and they play their home games at Park View Road. They have two stands on either side of the ground and two open ends behind either goal. I choose Welling because they are my home town team and after the above I needed something to get my love back for the game and boy did I get it back and a bit more. I went down to the ground and persuaded a friend to come to the game with me and that was it I was hooked. Ten years on I have made amazing friends some of whom came to my wedding. I have travelled far and wide to watch my team even getting a plane to Newcastle - not to watch the toon army no, it was to watch the real match on that day which was Blyth Spartans vs Welling in an FA trophy match which we won and as non league football is all for the love of the game. We hitched a lift back to the airport with the team and got on the same plane, which was an amazing day. I am part of the supporters' team and we play against many other supporters' teams from all over the country even abroad. I help out at events to raise the club's profile and money to last the duration of the next season.

The rest of non league -
Over the past few years I would say that the non league game has raised in profile especially since Setanta have started to show more Blue Square Conference football. This has only made the incentives even greater for teams to progress up the leagues.

The non league structure is as follows -

- Blue Square Conference Premier
- Blue Square South
- Blue Square North
- Ryman Premier/North/South
- British Gas Premier/Midlands/South And West
- Unibond Premier/North/South

Two teams from both the Blue Square North/South get promoted every year to the Premier; two teams from the Premier of the Ryman British Gas and Unibond get promoted to the South and North respectively; teams from the North, South and West leagues aim to get promoted to these leagues; and then teams from the regional leagues aim to join the big boys of non league if you can call them that!

In regional leagues, your local town are bound to have a team in a league even though you probably do not know it. I am sure they are in a league somewhere, check it out in your local paper and give them a watch.

Non league football is very different to league football as teams can just fold at any time if funding seizes up or there is not enough support from the local community which with only being involved with a non league team has made me realise how much the locals matter. Let's just say that if you are reading this and thinking that, like me, you are becoming disillusioned with the league game and that you are going to get similar crowds and stadiums then you are very wrong. In the Blue Square Premier there are not many teams that get 1,100 plus every game and the attendances get lower the lower down the leagues, as do the quality of the pitches and also the stadium. I have visited 50 plus away grounds and have seen some very strange things - grounds with no seating, grounds with the smallest amount of space in and around the pitch that you can hardly move, grounds with a barn as a car park - the list could go on. But for all the funny things I have seen I would not change back to league football ever again. The other massive difference is the price - it is a lot cheaper to go to non league football but as you would accept the standard is not as great and the language used by some of the crowd can be heard through the ground. So be warned if taking your young children.

Overall -

The reason I have written this review is to express my love for the game of football and my love of non league. I hope by reading my review you can see the pros and cons between league and non league football and that I have in some way made you think about trying out your local team and finding out more about your hometown team. If you have half as much fun as I do with my local team I am sure that you will try to convert to the non league scene full time. I urge you to give it a try and I would love to hear your experiences and your views as this is a discussion.

Summary: Happy football times!