The Non - League thread

[paultheroyal]

Luton 17 points behind Wrexham lead 2-0 from 1st leg

[Four Of Clubs]

Fixtures this w/e - I've not put in any league games below STEP06 though there are a few Cup Final shown on Monday @ higher leevl grounds.

Sat 05/05/12
Reading Senior Cup Semi-F Flackwell Heath XI v Wokingham & Emmbrook
- other semi- between Woodley and Highmoor/IBIS is scheduled for Sat 12th - Final at MadStad on 15th.

Sun 06/05/12
Play Offs
CONFS S-F 2L Dartford v Basingstoke
CONFS S-F 2L Sutton Utd v Welling
ISTH1S Final Bognor Regis Town v Dulwich Hamlet
ISTH1N Final Enfield Town v Needham Market
... might go for this one as long as they don't have any stupid ticketing arrangements.

Mon 07/05/12 BH
Play Off Finals
ISTHP AFC Hornchurch v Lowestoft Town
SOUTHP Oxford City v AFC Totton
SOUTH1C Bedworth v Beaconsfield SYCOB - also looks promising - done the other three
SOUTH1S&W Poole Town v Gosport Boro

... and a few local Cup Finals

EBerks Pres. KO 14:00 @ Burnham: Britwell v Windsor Great Park
EBerks Lge KO 18:15@ Burnham: Eton Wick v Farnham WMC
SEIL Cup KO 11:00 @ Carshalton: Coulsden Utd v Horsley
OSL Cup KO 11:00 @ Abingdon T: Marston Saints v Riverside

Souther Comb Cup Hanworth Villa v Sandhurst T
CCL One Cup @ Windsor: Warlingham v Westfield
Hellenic Chall @ Newbury: Highworth v Binfield

[Four Of Clubs]

Result
Sat 05/05/12
Reading Senior Cup Semi-Final Flackwell Heath XI 1-4 Wokingham & Emmbrook

[Four Of Clubs]

Results -

Sun 06/05/12
Play Offs
CONFS S-F 2L Dartford 2-1 Basingstoke (3-1 agg)
CONFS S-F 2L Welling 0-0 Sutton (2-1 agg)
ISTH1S Final Bognor Regis Town 1-0 Dulwich Hamlet
ISTH1N Final Enfield Town 1-0 Needham Market
... did get here - both teams looked drained - made for a crap game.

Mon 07/05/12 BH
Play Off Finals
ISTHP AFC Hornchurch 2-1 Lowestoft Town
SOUTHP Oxford City 4-2 AFC Totton
SOUTH1C Bedworth 3-1 Beaconsfield SYCOB
SOUTH1S&W Poole Town 1-3 Gosport Boro (aet FT 1-1 - Boro's goals on 90+1, 93 & 98 - two of them from our fave pundit S.Claridge

... and Cup Finals

Southern Comb Cup Hanworth Villa 5-0 Sandhurst T
CCL One Cup @ Windsor: Warlingham 4-2 Westfield - was here - good contest 'Wars' very lively going forward, Westfield played their part - both might challenge for next season.
Not enamoured with the 'hosts' though - (sorry TB) decided NOT to open 'Scotty's' - so very limited Hot Food from inside the Bar only - no Burgers or Pies! Not a bad crowd either official 180 but with 'officials' well over 200 .
Hellenic Chall @ Newbury: Highworth 6-0 Binfield - Moles down to 10 men very early on - how often has a side won a semi-final 6-0 and lost by the same score in the Final


...that's probably it for the 11-12 season - may put together a summary of ups/downs later when the reprieves have started to sort themselves out and could round up the last couple of local Finals.

Game at the MadStad this Wednesday 9th - 19:00h KO - Car Parks usually free - only normally open East Stand -
Cup Final (poss BTCC?) Woodcote/Stoke Row v South Reading
...usually something on the RFC Official site about it by now?
Might be another one there later in the week too - as well as the RG Senior Final on the 15th? Will dig around.....

[Royal Rother]

The Poole v Gosport game had over 1700 in attendance, and Oxford v Totton over 1200.

Great numbers those.

And fair play to Steve Claridge - he's 46 now FFS!

[Christof]

Slough Town finally finished their season yesterday by playing the previously postponed league game away at Woodford United. They won 2-1 which was a good result considering they had lost the play-off semi-final on Thursday.

I suppose it's only fair that Woodford should play their last home match of the season, even though a crowd of 72 would suggest that most people weren't bothered!

To Four of Clubs, thank you very much for providing the best thread on here by a mile, and thanks to others for contributing as well. All the best for next season in whatever league you may find yourself.

[Aly Murty]

5th playoff final loss I've had to endure, 2 for Dulwich, 3 for Reading. Fair play to Bognor, they played well all season and deserved it on Sunday. Attendance was 2,100 with about 300 from Dulwich. Just hoping we can take the league next year now, could really do without the playoffs again...

[Stuka]

Off to the Luton playoff final with some family friends.

[Royal Rother]

AFC Totton's management team moving to Havant & Waterlooville.

[Tad Showbiz]

The Martyn Booty that left the Hyde United management team earlier this week following their promotion to the Conference.... is that the same Tutti Frutti Martyn Booty that played for us in the mid 90's?

[Royal Rother]

In the recently announced National Soccer Club Swap Shop awards, the Combined Counties League had two teams in the top thirty of the Non-League category which contained close to a thousand entries.

Windsor FC's programme came 30th, while Epsom & Ewell's programme was placed third.

Considering this was the Windsor FC programme editor's 1st ever season in the hot seat that's a fantastic achievement. Well done TB!!

Full listing of awards is here.

http://thecatalogue.tripod.com/id38.html

[Tony Le Mesmer]

All leagues at Step 3 to increase to 24 teams wef from 2013/14. Total madness, they need to be reducing the size of leagues, not increasing them. How the hell are players with a full time job expected to play 46 league games, The FA Cup, FA Trophy, Red Insure Cup and County Cup? Not to mention the logistics should we have a bad winter. One decent Cup run and your looking at a 60 game season now.

[Terminal Boardom]

In the recently announced National Soccer Club Swap Shop awards, the Combined Counties League had two teams in the top thirty of the Non-League category which contained close to a thousand entries.

Windsor FC's programme came 30th, while Epsom & Ewell's programme was placed third.

Considering this was the Windsor FC programme editor's 1st ever season in the hot seat that's a fantastic achievement. Well done TB!!

Full listing of awards is here.

http://thecatalogue.tripod.com/id38.html

So why don't you buy them then you tight oxf*rd

[Royal Rother]

As an investor I should be given one free!!

[Barry the bird boggler]

All leagues at Step 3 to increase to 24 teams wef from 2013/14. Total madness, they need to be reducing the size of leagues, not increasing them. How the hell are players with a full time job expected to play 46 league games, The FA Cup, FA Trophy, Red Insure Cup and County Cup? Not to mention the logistics should we have a bad winter. One decent Cup run and your looking at a 60 game season now.

Agreed but what would you expect? Think the planned changes were originally for below Step 4, so of course what do we get, those plans thrown out and changes made to Step 3/4.

[Terminal Boardom]

All leagues at Step 3 to increase to 24 teams wef from 2013/14. Total madness, they need to be reducing the size of leagues, not increasing them. How the hell are players with a full time job expected to play 46 league games, The FA Cup, FA Trophy, Red Insure Cup and County Cup? Not to mention the logistics should we have a bad winter. One decent Cup run and your looking at a 60 game season now.

Agreed but what would you expect? Think the planned changes were originally for below Step 4, so of course what do we get, those plans thrown out and changes made to Step 3/4.

There is an almighty bottleneck at Step 5 where 14 leagues are supposed to feed into 6 at Step 4. The maths just don't work. The FA should instead look at restructuring the pyramid so that it is level:

1 League at Step 1, 2 at Step 4, 4 at Step 3, 8 at Step 4 and so on.

By having 4 leagues at Step 3, the anomaly of the likes of Bishops Stortford and others playing in the Conference North becomes less likely. The one positive from the proposed reorganisation is that there is a possibility of more clubs gaining promotion from Step 5 to Step 4. But, and there is always a but, both the Southern and Northern Leagues have refused to increase the sizes of their leagues at Step 4 from 22 to 24. Only the Ryman have agreed to this adoption. The FA have stated as follows:

That, with effect from Season 2013/2014 and in order to create 14 relegation places at Step 4, the Isthmian League Division 1 North and Division 1 South (Step 4) be increased to 24 clubs with each relegating 3 clubs to Step 5, subject to any club issues arising during or after the completion of the playing season. It was noted that the Northern Premier and Southern Leagues have no desire to increase to 24 clubs for their Step 4 divisions. This will mean that a number of additional clubs will be given the opportunity to be promoted from Step 5 to Step 4 for season 2013/2014, the process is to be agreed

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Some good points above. Ive been into the Non League scene for 5 or 6 years now and my opionion is that the hole pyriamid needs to be ripped up and start again from scratch. No league (at any level come to think of it) should have more than 20 teams, 18 is about right for Semi Pro teams. If you are going to have the play offs, then extend them to more teams with the higher finishers having a clear advantage. Include Relegation "Play Outs" as well. Generate some proper excitement, the less meaningless mid table filling games the better. Non League football has far too many games that count for nothing. Theyve been trying to juggle everything around for years and just ended up with a complete mess of a structure. Step 3 and its Southern bias just cant carry on.

By my reckoning, Oxford City will be playing in the Conference North if Maidenhead are not handed a Reprieve. I bet they'd rather stay down! And after them the next most Northerly team in the Southern half will be Chelmsford. Whats going to happen if for some reason the 4 teams relegated from the Conf Prem are all Southern? Or both teams promoted from the Southern League are South Coast based? Hayes and Yeading for the Conference North anyone?

[Royalist]

I think more, smaller, SUMMER league with end of season play offs of league winners would help non league fight against Pro football. It's radical, It'd piss off alot but i think the lack of football on telly and decent weather crowds would be up.

[Stuka]

So with Fleetwood- their stadium is called Highbury and they wear red with white sleeves. That sure reminds me of a local club here where I live. Was this a coincidence or a homage?

[Four Of Clubs]

So with Fleetwood- their stadium is called Highbury and they wear red with white sleeves. That sure reminds me of a local club here where I live. Was this a coincidence or a homage?

Not too sure about the Highbury thing seem to be a few Norf Lahnden references knocking about but I suspect they are more related to the town rather than the club

..... Colours are from the original sponsors - a Trawler Company - apparently?

... Think our dive-bombing friend's theory is a neater one though!