National League System (football)

The National League System, otherwise known as the football pyramid, is a comprehensive league structure for football clubs in England playing below the level of the FA Premier League and The Football League. Comprising over 500 league competitions, and over 7,000 clubs playing so-called non-league football, it comes under the jurisdiction of The Football Association. The National League System has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream of rising to the very top of the English football league system.

Recently the system has undergone a two phase rearrangement. Phase One went into operation in 2004-05. At the start of the 2006-07 season, Phase Two should be introduced.

Organisation

At the top of the National League System pyramid is the Football Conference. Its top division, the Conference National (currently called the Nationwide Conference), is the only division in the System which is organised on a national rather than regional basis. Although the Conference is the top level of the non-league pyramid, it is not the highest level of English football. The FA Premier League and The Football League comprise the top 92 clubs in the English game, and two teams from the Conference are able to achieve promotion to the lowest division of The Football League each season.

Below the Conference, the layers have progressively more leagues and cover ever smaller geographic areas. Some leagues have more than one division. At the lower levels the existence of leagues becomes intermittent, although in some areas there are as many as twenty layers.

All the leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. Clubs that are successful in their league can rise higher in the pyramid, whilst those that finish at the bottom can find themselves sinking further down. In theory it is possible for a lowly local amateur club to rise to the pinnacle of the English game and become champions of the FA Premier League. While this may be unlikely in practice, there certainly is significant movement within the pyramid. The number of teams promoted between leagues or divisions varies, and promotion is usually contingent on meeting criteria set by the higher league, especially concerning appropriate facilities and finances.

Under the direction of The Football Association, the National League System evolved over many years, finally reaching the point of encompassing virtually the entire organised sport. Today's pyramid can be said to be barely twenty years old. Leagues have formed and dissolved over the years and reorganisations have taken place every few years as a result. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, Phase One of the latest change was introduced with the formation of a Conference North and Conference South immediately below the Nationwide Football Conference, renamed Conference National, forcing the top divisions of the Dr Martens Southern League, Ryman Isthmian League, and UniBond Northern Premier League down one level.

With around 2,200 leagues and 40,000 clubs, the National League System involves hundreds of thousands of players. Although world-famous full-time professionals may play in a few teams, most are strictly local amateur clubs playing before relatively few spectators. The National League System does not include the amateur version of the game often called Sunday League football. These leagues are independent entities with no promotion or relegation involving the football pyramid. However, some Sunday League clubs have been known to join pyramid leagues if they desire to progress higher.

The system

This table includes the seven steps of the National League System (NLS). Above the NLS are the FA Premier League and The Football League. Two teams from the Football Conference can be promoted to Football League Two at the end of each season. This structure was the result of changes made before the 2004-2005 SEASON.

The official name is given for all the leagues listed, and the sponsorship name is also provided for the leagues in the top four steps. All divisions in the top four steps have 22 clubs each. The FA's National League System Committee determine promotion and relegation between leagues shown, mainly based on location.

2006-07 Changes

Phase Two of the current ammendments to the system will take place before the 2006-07 season. The Conference National will be increased to 24 clubs and, whilst steps 2 and 3 will remain unchanged, two new leagues will be arranged at step 4, to reduce the travel requriements of smaller teams. The Northern Premier League Division One will be split into the Northern Premier League Division One North and the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands; the Isthmian League Division One will similarly be split into the Isthmian League Division One North and the Isthmian League Division One South.

At step 5, the number of leagues will be reduced from fifteen to twelve. It has been confirmed that the Isthmian League Division Two will be removed, along with two other leagues. In addition to this, all leagues at step five will have to contain between 18-20 clubs. This will require further restructuring to be done on a local basis within steps six and seven.

External link

• National League System homepage at TheFA.com
• thePyramid.info: Tom Willis's football Pyramid site
• FA announcement of 2006-07 structure