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National League System (football)

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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 some 2,200 leagues and 40,000 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.

Structure

At the top of the National League System pyramid is the Football Conference, currently called the Nationwide Conference. It is the only league 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. Clubs are not franchises, but are community based organisations, dependent upon local support and not movable from one place to another. A recent case of disregard for this idea involving Wimbledon F.C. led to a fan backlash and the formation of a new club, AFC Wimbledon.

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. From 2004 another change will be introduced with the formation of a Conference North and Conference South immediately below the Nationwide Conference, forcing the top divisions of the Dr Martens Southern League, Ryman Isthmian League, and UniBond Northern Premier League down one level.

With around 2200 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.



National League System, 2003-04

This table includes the top of the National League System. Above the National League System are the FA Premier League and The Football League. Two teams from the Nationwide Conference can be promoted to the Third Division of the Football League at the end of each season.

Football Conference
(Nationwide Conference)
Northern Premier League
(UniBond League)
Premier Division		 Southern League
(Dr Martens League)
Premier Division		 Isthmian League
(Ryman League)
Premier Division
Northern Premier League
(UniBond League)
Division One		 Southern League
(Dr Martens League)
Eastern Division		 Southern League
(Dr Martens League)
Western Division		 Isthmian League
(Ryman League)
Division One (North)		 Isthmian League
(Ryman League)
Division One (South)



National League System, 2004-05

From next season there will be a number of changes to the System structure. For each division, its official name and sponsorship name (which often differs radically from its official name) is given. All divisions in the top four levels given here will have 22 clubs each.

Level

League/Division

1

Football Conference

(Nationwide Conference)

2

Conference North
(Nationwide Conference North)

Conference South

(Nationwide Conference South)

3

Northern Premier League
(UniBond League)

Premier Division

Southern League
(Dr Martens League)

Premier Division

Isthmian League
(Ryman League)

Premier Division

4

Northern Premier League
(UniBond League)

First Division

Southern League
(Dr Martens League)

Western Division

Southern League
(Dr Martens League)

Eastern Division

Isthmian League
(Ryman League)

Division One

5+

Many more regional leagues (see articles on leagues above for their immediate feeders)




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