Restructuring

[Ted]

From Timesonline

 

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February 19, 2004

 

Feeder frenzy provokes challenge to new structure

By Walter Gammie

 

 

 

THE final verdict may be delivered tomorrow or it may not be made public for some time, but the plan to restructure non-league football next season will be decided by a three-man FA arbitration panel that meets over the next two days. Since the FA sanctioned the proposal to introduce north and south feeder leagues to the Nationwide Conference and a radical shake-up farther down the pyramid last June, clubs have been jostling for positions in the new set-up.

The transition to the biggest overhaul since the Conference was established as the Alliance Premier League in 1979 was thrown into confusion last November by the Isthmian League, which mounted a challenge to the changes. The arbitration panel’s task is to determine the validity of the Isthmian League’s case.

 

 

 

Open debate on the issues has been stilled by the leagues’ agreement to keep their silence until the arbitration panel sits. The Isthmian League wants to retain the status quo of three feeder leagues. Its case is that, two years ago, the FA agreed to do just that. The Conference had decided to recognise only the Southern League and Northern Premier League. The FA threw open the issue for debate, stating its preference for a two-feeder system.

 

The consensus was that the Isthmian League was hard done by and there was no change.

 

This time the Conference has proposed two new divisions. The existing feeder leagues would survive below the new additions. The Isthmian League’s unhappiness is not just about a new tier being imposed above it. It is also aggrieved that, in the new system, it will have only one of its lower leagues feeding into step three. It was, however, only last season that the Isthmian League adopted the Southern Le ague model of regional first divisions.

 

There is also a perception among the Isthmian League’s smaller clubs that the restructuring is at the behest of the Conference and the bigger clubs. Geographical reorganisation at their level will not necessarily be to their advantage, they believe. None of this has stopped all 24 of the Isthmian premier clubs applying to join the new Conference divisions and the league has been forced to say that it will not take sanctions against any of those clubs, regardless of the outcome of the arbitration panel.

 

The Conference, for its part, believes it has a mandate to expand, even though the new feeders have been established under the umbrella of a Football Alliance, comprised of its representatives and those of the three existing feeders. And it receives strong support from the Southern League and the Northern Premier League. They believe that the gap between the Conference and their leagues has become too wide as the Conference has become more professional.

 

The advent of two-up, two-down has meant that more Conference clubs are former members of the Football League.

 

The Southern and Northern Premier Leagues believe the new leagues will help clubs to benefit from the higher profile of the Conference, through marketing, sponsorship and grants for ground development. The capacity of leagues to refresh themselves with new, ambitious clubs will enable them to recover from the loss of leading clubs. This happened when the Conference was established. The Conference will give clubs in its feeder divisions three years to bring their grounds up to standards.

 

The Isthmian League has stoutly maintained its capacity to put forward clubs ready for the Conference — Canvey Island will fit the bill this year. Of the leading clubs in the Northern Premier League only Barrow have applied to the Conference. Unless they finish in the top two, this will mean a reprieve for the club in third bottom place.

 

In a radical departure, teams that win promotion will not automatically move into a set league. Instead, when all the clubs are known, the composition will be decided geographically. Fine at the higher levels, very tricky at the lower levels. If the panel’s verdict favours restructuring, then it is clear that the work has only just begun."