Knowing Non-League Day: Terraces, pints and room to be

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed/ Non-League Day

There are plenty of organisations doing great work to nurture the soul of football, but there are few like Non-League Day, which is really just a free-form concept but means so much more.

In a week when season ticket price increases at Manchester City and Spurs are in the news, the yearly event, which takes place on Saturday March 23 and which celebrates the best of football below the top four tiers of English football, couldn’t be more timely.

Terrace Edition chatted to Non-League Day founder James Doe to chat terraces, pints and room to be, to get to crux of why sport from the National League and under, is proving ever-more appealing.

Harrow Borough was Doe’s old stomping ground and he was a regular at the North London club’s Earlsmead Stadium before losing touch for a while, while following Queens Park Rangers around the country.

It was at a pre-season friendly between Tavistock Town and QPR that he had inspiration, seeing the boost in attendance that the R’s brought to the Devon club and hoping a day dedicated to Non-League football could do similar at clubs across the country.

Doe noted that Harrow were crowd-funding for floodlight bulbs, a cost he believed would be standard at any football club but upon doing some basic research he realised the hand-to-mouth existence of so many non-League clubs.

So, a 2010 Facebook event was started, alongside football landscape photographer Mike Bayly, with the simple plan of trying to highlight where and when games actually were being played to make it easier for people to just turn up.

Doe received support from the Non-League Show, then on BBC London radio and an appearance on that helped spread the word.

Holding Non-League-Day on an international weekend was smart as it meant fans could make a fresh choice over where to go without the lure of top tier matches.

The leagues themselves caught on pretty quickly with the Isthmian League, the Southern League and latterly the National League itself getting on board.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Bath City FC.

In terms of origin stories, you won’t get a better one than the story of Elsa Jones, who was drawn to a Non-League Day fixture at her local club Hanwell Town and to cut a long story short, is now marketing manager while her father is on the Committee and her mother runs the gate!

It speaks volumes for Doe and co’s work that on Saturday, all National League games will be proceeded by a pennant ceremony, celebrating 10 years of collaboration between Non-League Day and Prostate Cancer UK.

The tie-in has raised over £250k and this year will have 10 feature matches at clubs ranging from Whitehawk FC in the South to Ossett United in the North.

Jeff Stelling will be down at Eastleigh with his beloved Hartlepool United, backing Non-League Day and Prostate Cancer UK and there is also a partnership with South Western Railway which means fans can scan a QR code on a Non-League Day poster at SWR’s 190 stations to access a map showing where their nearest local fixture is.

Not that No-League Day is restricted to local railways, or even England itself because there is now a successful link-up with Athletic Club of Bilbao with Euskal Non-League day in the Basque country.

Athletic club have been publishing articles this week on English non-League clubs that the Basque giants have played over the years, including Corinthian Casuals and Dulwich Hamlet, the latter whom a contingent of Athletic Club fans visited last year.

The famous red and white shirted club from San Mamés is known for its understanding of the inter-dependency of football and for its interest in the history of the clubs that make up the sport at all levels so a Basque version of Non-League Day was a no-brainer.

Of course, interest in top level football in England shows no sign of waning but there are more and more people who are taking time to enjoy the gentle pleasures of non-League, with cheaper pricing, the chance to stand on a terrace and enjoy a pint.

Some say it is the best of football which Non-League Day continues to share.

Meanwhile, back at Harrow Borough, they are offering free entry for NHS workers on Non-League Day plus half-price entry for those with EFL or Premier League season-tickets holders, or people with tickets for England vs Brazil.

Search for your nearest Non-League Day fixture using the link : https://nonleagueday.co.uk/map/