Freebie Friday: What is Non League Day?
The grassroots game takes centre stage this weekend
Welcome to the Friday Freebie, the view for all posting coming at you every week and if you’re new to the site, welcome and I hope you enjoy what you read.
This weekend sees the 13th Non League Day, a celebration of all things lower level in the calendar. Set up in 2001 by James Doe the day has grown in size and with the top divisions on an international break it’s an ideal time to invite those in who are still a little sceptical about what the grassroots have to offer.
To me it’s not surprising to see its growth, non-league has been very innovative over the last few years and continues to be so and while we all appreciate what we can see from week to week there are those still to be convinced.
Non-league does a lot right, pricing is pretty much on point across the board and it’s accessible for families from that point of view. A day out for a family of four to a top Premier League game is now becoming unaffordable for quite a few when you add in the cost of travel, food and drink alongside high ticket prices.
Players and managers are not approachable, they’re on a different pedestal but non-league is where you can share a beer or two or even just a chat with the players you’ve just seen gracing the pitch.
Whilst the Premier League can be knocked for that above they do their bit for their grassroots neighbours in terms of cash support and this year allowing the trophy to appear at a couple of grounds in advance of Saturday games taking place.
There are many reasons why all of us reading have an interest in non-league football, some of them I’ve already listed above, others being an escape from everyday life, meeting up with mates, the social side of things.
Certainly there are more no doubt and you reading will have your own, it still does surprise some how good the standard is not just on the pitch but off it too and that is massive credit to the mostly volunteer base non-league enjoys, without these people we wouldn’t be there on a Saturday afternoon enjoying some good football.
This year Non League Day have teamed up with Prostate Cancer and Our Game, the latter set up by ex-non-league footballer Francis Duku with the aim of unifying the many who play football outside of the professional level to give them affordable access to benefits essential to every footballer. You can find out more about Our Game and it’s aims on the Non League Day website linked below.
Also on the site, www.nonleagueday.co.uk there is a match finder if you’re at a loose end this weekend and failing that check out www.thenonleaguepaper.com every Sunday for the full week fixtures across the country.
You can also find out about the Non-League Day team, the Kick It Out campaign and details of how you can get your hands on some merchandise as well. With offers around everywhere it’s worth taking a look over the weekend and who knows you might even enjoy it with persuasion to return.