Page 3 - Deal Round Up June 2019

Do We Now Have True Promotion And Relegation?

The Football Association spent a number of years (and money) on the total re-structuring of non-league football in
England so that, in theory, a club could start at the bottom level (Step 7) and with successive promotions gain entry to
the Football League and even the Premiership. The process was designed to cut down on travel costs and create more
‘local derby’s’ for smaller clubs to help increase their revenue. This was a massive task and although a few tweaks
have been necessary to iron out geographical anomalies, by and large, they have done a really good job. The old system
was that if a club wanted to move to another league, or gain admission into the Football League, they had to be voted
in by the existing member clubs, with the obvious ‘old pals act’ coming into force.
So, now that the season is over and the Play-Offs have been completed, clubs start planning for the new leagues they
find themselves in whether because of promotion or relegation. However there will always be those that try to ‘buck
the system’. An example of this was when, at the end of the 2017-18 season, Welling Town from the Kent County
Football League Division 2 West applied for and were accepted into the Southern Counties East League Division 1, thus
leaping two divisions and avoiding two promotions! The Kent County League appealed against this but the application
was upheld by the F.A. and Welling Town were in. The same thing is happening again with another club below the Pre-
mier Division of the Kent County League applying for membership of the SCEFL for the 2019/2020 season.
In my humble opinion this is immoral and the F.A. should be ashamed for allowing it to happen. After all they set the
criteria when they completed the re-structuring programme. Clubs should earn the right to play at a higher level and
get there by being promoted. Double standards or what?
Thank you for reading.
Bob Chivington, Editor, 07854529118

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