It’s hard to believe, but over half of the
92 current teams in the top 4 divisions have spent at least 1 year in the
Premier League. To me this shows that, despite the generally static nature of
the highest echelons of the competition (which is why we’re all Leicester City
fans on the sly this season); the meritocratic principle is alive and well in
the professional game. However in the semi-pro world at Steps 5 and 6 (Northern
League Divisions 1 and 2 in normal speech), there is profound disgruntlement
south of Northallerton at the perceived paralysis of the grassroots,
exemplified by the virtual stranglehold on the FA Vase enjoyed by Northern
League teams over the past few seasons.
Basically, since the FA did away with the
distinction between gentlemen and players in 1974, causing the death of the
Amateur Cup, non-league sides have played for either the FA Trophy or the FA
Vase, depending on their place in the pyramid. The Trophy is for clubs at Steps
1-4, meaning the north east representatives are Gateshead of the Conference
(Step 1), Blyth, Darlington and Whitby in the Evostik Premier (Step 3, though
Blyth are in prime position for promotion to the Conference North, at Step 2)
and Spennymoor Town in the Evostik North (Step 4).
As the name pyramid suggests, at each Step down, there are more and more
leagues feeding upwards, which is why 236 clubs entered the FA Trophy this year
and 564 entered the FA Vase. While the demarcation between the two knock-out
competitions is clear, to the extent that both finals will be played on 22nd
May at Wembley, like so much in the semi-pro world, there are exceptions to
seemingly every other rule; promotion can only be gained if the club seeking
advancement can pass a rigorous ground grading inspection. If a champion club
fails to meet the necessary grading, the offer for promotion can be extended to
the runners-up or even a third place team. That said, there is no obligation to
be promoted, as to be considered in the first place, clubs must make their interest
known by 31st December previously.
In the North East, clubs previously progressing
up the leagues have had varying degrees of success; Gateshead and Blyth
Spartans are doing well, as are the reformed pair of Darlington 1883 and
Spennymoor Town, while Whitby (FA Vase winners in 1997) have remained stable
since promotion in 1998. However, there is no mad rush from Northern League
sides to emulate those who’ve gone before, as the past has salutary lessons to
teach us; Whitley Bay, Bishop Auckland and Durham City all endured ignominious
relegations, while Newcastle Blue Star followed the route of North Shields
before them and went out of existence. The original North Shields club perished after selling their old Appleby
Park home and the current team that play at Gardener Park and won the FA Vase
in May 2015 are a phoenix outfit.
Regardless of their lineage, North Shields
ensured that the Northern League had a side in the FA Vase final for the
seventh straight year when they faced Glossop North End at Wembley. Whitley
Bay, who had already tasted victory over Tiptree United in 2002 at Villa Park
while Wembley was undergoing its makeover, started the current run in 2009,
ironically also against Glossop. They came back the next year to rout Wroxham
6-1, with Paul Chow grabbing the quickest ever final goal after 21 seconds,
completing a hat-trick of successive wins 3-2 over Coalville in 2011. The next
year West Auckland, winners of the first ever World Cup, the Thomas Lipton
Trophy, beat them en route to the final, but came up short, losing 2-0 to
Northern League rivals Dunston UTS. Spennymoor Town did the double of Vase and
Northern League in 2013, seeing off the challenge of Tunbridge Wells 2-1. The
only blemish on the recent record was West Auckland’s second loss in the final,
1-0 to Sholing in 2014, before North Shields brought the FA Vase back home last
year.
This year, the flag-bearers for the region
are Morpeth Town. Having disposed of holders North Shields and fancied parvenus
South Shields, they beat Bristol Manor Farm 2-0 in the 6th round in
front of 750 at their charmingly rustic Craik Park ground on the edge of
Morpeth Common, to set up a two-legged semi-final with Essex Senior League
outfit Bowers & Pitsea, which they navigated to set up a final tie on May
22nd against the reborn Hereford FC.
Now, looking at the Northern League’s
record of success in the Vase and factoring in the utter disinclination of member
clubs to seek promotion with all of the attendant costs involved in terms of
ground improvement, additional travel and increased players’ wages, can you
imagine how clubs in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands are feeling?
Despite the geographically disadvantageous hand Northern League clubs have been
dealt, the FA has bowed to pressure from other Step 5 leagues and is engaged in
a ‘consultation exercise’ with clubs, about potentially changing the structure
of the Evostik League from a Premier Division supported by North and South
Divisions below, to having three feeder divisions: Midland, West and East.
Obviously, this plan would require more participating clubs. Hence the FA’s
hinted solution seems to be that anything up to 6 Northern League clubs will be
invited to apply for promotion to the East Division; if not enough are so
inclined, the prospect of enforced promotion has been mentioned. Presumably,
ground grading will not even be a consideration when the FA starts looking at
potential members for the 2017/2018 season.
When one considers the adoption of such
proposals would mean the clubs affected being required to make journeys as far
south as Sheffield, rather than Teesside as at present, and that they will only
be allowed to participate in the FA Trophy, it seems like a policy decision
based on calculated spite, aimed at emasculating the power of one of the oldest
and more successful football leagues in the world. This is why I’m rooting for
Morpeth Town in the FA Vase; The Highwaymen aren’t just representing a charming
Northumberland market town, but the hopes and aspirations of their colleagues
at the 43 other clubs in the Northern League.
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