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Non-league football is reaching dizzy new heights, as popularity, levels, and funding is increasing at huge rates.
In 2004, the Football League renamed Division Three to League two, and this started a new identity for English football. There was the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two, which made up the professional side of the game. Below that was non-league, steps 1 to 5, starting with the Conference National, down to the Isthmian League Second Division and 14 other feeder leagues. In 2018, step 6 and step 7 were also introduced to the English football pyramid. This paved the way for new talent to come through, with so many opportunities for young, aspiring football players to now make it pro.
New leagues, means new teams, and there are constantly teams being formed that are quickly rising through the pyramid. Notably, Hashtag United, originally a social media team, started out in step 6 in 2018, and now in the 2024/25 season sit pretty in step 3, one league below the National North and South. It shows that the platform is now there for many young players to step into the pro game, with opportunities in abundance. All the lower steps start as local leagues, so there’s a team in most areas for young, aspiring players to join. It slowly branches into larger regions, reaching the National League North and South, before entering the National League.
The question that remains is, what is cause for this huge progress in the semi-professional game?. There is no definitive answer, there are numerous reasons as to why not only the level of the game has improved, but interest has risen as well. Celebrity ownership of non-league clubs has created mass fan groups who follow these public figures , to also take interest in the clubs themselves. It creates excitement among fans, as they feel more connected to the celebrities, and creates a community feel amongst the clubs. The likes of Stormzy, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenny, Jade Thirwall, the Sidemen and Olly Murs all either own teams, sponsor teams or have roles within non-league teams. This sort of celebrity endorsement not only brings a lot of interest into the game, but a lot of increased funding too.
One club who have particularly benefitted from increased funding is Hornchurch Fc. Alex Sharp became chairman of Hornchurch in 2016 and has helped the side go from strength to strength. When he began his tenure as chairman, Hornchurch were at step 4 of non-league, and in his eight years he has seen them into step 2, National League South, after promotion last season. Since his arrival, he has put huge amounts of funding into the club, which seems to be a popular aspect among football club owners improving non-league sides. When he arrived, it was a smaller club, so he focused on initiatives such as using the stadium as a cup final ground for school tournaments, and he invested a lot into the youth teams. As Hornchurch have risen up the ranks and the finances have grown, players are now paid greater money, and the facilities are constantly improving. Speaking to club secretary, Pete Butcher, he said “the quality of football has skyrocketed” since the arrival of Sharp. He also mentioned that “attendance is going up every season” as Hornchurch continue to rise up the divisions.
Seeing the rewards that it can have for these chairmen and owners, more and more businesspeople are seeing the value in getting involved in the non-league game. The more money they pump into the club, the higher the quality, and importantly the more fans they get interested and coming to watch games. For most non-league clubs, there is a charge for games, but it is rarely anywhere more than £10, and usually there are cheaper tickets for children, students and concessions. This is quite cheap for one person to pay, however if clubs can build up healthy attendances, that money racks up for them. This makes it a positive situation for both clubs and fans alike.
As many people work Monday to Friday, their weekends are free, and many like to spend these watching football. Whilst most people support a premier league team, tickets are increasingly out of many people’s price range. Therefore, having a local non-league team that you can go and support for a fraction of the price is ideal for so many. Also, as the quality is constantly improving, fans still get to watch a high level game and what most people love is being able to see good, competitive football. Practicality and price is a huge reason as to why the non-league game has become so much more popular amongst fans.
A club who have slipped into the non-league football pyramid in the past few years is East London based club, Dagenham & Redbridge. After 8 years spent in the Football League system, Daggers slipped back into the national league in 2016, where they have been since. Naturally, staff and owners were worried that falling down the system would affect the club in numerous ways, one of those fears being that attendance will drop. Their current average home attendance is around 1500 people per game, whilst compared to their 2015 League Two season it was around 1900 per game. Whilst this is a drop, this is part down to capacity dropping, and compared to many clubs at a similar level, this is still very respectable. Speaking to Dagenham manager, Ben Stevens, he says “the atmosphere on game days is popping, win or lose the fans are always behind the players”. Stevens took charge in 2023 but watched Daggers back in their football league days. He said, “the best bit about non-League is seeing normal people and all their families come to watch good football, have a great day out and make memories together”.
Due to so many now investing big funds into non-League clubs, the level is constantly improving. Naturally, it still isn’t quite as high standard as the professional game, but the gap is always closing. Therefore, it has become quite an attractive way for big name ex-pros to finish their career. Also, some retired professionals seeing the progression have decided to come out of retirement and spend a season or two in the non-League pyramid. Seeing these ex-pros coming into the non-League game could be directly linked as to why so many fans are watching. Various big names have got involved in the non-League game, such as Sandro, Charlie Austin, Jordan Ibe, Pascal Chimbonda and Leroy Lita.
These former players have countless premier league football experience, playing for clubs such as Tottenham (Sandro), Liverpool (Ibe) and QPR (Charlie Austin, who scored 34 goals in 111 Premier League appearances). They have played at the very top level of the game and bring huge quality and pedigree to the non-League game. For many people, these players would be icons and heroes to them, and they get to watch them play for a small portion they’d have had to pay to watch them for their original clubs. Therefore, this brings even more fans into non-League, because even if they didn’t know about the clubs originally, they will be following these players individually so.they’ll become familiar with the clubs they join over time.
Exploring the rise of non-League football suggests that there are numerous factors pointing towards its rapid growth. Non-League football is still played at a fantastic standard and can act as a pathway for many talented footballers to work their way up the ranks. Everyone has a local non-League club in England, no matter where they live, there is a semi-professional club close by. Therefore, it is so accessible for anyone to go and watch games of a good standard and usually at very affordable prices. The rise in popularity leads to more interest from businesspeople and celebrities to invest in clubs, with this money leading to the standard constantly rising. It feels as though this area of the game we love is on an upwards spiral, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. As such a great pathway for young talent, and a great place for ex-pros to pass on their experiences, it feels the standard and popularity is just going to keep getting better and better.
In 2004, the Football League renamed Division Three to League two, and this started a new identity for English football. There was the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two, which made up the professional side of the game. Below that was non-league, steps 1 to 5, starting with the Conference National, down to the Isthmian League Second Division and 14 other feeder leagues. In 2018, step 6 and step 7 were also introduced to the English football pyramid. This paved the way for new talent to come through, with so many opportunities for young, aspiring football players to now make it pro.
New leagues, means new teams, and there are constantly teams being formed that are quickly rising through the pyramid. Notably, Hashtag United, originally a social media team, started out in step 6 in 2018, and now in the 2024/25 season sit pretty in step 3, one league below the National North and South. It shows that the platform is now there for many young players to step into the pro game, with opportunities in abundance. All the lower steps start as local leagues, so there’s a team in most areas for young, aspiring players to join. It slowly branches into larger regions, reaching the National League North and South, before entering the National League.
The question that remains is, what is cause for this huge progress in the semi-professional game?. There is no definitive answer, there are numerous reasons as to why not only the level of the game has improved, but interest has risen as well. Celebrity ownership of non-league clubs has created mass fan groups who follow these public figures , to also take interest in the clubs themselves. It creates excitement among fans, as they feel more connected to the celebrities, and creates a community feel amongst the clubs. The likes of Stormzy, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenny, Jade Thirwall, the Sidemen and Olly Murs all either own teams, sponsor teams or have roles within non-league teams. This sort of celebrity endorsement not only brings a lot of interest into the game, but a lot of increased funding too.
One club who have particularly benefitted from increased funding is Hornchurch Fc. Alex Sharp became chairman of Hornchurch in 2016 and has helped the side go from strength to strength. When he began his tenure as chairman, Hornchurch were at step 4 of non-league, and in his eight years he has seen them into step 2, National League South, after promotion last season. Since his arrival, he has put huge amounts of funding into the club, which seems to be a popular aspect among football club owners improving non-league sides. When he arrived, it was a smaller club, so he focused on initiatives such as using the stadium as a cup final ground for school tournaments, and he invested a lot into the youth teams. As Hornchurch have risen up the ranks and the finances have grown, players are now paid greater money, and the facilities are constantly improving. Speaking to club secretary, Pete Butcher, he said “the quality of football has skyrocketed” since the arrival of Sharp. He also mentioned that “attendance is going up every season” as Hornchurch continue to rise up the divisions.
Seeing the rewards that it can have for these chairmen and owners, more and more businesspeople are seeing the value in getting involved in the non-league game. The more money they pump into the club, the higher the quality, and importantly the more fans they get interested and coming to watch games. For most non-league clubs, there is a charge for games, but it is rarely anywhere more than £10, and usually there are cheaper tickets for children, students and concessions. This is quite cheap for one person to pay, however if clubs can build up healthy attendances, that money racks up for them. This makes it a positive situation for both clubs and fans alike.
As many people work Monday to Friday, their weekends are free, and many like to spend these watching football. Whilst most people support a premier league team, tickets are increasingly out of many people’s price range. Therefore, having a local non-league team that you can go and support for a fraction of the price is ideal for so many. Also, as the quality is constantly improving, fans still get to watch a high level game and what most people love is being able to see good, competitive football. Practicality and price is a huge reason as to why the non-league game has become so much more popular amongst fans.
A club who have slipped into the non-league football pyramid in the past few years is East London based club, Dagenham & Redbridge. After 8 years spent in the Football League system, Daggers slipped back into the national league in 2016, where they have been since. Naturally, staff and owners were worried that falling down the system would affect the club in numerous ways, one of those fears being that attendance will drop. Their current average home attendance is around 1500 people per game, whilst compared to their 2015 League Two season it was around 1900 per game. Whilst this is a drop, this is part down to capacity dropping, and compared to many clubs at a similar level, this is still very respectable. Speaking to Dagenham manager, Ben Stevens, he says “the atmosphere on game days is popping, win or lose the fans are always behind the players”. Stevens took charge in 2023 but watched Daggers back in their football league days. He said, “the best bit about non-League is seeing normal people and all their families come to watch good football, have a great day out and make memories together”.
Due to so many now investing big funds into non-League clubs, the level is constantly improving. Naturally, it still isn’t quite as high standard as the professional game, but the gap is always closing. Therefore, it has become quite an attractive way for big name ex-pros to finish their career. Also, some retired professionals seeing the progression have decided to come out of retirement and spend a season or two in the non-League pyramid. Seeing these ex-pros coming into the non-League game could be directly linked as to why so many fans are watching. Various big names have got involved in the non-League game, such as Sandro, Charlie Austin, Jordan Ibe, Pascal Chimbonda and Leroy Lita.
These former players have countless premier league football experience, playing for clubs such as Tottenham (Sandro), Liverpool (Ibe) and QPR (Charlie Austin, who scored 34 goals in 111 Premier League appearances). They have played at the very top level of the game and bring huge quality and pedigree to the non-League game. For many people, these players would be icons and heroes to them, and they get to watch them play for a small portion they’d have had to pay to watch them for their original clubs. Therefore, this brings even more fans into non-League, because even if they didn’t know about the clubs originally, they will be following these players individually so.they’ll become familiar with the clubs they join over time.
Exploring the rise of non-League football suggests that there are numerous factors pointing towards its rapid growth. Non-League football is still played at a fantastic standard and can act as a pathway for many talented footballers to work their way up the ranks. Everyone has a local non-League club in England, no matter where they live, there is a semi-professional club close by. Therefore, it is so accessible for anyone to go and watch games of a good standard and usually at very affordable prices. The rise in popularity leads to more interest from businesspeople and celebrities to invest in clubs, with this money leading to the standard constantly rising. It feels as though this area of the game we love is on an upwards spiral, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. As such a great pathway for young talent, and a great place for ex-pros to pass on their experiences, it feels the standard and popularity is just going to keep getting better and better.
