Non-League football is also known as the National league in the English Football League (EFL). It is the 5th tier and lower of the EFL and teams in these tiers consist of professional and semi-professional teams. These teams can become full time professional teams. An example of a team doing this is Luton Town. They went from playing non-league football to championship football which is quite incredible. However, there is some quite intriguing about non-league teams. The way they play the game of football in its purest form and don’t have to deal with the pressure to win at all costs and not commercialise the clubs.
Due to this Non-league football has become more popular and lately there has been a lot more interest in these leagues. It easy to support these teams as there loads of them all over the UK and they really access compared to the clubs in the Championship and the Premier League. Another reason why the National league is so intriguing is because the prices of tickets are cheap compared to higher tiers in the EFL.
Also, despite the fact that most non-League teams are considered semi-professional teams. In terms of performance the League has been elevated. This promising as with increase performance there is more of chance of investors being drawn to a club. An example of club gaining high profile investors is Salford City who were bought by the Class of 92 in 2014. The investment they put into the club led to Salford City being promoted to League 2 in 2019.
Another reason why Non- League Football is so interesting is because of the dream of playing in the Premier League. There is a chance that that some of the player who play in National League could one day become future household names and Premier League stars. Players such as Jarod Bowen and Michael Antonio both came from the National League and are now playing for West Ham United who are competing place for Top 4 as well playing European Football. However arguably the most famous player to come from the National League would have to be Jamie Vardy who after 5 years after leaving FC Halifax Town who were in 7th tier of English Football manage to join Leicester City and win the Premier League title as well as the Golden Boot Award in 2016. Considering that these players and more have shown there is way of playing non-League football to Premier League football maybe it’s time for Premier League teams should delve in the National League for future Premier League stars instead of searching for these stars overseas as there could a future title winner in their backyard and wouldn’t even know it.
