Non-League Day is a day set aside in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

where supporters of clubs playing at the highest levels of the game are encouraged to experience football at

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

level with which they may be unfamiliar. The idea was suggested in 2010 by James Doe. It is a non-profit and volunteer-run initiative and is set to coincide with a break in fixtures within the football calendar when the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

sides do not have games. This is so that international fixtures can be played and top level players will be on international duty. It has received widespread backing from the Premier League and from Football League clubs as well as MPs, media organisations, charities and from non-league clubs themselves.

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

also gives its backing to the campaign. Clubs often look to this day for a boost in attendance figures and offer reduced admittance prices to fans of other clubs for games played on Non-League Day. Clubs can also offer incentives for fans to attend. In August 2014 Bungay Town handed-out mushrooms to supporters attending their match with

Martham Martham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated some north-west of the town of Great Yarmouth and north-east of the city of Norwich. The villages name means 'marten homestead/village' or 'weasel/marten h ...

in the

Anglian Combination The Anglian Combination (known as the Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination under the terms of a sponsorship deal) is an English football league that operates in the East Anglia area. The league specifically covers Norfolk and northern Suffolk ...

League Division Two doubling their normal match-day attendance to 100.

References

External links

Non-League Day
Non-League football Association football culture Sports culture in the United Kingdom Association football fandom {{footy-stub