Key vote on future after shake-up

Taking place at the Holiday Inn Wakefield at lunchtime on Sunday, the meeting of all 68 clubs was planned to coincide with the long-awaited publication of the results of the National League System Review on The Non League Paper's website at 9am on Wednesday.

Carried out by the FA Leagues Committee to iron out geographical anomalies, cut down on travelling costs and time for fans, players and officials and encourage more Step 5 clubs to climb the pyramid, the biggest shake-up to the structure of Non-League in more than a decade since 2004 will see the creation of new Step 3 and 4 divisions covering the Midlands region.

In total, the 276 clubs currently playing in Steps 1 to 4 will increase by 20 to 296 when the two new divisions kick-off in August 2018. Across the board, the reshuffle will see the three current Step 3 divisions of 24 clubs increase to four divisions of 22 clubs while the six divisions at Step 4 currently run by the Northern Premier League, Southern League and Isthmian League will rise from 136 clubs playing in six divisions to seven 20 club divisions.

To achieve the FA's aims, only the bottom clubs in the current Step 3 divisions will be relegated at the end of season 2017-2018. In addition, only the clubs finishing last in the six divisions currently operating at Step 4 will be relegated with 26 clubs coming up from Step 5.

As a result of the shake-up, the EVO-STIK League's clubs will be asked to vote on Sunday on whether to continue with a north/south geographical split at Step 4 or switch to to an east/west allocation for 2018-19 and beyond.

EVO-STIK League chairman Mark Harris is looking forward to explaining the full background to the restructure and discussing likely club allocations and boundaries before the key vote after the competition worked closely with the FA and both the Isthmian League and Southern League on the draft proposals in recent months.

They will be finalised once this season's promotion and relegation battles are over and in a letter to clubs inviting them to the meeting, the chairman said: "We will be presenting the likely make-up of the new divisions, based on league placings as at 19 February, at a meeting of all NPL clubs. At this meeting, NPL club representatives will be asked to vote on whether our Step 4 divisions should remain split north/south or change to east/west from season 2018-19.

"We are currently working on a comparison of travelling mileage and time incurred by clubs under each scenario. The League Management Committee will then consider the results, together with other factors, on which clubs will be briefed, and make a recommendation to clubs to be voted upon at the meeting."

He added: "The outcome of this meeting will shape the immediate future of the league, so the meeting provides an opportunity for all clubs to ask questions and plan accordingly."

Images courtesy of thefa.com & thenonleaguefootballpaper.com

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