LET’S MAKE IT THE BEST YET!
NON-LEAGUE DAY – SATURDAY MARCH 26
NON-LEAGUE DAY founder James Doe believes this year’s event has the potential to be the best yet as the football community comes together for a big celebration.
Saturday March, 26 is the designated day for one of the biggest occasions on the NonLeague calendar to celebrate all things outside of the Premier League and EFL.
It is also a welcome return for the first time since the Covid pandemic, with dates in 2020 and 2021 shelved.
Doe came up with the idea in 2010 when watching his local side Harrow Borough.
“I think it has the potential to be the biggest one yet,” Doe told The NLP. “We’ve had a couple of years off and the world of football has changed quite a bit.
“I think there’s still a bit of reaction to the whole European Super League filtering down, I think a lot of people discovered Non-League during the pandemic because they were locked out of their big clubs. As we’ve seen, there are big crowds at lots of games this season that you wouldn’t necessarily normally get.
“It feels extra special this year because of the gap. We’ve had a couple of false dawns where we thought we would go with it and then things flared up and new variants appeared.
“We’ve got Francis Duku and his Our Game community scheme backing us this year – if he hadn’t stepped in, it wouldn’t have happened because the costs for the last one were astronomical because it was so successful.”
The match map is now live on their website for fans to see what games are on, while the Premier League are once again throwing their support behind NLD.
Doe has been busy sending out packs to clubs to get involved and inspired to continue the tradition of unique events and offers.
“It’s always been a celebration, it’s not a protest,” Doe said. “We’re trying to being every element of the football community together. That’s the idea and I think it largely has done.
“It will be good to get as many people involved as possible and be as positive as we can. It’s supposed to be a bit of fun.
“I’ve been chatting to the guys at Harrow Borough recently and they’ve got someone who has become an outreach officer.
“They did their first big promotion against Taunton Town where they invited loads of school kids and they pretty much all turned up. It doubled the crowd, from an incredibly diverse background with people who would have never stepped foot in a football ground before that and it could be really transformative.
Uphill
“We’d love as many clubs as possible to get involved – all the funny deals and quirkiness, the likes of Bungay Town handing out mushrooms on the gate or paying people 5p to turn up made world news!
“Great Yarmouth did Bloaters, where you got a free fish sandwich, and Grantham do gingerbread men – the chairman goes to the bakery and gives them out to fans.”
Prostate Cancer UK are also supporting the event – as they have since 2014 – and urging fans to be aware of their risk of the most common cancer in men by taking a 30-second test on their website.
Doe has been pulling on a PCUK jersey for his recent runs around the Non-League grounds.
“It’s been quite fun and hopefully I can get a few more in before the day,” Doe added. “The first one I did was just over a half-marathon and uphill all the way! I started over at Sudbury, near Wembley, and wound my way up to Cockfosters.
“Just as I was coming to the end a woman thanked me I assume because of the Prostate Cancer UK top, which was really nice.”