Football Review – A Non-League Football Review

Slough Town away to Grimsby Town. Weymouth at AFC Wimbledon. Curzon Ashton against League One Cambridge United. Just some examples of non-league clubs facing higher opposition in replays after battling well against far stronger opposition, but from next season [2024/25], those opportunities won’t be available.

The FA and Premier League announced that FA Cup replays from the First Round Proper would be scrapped, giving the competition a restructure for the next six years. The decision was argued after the Premier League said change was necessary due to the expansion of the European competitions next season. But with that only affecting a select few in the top division, it begs the question, how have the FA got this so wrong?

Before this most recent change to the competition, replays were removed from the Fifth Round Proper to help with fixture congestion because with it being highly unlikely a lower league team would make it that far, it allowed sides competing on a European front to avoid an extra mid-week game. This in itself meant a reduction to the ever growing football schedule.

While replays would remain for the duration of the qualifying rounds, it has taken away a dream for many lower league sides. This is because, should a non-league team achieve the unthinkable and draw with a EFL or Premier League side, they would have the opportunity to welcome a professional team to their ground or even have the chance to play in a large stadium in front on thousands. On top of the opportunities it brings with where teams would play, it also affects revenue that could be vital to a clubs survival.

Unlike the Premier League, not every club reports millions of pounds in profits over a footballing years and it is often the case that every penny helps. With replays, there comes a chance to pick up some more money with gate receipts and TV revenue. Gate receipts are typically halved between the two clubs prior to the Third Round Proper, so could get a decent amount of money from that after the deductions of expenses. Then there’s TV money, generated by having a match featured on the BBC or ITV, which could fetch clubs upto £100,000. That’s a massive amount of money for any non-club but for many being a TV choice could come in a replay rather than the original tie. With 18 games broadcast on the BBC and at least 20 on ITV, there are plenty of opportunities to have non-league clubs showcased on the tele, if they managed to get a replay.

There has been many solutions thrown about, but with the Premier League elite somewhat getting to decide the fate of over 700 other clubs, it seems like any solution is just a cheap replacement. One of those suggestions would be allowing non-league teams to switch their home tie away to a Premier league or Football League club to give them the opportunity of a lifetime, but that would also take away the opportunity to welcome a professional club to a non-league ground. Removing replays from the Third Round Proper and beyond would make some sense, with Premier League clubs entering the competition at that stage, but removing them from rounds before, makes very little sense.

Keeping replays is a fundamental part of the competition with the first replay coming in the 1875 final between Royal Engineers and Old Etonians. Removing them completely is probably not the way forward in a competition made for the entirety of English football, but if the Premier League’s huge squad can’t cope with the demands of multi competition football, then they should spare the thought of the non-league players who would sometimes have to play 2-3 games a week whilst balancing a full time job and would still like to play these extra games in the FA Cup just to see where they could end up.