History of The English Non-league Football System - 2013-14

2013-14

For the 2013-14 season, a series of changes have been made to ensure that each Step 5 league has the opportunity to promote a team to Step 4. Since there are 14 Step 5 leagues and 6 Step 4 leagues, a simple promotion/relegation system does not work, resulting in league placements that are sometimes not based upon performance. The following changes to 2013-14 will make the promotion/relegation system work more effectively:

• All three Step 3 leagues (Northern Premier League Premier, Southern Premier, Isthmian Premier) will increase from 22 to 24 teams.
• The two Isthmian leagues at Step 4 (Division One North, Division One South) will increase from 22 to 24 teams.
• A third relegation place will be created in the Isthmian leagues at Step 4, creating 14 automatic promotion places from Step 5 from 2013-14.
• Teams finishing as low as third at Step 5 may be promoted, as long as they apply for promotion and meet the ground grading criteria. However, only one team from each Step 5 league will be promoted each season, the highest placed eligible club.

The relegation of 3 teams from the two Isthmian leagues at Step 4, plus the unchanged 2 teams from the other four Step 4 leagues, results in 14 teams being relegated from Step 4 to Step 5, thus allowing one team from each Step 5 league the chance to be promoted. The reason for the Isthmian League being chosen to increase relegation is that there are more teams competing in the Isthmian League area at Step 5 and lower. The rule concerning teams being able to apply for permission to be promoted is there in case the top team of a Step 5 league chooses not to be promoted (for example, Spennymoor Town from the Northern League has refused promotion to Step 4 for the past three seasons).

In order for the 2013-14 changes to take place, a "16-up, 6-down" system will apply for the 2012-13 season only, whereby 16 teams from Step 5 will be promoted (rather than 14) and only six teams from Step 4 will be relegated (rather than 12). The reason for this is the increase in teams at Steps 3 & 4 from 22 to 24 teams. The two extra teams promoted from Step 5 will come from the leagues in the Isthmian League catchment area (This covers five leagues – the Eastern Counties League, the Spartan South Midlands League, the Kent League, the Combined Counties League and the Essex Senior League.)

Once all the changes have been made between 2012-13 and 2013-14, the result from 2013-14 onwards will be a "14 up, 14 down" promotion and relegation system between Steps 4 and 5.