The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Everyweeker wrote:Petersfield looks to be in an area of the country I haven't really visited before, so would look forward to that.

At 168.3 miles from my house, it might also be the closest AFC has ever played to me. Good news :lol:

Not far from where I was welcomed into this world (Portsmouth). Hopefully be early on in the season on a Saturday can make a weekend of it to see the family. 2 birds 1 stone and all that

Depending upon if anything happens, could we see further changes hit step 4 from step 3, with Farnborough now struggling:
http://www.notabadname.org.uk/index.php ... 72&start=0&

Flackwell Heath have today refused promotion, after being told that they have been placed in Southern League 1 South & West, due to the financial implications of increased travelling. When will the FA learn? :(

Sholing believe they have been badly treated by the Southern League - http://sholingfc.co.uk/index.php/latest-news

It's the AGM today, but they are still looking for a team to replace Flackwell Heath after Redhill also declined an offer to remain at step 4 and transfer into the S&W league from the Isthmian. The latest team to be passed the S&W hot potato is Winchester City.

This whole problem of which league clubs should be allocated at Steps 3 and 4 can be resolved if the FA had the guts to tackle it!!. .

1.Abolish the current Southern League and Isthmian League. The overlap of clubs is ridiculous. These Leagues are only in existence to please the "Blazers" that sit on their respective Boards and are a throw back to the days of amateur football and before the pyramid was introduced.
2. Set up three National Leagues..Northern, Midland and Southern each with an equal number of clubs, probably 66.
3. On the 1st June each year, after all promotion and relegation issues have been resolved, draw a straight line east to west across England and the 66 most northerly clubs would constitute the Northern League. Similarly do the same with the Southern League, this time the 66 most southerly clubs. The remaining clubs would be in the Midland League. The top 22 in each League would be Step 3 clubs.

4. As each League has two Step 4 Divisions,clubs would then be split on rigid straight geographical east/west or north/south as deemed appropriate with 22 in each division.

When done properly clubs can look at a map of England and know without any qualms which division they will be allocated and have no arguments..

Part of the existing problem is the gross imbalance of southern clubs versus northern clubs, this could be alleviated if the clubs in the north at Step 5 showed some ambition and had the guts to take promotion instead of being big fish in a small pool and stopped monopolizing the FA Vase.

[quote="sussexdiamond] The top 22 in each League would be Step 3 clubs.[/quote]

That could potentially penalise a team who had earned the right to play in step 3 on the grounds of geography.

SouthRushdenJFC wrote:[quote="sussexdiamond] The top 22 in each League would be Step 3 clubs.

That could potentially penalise a team who had earned the right to play in step 3 on the grounds of geography.[/quote][/quote]

If you read my letter in todays NLP you will see I originally suggested 72 teams in each League.
The optimum is probably open to negotiation as at present some leagues do have more clubs than others.
Also the in the NLP today they have a questionnaire and one of the questions is " should all divisions have equal number of clubs"?

One thing we are all agreed on is that the shambles that has happened this summer should not be allowed to be repeated..... and this in a summer when no club was expelled by the Conference!

Any of you guys interested in this? http://www.afcdiamonds.com/southern-lea ... pportunity

sussexdiamond wrote:This whole problem of which league clubs should be allocated at Steps 3 and 4 can be resolved if the FA had the guts to tackle it!!. .

1.Abolish the current Southern League and Isthmian League. The overlap of clubs is ridiculous. These Leagues are only in existence to please the "Blazers" that sit on their respective Boards and are a throw back to the days of amateur football and before the pyramid was introduced.
2. Set up three National Leagues..Northern, Midland and Southern each with an equal number of clubs, probably 66.
3. On the 1st June each year, after all promotion and relegation issues have been resolved, draw a straight line east to west across England and the 66 most northerly clubs would constitute the Northern League. Similarly do the same with the Southern League, this time the 66 most southerly clubs. The remaining clubs would be in the Midland League. The top 22 in each League would be Step 3 clubs.

4. As each League has two Step 4 Divisions,clubs would then be split on rigid straight geographical east/west or north/south as deemed appropriate with 22 in each division.

When done properly clubs can look at a map of England and know without any qualms which division they will be allocated and have no arguments..

Part of the existing problem is the gross imbalance of southern clubs versus northern clubs, this could be alleviated if the clubs in the north at Step 5 showed some ambition and had the guts to take promotion instead of being big fish in a small pool and stopped monopolizing the FA Vase.

I did see that article and it was very good. I also don't see why the FA/southern league have prated around with teams.