Season Ticket Holder Offers for Non-League Day 2016

A number of clubs who are playing at home this Saturday, Non-League Day 2016, are reaching out to those who hold season tickets/cards for Premier League and Football League teams in their area.

Here's a sample of a few of the ways you can get your football fix this weekend.

Brighouse Town host Lancaster City in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and in addition to the usual, reasonable admission prices of £7 Adults, £4 Concessions and free for U12's there is a free pie and pint on offer for season card holders of any Football League or National League (North & South) club.

That should prove attractive to regulars at Huddersfield Town and Leeds United who do not have a game and also to supporters of Bradford City and FC Halifax Town who are in action but away from home.

Leeds fans are spoilt for choice as they are also entitled to half-price admission to the National League North clash between Harrogate Town and Curzon Ashton on production of their season cards.

Barnoldswick Town of the North West Counties League are offering free entry for the visit of 1874 Northwich to season ticket holders from any professional club.

Leicester City season card holders may be interested in Coalville Town and their offer of 50% off admission for the FA Cup tie at home to Redditch United. This is also applicable to any other Premier League or Championship club.

Season ticket holders from any club can watch the National League South game between Dartford and Maidenhead for just £5 and, in the same division, there is half-price admission for Premier League and Football League club regulars as St Albans City take on Hampton & Richmond Borough.

The offers will keep on coming throughout the week, building up to the big day on Saturday. Follow Non-League Day on Twitter to keep up to date.

Early Non-League Day 2016 Offers

This coming Saturday, 3 September, will see Non-League Day 2016 celebrated up and down the country.

Staged to coincide with the international break, meaning no Premier League or Championship matches, Non-League Day marks the fantastic depth and breadth of the game in England and Wales.

The event has grown year-on-year, since its inception in 2010, with national media coverage of both the idea itself and also some of the more unusual admission offers that there have been.

Here are some NLD offers that I have seen so far, I'll try and tweet about as many others that I come across while the official Non-League Day Twitter page is also a good place to keep tabs.

Quick off the mark with their Non-League Day plans were Wealdstone FC of the National League South. For the visit of Poole Town (3pm) they have reduced Adult admission to a minimum of £5 (donations can be made above this amount) for Adults, £3 U18's and free for U16's. 

In the same division, Dartford FC host Maidenhead and have a trio of offers in place for the 3pm kick-off. Under 16’s can attend for free, a Family Ticket (2 Adults, 2 Children) is available for £15 and season ticket holders from any other football club can watch the game for £5.

And, also in National League South it is Margate versus Hungerford at 3pm and with admission priced at £5 Adults and Concessions, £3 for 11-17-year-olds and free for U11's.

Non-League Day 2016 coincides with the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and supporters are being offered 'Pay What You Want' admission at Hitchin Town when Top Field plays host to Biggleswade United at 3pm. 10% of the gate receipts from this meeting of two clubs with close ties will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK. 

Coalville Town entertain Redditch United on the road to Wembley and season ticket holders from any Premier League or Championship club can come and watch with a 50% reduction on admission available.

There is Hallmark Securities North West Counties League action at Barnoldswick Town FC with 1874 Northwich coming to the Silentnight Stadium. Admission is priced at £5/£3 and free for U16's but season ticket holders from any professional club can watch without charge.

And for something slightly different,  S.V. Oosterheem of Holland are entering fully into the spirit of things with free admission to their game against Blauw Zwart which kicks off at 2:30pm local time. 

New Mills AFC v West Didsbury & Chorlton

A return visit to Church Lane on Wednesday evening to watch New Mills take on West Didsbury & Chorlton in the Hallmark Security North West Counties Premier Division.

The Millers, after a difficult couple of seasons on the pitch, are hoping for a better campaign this time around and have made a positive start but they were undone by three first-half goals from West with the visitors playing some good, ball-to-feet football going forward and who also caused problems with both their excellent set-piece delivery and a dangerous long throw.

A more even second-half saw a goal apiece for both sides and the Millers continuing to push forward until the final whistle in search of a second consolation strike.

There is football at Church Lane on Wednesday 31 August when Hanley Town are the visitors for a 7:45pm kick-off. Admission is priced at £6 Adults, £4 Concessions and £1 for U16’s and Students.

This Saturday, the Millers travel to Barnoldswick Town for a 3pm kick-off. Admission at the Silentnight Beds Stadium is priced at £5/£3 & free for U16’s.

West Didsbury & Chorlton, who host Padiham this Saturday, will also be looking to repeat their successful experiment with Friday Night Football when they host Irlam at Brookburn Road on 7 October at 7:45pm. Admission to home matches is priced at £5/£3 and free for accompanied U12's.

The Football League Trophy

Or the EFL Trophy as it is now called.

For many years the Football League Trophy (the Johnstone's Paint as it became known) went along in its own quiet way, the early round fixtures not always being watched by too many supporters but often offering a family-friendly and affordable way to watch competitive action under the floodlights.

I've written on the blog before that it was Coventry City's offer of £5 tickets to their home matches in the competition that got me thinking about a site where similar offers and initiatives were publicised.

Over 30,000 watched the Sky Blues area final against Crewe Alexandra in 2013 and the last two Wembley finals have been watched by a combined total of over 130,000 people.

Competitions are no longer allowed to have their own quiet place in the football calendar, however, and the EFL (itself re-branded from the historic Football League) decided in the summer that the format of the Trophy would be changed to include 64 teams, up from 48 and to move to a group stage for the opening round.

I would have had no problem with the first part of those changes (previously 16 teams had byes to then make a 32-team knockout) if National League clubs had been invited to enter but the clubs who will now compete are actually from the Premier League and Championship and who will be allowed to field Under-23 players.

Quite rightly, in my opinion, there has been a lot of anger about a move which could well pave the way for 'B' teams to be shoehorned into the pyramid in future years, all under the misleading premise that it will somehow benefit the national team at some point.

A number of Premier League clubs have actually turned down the chance to compete and the group stage draw (which also increases the playing burden on clubs with extra matches) has also thrown up some gems such as Shrewsbury having to travel to Middlesbrough (Under-23's) on a Tuesday night.

Sadly, Coventry City were one of the clubs who agreed to the proposal and the Sky Blues are also guilty of promoting their fixture against West Ham United without mention of the fact that it is not the Hammers' first-team who will be attending.

For my own small protest I won't be putting details of ticket offers for matches involving U23/Academy/B teams on Twitter although I will happily say that Gillingham are running a 'Floodlight Football for a Fiver' promotion for their match with Luton Town on Tuesday 30 August and that AFC Wimbledon are donating net profits from the game against Swansea City U-23's (the Dons have actually said that fans, if they do attend any of the group stage matches should do so against Plymouth Argyle) to local charities.

FA Cup: Handsworth Parramore v Stocksbridge Park Steels

Sunshine and (heavy) showers were in evidence at Sandy Lane, Worksop, this afternoon as Handsworth Parramore of the Northern Counties East League sprung an FA Cup surprise against Stocksbridge Park Steels, one step higher in the footballing pyramid.

Parramore, 4-1 victors, were formed in 2014/15 from a merger of Handsworth FC and Worksop Parramore with the history of both those clubs being very much in the Sheffield area despite the current location being in Worksop.

Adult admission to matches is £5. It is £3 Concessions and free for U16's with a paying adult and Parramore are back in league action at home to Liversedge this coming Tuesday (23rd).

Before then, Worksop Town FC are also in FA Cup action at Sandy Lane where they meet Ashton Athletic on Sunday (21st) at 3pm. Admission is £5 Adults, £3 Concessions, £2 for 11-16's and free for U10's.

FA Cup Preliminary Round

This Friday (19 August) sees the first fixtures of a weekend of FA Cup Preliminary Round action take place when Heanor Town host Long Eaton United and Aveley entertain AFC Hornchurch.

Guernsey FC are the main attraction on Saturday when they play their first ever match on home soil in the competition, against Thamesmead Town.

I've got my eye on a Sheffield derby clash between Handsworth Parramore and Stocksbridge Park Steels, the game taking place at Sandy Lane, Worksop, for which admission is £5 Adults, £3 Concessions and free for U16's with a paying adult.

A full list of fixtures is available at the FA website so please have a look at your local area to see if there is a match that takes your fancy.

That applies even more so on Saturday 3 September when the next round of the FA Cup coincides with Non League Day 2016. An annual part of the football calendar now, NLD takes place during an international break from action in the Premier League and Championship and encourages people to watch their local non-league side.

Many clubs will be offering free admission, 'Pay What You Want' entry and other special offers. Keep an eye on Twitter over the next couple of weeks. The first offer I have seen coming through is at Wealdstone FC where adult admission for the National League South clash with Poole Town has been reduced to a minimum donation of £5. Under-18's entry is £3 and Under-16's go free.

FA Women's Super League Update

It has been a fragmented season in the Women's Super League with some large gaps in the fixture schedule and a lack of focus to the campaign but the race is still on for the WSL1 title and promotion to the top division for the 2017 season, the first to be played in the winter.

Clubs are continuing to work hard to attract supporters and here are a few offers that I have come across in recent weeks.

Yeovil Town Ladies, of WSL2, have three home fixtures remaining, starting with the visit of London Bees on 11 September. A special family ticket is available, covering all three matches, costing £30 for 2 Adults & 2 Children.

In WSL1, Birmingham City Ladies have two more matches to play at home, against Chelsea on 28 August and Liverpool on 25 September.

A ticket is available that covers both games and costs £10 Adults, £5 Concessions and £25 for a Family.

Durham Women FC are battling for promotion and have a crucial clash against Oxford United on 28 August. All season ticket holders and supporters who have previously purchased tickets online are being contacted with a voucher that will allow them to bring a friend for free to this match.

There is a Family Fun Day planned for Watford Ladies home fixture against Millwall Lionesses on 28 August. Turnstiles open at 12pm for a host of activities before the game kicks off at 2pm.

Watford FC season ticket holders can watch for free while a Family (2+2) ticket is available for £10. 

On the knockout front, the semi-finals of the Continental Cup take place over the weekend of 3/4 September at London Bees and Manchester City respectively. 

City's Academy Stadium will host the final on 2 October for which tickets are available at £7 Adults, £3 Concessions and £15 for a Family.

Altrincham FC

Taken last Saturday at Moss Lane, the home of Altrincham FC as they began their National League North campaign against a well-supported Darlington 1883 side.

The game ended 2-2 with both sides having been in action twice more in the league since then. On Tuesday evening, Altrincham are back at home against AFC Fylde.

A visit to Alty offers a superb bar, part of the new community hub at the ground, for a pre-match drink. Supporters of the club are made to genuinely feel a valued part of it with chairman Grahame Rowley a highly-visible presence on matchdays (he was helping out behind the bar at half-time of the Darlington game).

The National League North is sure to be a fiercely-contested division in 2016/17 and a series of Greater Manchester derbies will give it the feel of a league two or three steps up the ladder.

Friday's match between FC United of Manchester and Stockport County, for example, attracted an attendance of 3,030 and FC United now go on to meet Salford City on Tuesday evening.

Premier League 2

Premier League 2 is the name given to the new competition that replaces the Under-21 Premier League from this season onwards.

Clearly, for an organisation with pretensions to global superiority such as the Premier League, any mention of the word ‘reserves’ is out of the question but, while the name given to the league is perhaps a little over the top, it is a competition worthy of a mention.

With the age limit now revised upwards to Under-23, clubs are also allowed to play a goalkeeper and up to three outfield players who are over that age and the aim is to get as close as possible to a ‘proper’ league structure with two divisions of twelve teams each and promotion and relegation between them.

Most importantly, from my point of view, at least three matches per season must be played at a club’s main ground and only a maximum of three can be staged at training grounds or academy venues.

That means plenty of opportunities for supporters, especially families, to watch matches that do have a competitive element to them (with the occasional star player turning out), in proper stadiums and for only a small cost.

Manchester United, for example, have been very good in the past couple of seasons at making all of their Under-21 games, whether played at their main venue of Leigh Sports Village (Leicester City are the visitors on Monday 15 August for a 7pm kick-off) or at Old Trafford, free of charge for everyone.

Norwich City have made a real occasion out of the matches they have played at Carrow Road, with family fun areas and free admission. Reading have done likewise and I would hope for more clubs to follow suit this season.

The action gets underway this weekend with matches such as Liverpool v Southampton at Tranmere’s Prenton Park on Sunday (kick-off 1pm, admission £4 Adults, £1 Children & Concessions) and a full list of fixtures is available at the official Premier League website although I would always urge keeping up to date with the home club themselves as fixtures can be changed at short notice.

Record Opening Day Crowd at Huddersfield Town

After taking the plunge over the summer and offering season tickets at a vastly reduced rate of £179 for Adults, the impact of Huddersfield Town’s initiative was clear to see from Saturday’s opening Championship fixture of the season. 

The visit of Brentford (so, not a local derby or an opponent who would bring a large away following) attracted a record first-day attendance for the John Smith’s Stadium of 18,479 with head coach David Wagner and a number of players commenting on the atmosphere created in a 2-1 victory for the Terriers. 

To put the figure into some sort of context, 13,397 watched the same teams play in early May. Neither side had anything but pride to play for that day (Brentford running out 5-1 winners) but Wagner’s methods and results had been bearing fruit and generating optimism that merely surviving in the Championship was not the limit of Huddersfield’s ambitions. 

Chairman Dean Hoyle shrewdly capitalised on that with his season ticket initiative, explaining at the time of its launch that it would essentially be underwritten by the increased television revenues coming into the club should it not succeed. 

Saturday’s evidence points to it succeeding in a big way.

A relatively quiet week ahead on the affordable football front although many clubs are offering £10 adult tickets in the opening round of the League Cup and there are a number of replays in the FA Cup extra preliminary round (such as AFC Liverpool against West Didsbury & Chorlton on Wednesday evening where admission is priced at £5 for Adults.

Life (And Football) Goes On For England

The Football Association face an extremely hard sell in marketing the upcoming World Cup qualifiers (the Scotland game apart) after another early tournament exit and one which really did deflate even England-enthusiasts such as myself who have always believed that the national team is the pinnacle of the sport and one which can do plenty of good for all levels of it.

But, below senior level there continues to be a lot of hard work done taking the age group teams around the country and providing a very affordable means of watching international football and the first week or so of September provides plenty of opportunity to do just that.

Under 21: Gareth Southgate’s squad did manage to lift some silverware in the summer, winning the Toulon Trophy and briefly putting their manager in the frame for the top job, at least on a temporary basis. 

Southgate seemed to make it clear he was happy to stay where he was and he will now try and guide England to the 2017 European Championship finals in Poland. 

Qualification resumes with the visit of Norway to Colchester United’s Community Stadium on Tuesday 6 September with kick-off scheduled for 5:45pm. 

Tickets are priced at £10 Adults and £5 Concessions with a Family ticket available for £20. 

Under 20: There were also positive reviews over the summer for Aidy Boothroyd’s Under-19 charges as they reached the semi-final of the European Championship and thus qualified for the 2017 Under-20 World Cup in South Korea.

An attractive friendly against Brazil should prove a popular attraction at Kidderminster’s Aggborough ground on Sunday 4 September at 3pm. 

Under 19: A friendly against the Netherlands is scheduled for Thursday 1 September, kick-off 12:30pm at the New Bucks Head Stadium home of AFC Telford United. 

Under 18: England play twice in four days as part of a mini-tournament in the North-West. Fleetwood Town host the game against Italy on Thursday 1 September at 7pm and then the action moves to Morecambe for the meeting with Israel on Monday 5 September at the same time. 

The FA website has full details of the fixtures with tickets for the U-20, U-19 and U-18 fixtures all priced at £3 Adults and £1.50 for OAP’s and Under-18’s with discounts for group bookings.