Bury AFC have applied to play in the North West Counties League for the 2020/21 season. If accepted they will join the tenth tier of the English game, six levels below League 2. This is a reincarnation of Bury FC who were expelled from the EFL before a ball was kicked this season. Bury AFC will have no ties to the club’s previous owner, as they look to ensure the town has a football club to support once more.
Bury AFC Application to North West Counties League Represents a Fresh Start
The expulsion of Bury FC from the EFL represents every football fan’s worse nightmare. For reasons beyond their control their football club vanishes almost overnight. The club they indulged so much time and passion in is gone, with winter weekends looking decidedly empty. This is why a group have got together and followed a path previously taken by the likes of Chester, Darlington and Halifax who reformed at non-league level.
Bury AFC will need to have met the necessary criteria, including ground location, by 31st March 2020 for acceptance. Then the hard graft really begins. Providing the fans stay loyal their attendances should generate a playing budget which will see them rise quickly for the first few seasons. This will likely level out once they hit National League North standard, tier six in the overall football league system.
Bury fans will have been aware of this route by watching their previous tenants at Gigg Lane, FC United of Manchester. Formed by a group of disgruntled fans, FC United ground-shared with Bury when they joined the North West Counties League in 2005. It is a league Salford played in not too long back before the intervention of a certain group who also had Manchester United ties.
Besides Salford, Fleetwood and Accrington have also reached the football league from the North West Counties League. Yet AFC Wimbledon still remain the benchmark, joining the Combined Counties league in 2002 before rapidly rising to football league status in 2011. All points to the need for patience for Bury fans in regaining EFL status and accepting it as not a guaranteed thing. In the meantime, there could be much fun to have in the ensuing journey.
The World of Non-League Football
Non-league football is jam-packed with talented footballers. The main reason they are in non-league is a lack of consistency in their performance. Some of the best games of football I have watched have been in non-league. It is not common to see many 10 men behind the ball, attack versus defence games here. More often than not you see two even teams going hammer and tongs at each other for 90 minutes.
Of course, the prospect of playing at this level for Bury fans will be hugely deflating at first. This is a club full of football league history with a good solid supporters base. Yet there will be many things to enjoy in the coming years:
- Matches will be of a higher standard than you expected
- Cheaper admission, cheaper programs, cheaper match day experience all round
- No 300-mile trips on a Saturday, let alone a cold, wet Tuesday evening
- Winning most games to begin with
- Football fans love visiting new places
- Big crowds in small grounds means some atmosphere
- Even more of a community, in it together feel
Support Your Local Club
Regardless of the league at least Bury fans will have a club. They will have their Saturdays back. A club to love, to cheer on, to moan about when things go wrong on the pitch. Basically to be a football fan once more. There are many grand old names in the higher echelons of non-league football where Bury AFC will aim to be sooner rather than later. One of the grandest top the National League, the level immediately below the EFL. Barrow lost their league status following the 1971/72 season, but now sit top of the National League. With only one automatic promotion spot it is a precious and precarious position to be in, just 5 points clear of second-place Harrogate.
Bury AFC will hope their potential return to league status will not take quite so long. Bury Phoenix are the group behind the project, emphasising the rise from the ashes of the old club. Yes, it will be a different experience for the large majority of the fans, but not one to dread. There will be many local derbies plus a trip across the sea, as one of the other interesting league applications is from FC Isle of Man. However, for the next few years, Bury fans will have the novel feeling of being a very big fish in a small pond.
Main Photo
