£10m bail-out gets National League up and running

October 5 – English football’s National League – immediately below the four main divisions – returned at the weekend thanks to a £10 million rescue package from the government which allowed the delayed season to finally kick off behind closed doors.

The bailout covers the first three months of the campaign and is being split between the three leagues involved to make up for lack of gate receipts.

While clubs welcomed the financial package, there was considerable concern over the continued ban on fans.

Under the current rules, Steps 1 and 2 of the non-league pyramid are considered ‘elite’ clubs which bar attendances like the Premier League and English Football League.

Yet any non-league team below that level – in other words step 3 downwards – is allowed to accommodate a certain number of fans as long as it sticks to Covid guidelines.

That led to the confusing situation at the weekend, in the second qualifying round of the FA cup, of ‘non-elite’ clubs being allowed to have paying supporters if hosting  ‘elite’ clubs – but not the other way round, one of many anomalies that will have to be sorted out.

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