Page 30 - Tuffley Rovers FCX9

Are you sitting comfortably?….

If you aren’t already aware, significant changes are being made to Step 4 of the
Non-League game, which means that the usual rules around promotion and
relegation at the end of the 2017/18 playing season.
Ordinarily, only one team is promoted from the Hellenic Premier Division and up
to four teams are relegated from the twenty team division, to make way for the
top two promoted from Divisions One; East and West. It doesn’t always pan out
that way – it has been rare in recent years for four clubs to be relegated, for
example – but until the league AGM in June, the understanding is that this is
what should apply.
There are plenty of teams at Step 6 (the level at which the East and West teams
compete) with the necessary ground grading to achieve promotion, so there is
real potential that, this year, there will be four teams dropping down. However,
it is not at that end of the table where the changes are to be witnessed.
Due to the reorganisation at Step 4, which is seeing an additional division added,
26 teams (from 14 leagues at Step 5), will be promoted this year. How will that
be decided, you might ask? Well, instead of the league winners being the only
team promoted, twelve of the fourteen runners-up will also be moved up the
pyramid, with qualification based upon a ‘points per game’ basis. Given how well
the top Hellenic League teams are doing, it looks inevitable that this league will
be one that sees two sides leaving on their way to Step 4.
So, with 26 teams moving up, there will still be a need to relegate sides, but it
is likely that only six teams will be relegated from Step 4. That then makes the
final twenty teams to comprise the new, additional division.
Now, where those teams that are relegated are geographically located will then
influence where teams are placed at Step 5, as the FA reviews the distribution
to decide whether any lateral moves are necessary.
Confused? Wondering how it will affect Tuffley Rovers? Well, we aren’t looking
likely to occupy a promotion or relegation place, as we sit in a relatively
comfortable mid-place position. If you are a wild optimist, I’ll let you know now
that promotion is an impossibility. For those feeling a little pessimistic, the good
news is that it is also (although not quite) as impossible for us to be relegated,
as we are guaranteed to finish no lower than tenth in the table.
So, we’re safe in the Hellenic League Premier Division next year? No, not quite!
Depending what happens throughout the whole restructure, there is always the
possibility that we could be moved to another league, with the most likely option
(if we were laterally moved) a relocation to the Western League. Again, it might
be unlikely but it can’t be ruled out.
Got it? Great. See you in 2018/19. Somewhere….