Shrimps set for delayed kick-off as part of National League's promotion push
Morecambe’s National League trip to York City next month will kick off at a later time as part of a campaign for a third promotion place to the EFL.
The league has arranged a ‘3UP Day of Action’ for Saturday, November 15, when the Shrimps visit the LNER Community Stadium.
As a result, all 12 matches in non-league’s top tier will kick off at 3.03pm with the league saying this latest move has the backing of all 72 clubs across the National League’s three divisions.
The present ‘two up, two down’ system between the EFL and non-league has been in operation since the 2002/03 season, when Yeovil Town won the former Football Conference title and Doncaster Rovers were promoted via the play-offs.
Morecambe, who finished second in the Conference that season but lost in the play-offs to Dagenham and Redbridge, won through the play-offs in 2006/07 after another unsuccessful play-off attempt 12 months earlier.
The campaign was launched in February of this year, when National League clubs supported a letter to the EFL asking for a vote to create three promotion places.
League chairman Jack Pearce said: “Our 72 clubs – the majority of whom are over a century old and household names – simply won’t accept the current circumstances blocking them from parity and fairness with all the other professional teams in England.
“In response to the 3UP campaign launch, the EFL stated their understandable concerns over the ‘competitive balance’ across all leagues within the football pyramid and cited this as an underlying reason for delaying the matter of 3UP.
“Since two promotions were introduced to the National League in 2003, no title-winning club has ever been relegated from the EFL the following season. Almost half the clubs currently in the EFL’s three leagues have competed in the National League at one time or other.
“Since launching 3UP, we have been contacted by a remarkable number of EFL clubs who are privately supportive of the change but haven’t even been given the chance as a group of clubs to formally discuss it.
“The forthcoming 3UP Day of Action will be a great chance for everyone who cares about the national game to get involved and show their support to our clubs and fans. Together we can put football first.”