Two Up, Two Down
by Ken Follett
The referee has made a bad decision. The fans are on their feet, roaring in protest. The chairman is looking anxiously at the crowd control barriers, hoping they will hold. What are the spectators shouting? "Two up, two down!"
This unlikely slogan has united thousands of supporters of semi-professional sides in the Nationwide Conference, the league immediately below the Third Division of the Nationwide League. The team I support, Stevenage Borough, is one such side.
Our fans have snowed the Football League with emails and letters. My wife, as Member of Parliament for Stevenage, has badgered the Sports Minister, Kate Hooey, who has come out in support of Two Up, Two Down.
So what's it about?
Here's the beef.
Every team in the Nationwide Conference has its eyes on the Third Division. We all want promotion and fear relegation. That's what keeps fans coming to matches, especially after Christmas, in the second half of the season, when crowds tend to shrink.
But the Conference is unique in that only one side gets promoted per season.
Above us, Division Three promotes four sides every year. Divison Two promotes three and relegates four each season. Three sides from Division One are transported to the nirvana of the Premier League, and three get the old heave-ho.
Below us, it's the same – we relegate three teams from the Nationwide Conference.
Bringing the Conference more into line with other leagues would clearly be good for the game. It would double our chances of promotion, adding excitement to our games and bringing more fans through the turnstiles.
Teams that have been relegated to the Conference would have higher hopes of a quick return to the Third Division. This season four teams would have finished within sight of a play-off for promotion: Chester City, Doncaster Rovers, Hereford and Scarborough.
The Two Up, Two Down campaign gets little support from teams near the foot of the Third Division, of course. Relegation is a severe financial blow. Crowds shrink and income drops, while the club has to honour contracts with players and managers signed in the good old days.
But this problem is not unique to the Third Division. It's one of the hazards of the game. To help clubs deal with it, they get "parachute payments". When a Premier League club is relegated, the Premiership provides a financial handout to cushion the blow. The Nationwide League does the same for teams demoted from the First and Second Divisions – but only for the one team relegated from the Third.
The FA are expected to make an announcement today [Friday 1st June 2001] on funding for a second parachute payment from the Conference.
Two Up, Two Down can't become a reality until the Football League agrees to fund parachute payments to at least two teams relegated from its Third Division. This would be good for the Third Division. Relegated teams would have a secure financial base on which to build their fightback. Conference football would be more exciting and attract larger crowds. And, to be selfish, my team would have two chances of promotion instead of one.
This ought to be possible: the game of football today is richer than it has ever been.
The Football League has its Annual General Meeting in Chester next Thursday [7th June]. Our campaign is on the agenda. On that day, I will be anxiously waiting to find out whether the people of Stevenage have re-elected my wife as their MP. But the day's other important decision will be the League's verdict on Two Up, Two Down.
Come on, ref!
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