National League to delay November kick-offs for "3UP day of action"

The National League has called on the entire football family to support a 3UP Day of Action next month and will change all its 3pm fixtures on Saturday 15 November to kick-off at the later time of 3.03pm.

In the build-up to these games, the National League will mobilise football clubs across the UK, fan groups, players, managers, media personalities and politicians to highlight its widely popular campaign to attain three promotions into the English Football League (EFL). This unprecedented step is a response to the EFL Board's unchanged stance on 3UP and their continued refusal to formally consult its 72 member clubs on the matter.

Over the coming weeks, the National League will reveal exactly what supporters of the 3UP campaign will do to help make these unique kick-off times a significant and impactful moment. On Saturday 15 November there are 24 National League teams across the country in action - and all of their fixtures will start at 3.03pm, as follows:

• Altrincham v Brackley Town
• Boreham Wood v Tamworth
• Braintree Town v Truro
• Carlisle United v Eastleigh
• Forest Green Rovers v Gateshead
• Hartlepool United v Wealdstone
• Rochdale v Aldershot Town
• Solihull Moors v Scunthorpe United
• Sutton United v FC Halifax Town
• Woking v Boston United
• Yeovil Town v Southend United
• York City v Morecambe

The 3UP Day of Action has the backing of the 72 National League clubs who are all playing their part in this latest initiative. Whilst the 48 National League North and South clubs do not have league fixtures on the day itself (it is Second Round Qualifying of the FA Trophy the same weekend) they will be fully involved as they were for the 3UP campaign launch.

Since launch, the 3UP campaign has now received widespread support from football organisations, sporting opinion formers, prominent broadcasters and dozens of MPs across all political parties – who are actively lobbying the EFL for change on behalf of the National League. Some of these MPs will take part in the 3UP Day of Action and recognise the campaign’s ‘Put Football First’ mission will help the new Independent Football Regulator achieve its publicly stated goals of protecting the financial resilience of clubs and preserving the heritage of the game for fans.

Over 93% of football supporters from across all divisions of the professional football pyramid support 3UP, including a significant 83% of EFL fans. These figures come from a substantive poll conducted by the Football Supporters Association (FSA) which has led to the well-respected body adopting 3UP as their official policy.National League chair Jack Pearce MBE says: “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 . But we don’t believe this should be the reason preventing progression on the matter.

“The ‘competitive balance’ issue simply doesn’t apply between the National League and EFL. For example, 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. And 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 formerly discuss it.

“EFL chair Rick Parry stated two years' ago that the EFL ‘needs to look downwards as well as upwards’ and that 3UP is a ‘perfectly logical argument’ . We remain grateful for this broad outlook, but unfortunately no meaningful action has been forthcoming from the league since then.

“We therefore don’t think it is too much to ask the EFL to take some unconditional and supportive action to help all National League clubs up and down the country attain another promotion place. They have been waiting for 23 years for this moment. The forthcoming 3UP Day of Action on Saturday 15 November 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.”