Image source, Thatcham Town
- Author, Nathan Briant
- Role, BBC South Online
A football club that says its travelling time to away games could more than double next season because of a change of division will appeal the change.
Thatcham Town finished eighth in the Isthmian South League in 2023/24 but faces a move into the Southern League South for 2024/25.
Chairman Paul Ayres said he expects travelling time to away games will increase from 43 hours to 90 hours.
The FA said it allocates clubs to the “most geographically suitable league possible”.
The change would mean trips to several clubs in Devon and Cornwall.
Last season, Thatcham faced teams mostly from the west of London, Surrey and the M4 corridor.
But Mr Ayres said the increased travelling could force the club into hiring a coach to take players and staff to away games.
Image source, Thatcham Town
“We appreciate that the FA has to look at the leagues every year but we never got a single bit of warning,” Mr Ayres said.
“At the moment players will drive themselves to the games because they’re travelling for an hour, an hour and 20 minutes.
“But going forward you cannot expect a player to be travelling for four or five hours into Devon and Cornwall, to get out their car and then play a game of football, to get back in their car and then drive home.”
A FA spokesperson said: “We make every effort each season to allocate National League System (NLS) clubs to the most geographically suitable league possible.
“The clubs are allocated to a league based on the step in the NLS that they will be playing in, and their location in the country. These allocations are subject to appeals and any amendments to these will be confirmed in due course.”