Regionalised football – a good or bad idea?

One of the criteria often used to determine the most dedicated football fan is: ‘how many miles have you travelled this season?’ Well for Stanley fans who have gone to all the League Two away games – including Stevenage twice – they have roughly covered 6,240 miles.

And that’s without including the Reds’ pre-season tour of Cornwall and Johnstone Paints, Carling Cup and FA¿Cup exploits.

And it won’t get any easier next season with relatively close Bury, Stockport, Lincoln and Chesterfield gone, replaced by Crawley, AFC Wimbledon, Plymouth, Swindon, Bristol Rovers and Dagenham for the 2011/2012 campaign.

As much as the Reds Ultras love their away days, the real winners are the various service stations knocking out their overpriced sandwiches and coffee to hungry, non-discerning football supporters. So with money being tight, especially in the lower leagues, it has raised the question of going back in time and regionalising football outside of the Championship.

Stanley occupied Third Division North in the 1940s and 50s before regional football turned national in 1958.

And the suggestion has been raised at the Football League meetings over the years that, rather than have Leagues One and Two, to again create League One North and South with two 24-team divisions based on geography.

It’s said that way, teams don’t waste four-figure bills on overnight stays and fans don’t face getting up at stupid o’clock for a game 300 miles away – which may then be postponed.

Sounds simple, but while it has been mooted, it has been quickly dismissed by the fact that the advocates of the current system say football is a national game, to be played throughout the country.

Stanley chief executive Rob Heys, who is due to attend the Football League AGM in Cyprus next month, is all for keeping football a national game.

"From the club’s financial point of view you can see the benefits with less travel and you would expect higher crowds due to the number of local derbies," said the Reds chief executive.

"But from a personal point of view, Accrington Stanley have spent a lot of time after they reformed in 1968 hanging around in the lower leagues of non-league playing regional football and we worked hard to get into the Conference and into a national league.

"So we are quite happy with the way the Football League currently is.

"It is something that is mentioned probably twice a year when the Football League chairmen and chief executives get together but it is something not many really have an appetite for.

"England is not the biggest country in the world so, even though there are travel benefits, modern day coaches mean that it easy to get from one end of the country to another.

"I certainly advocate the current system – even if it does mean Torquay away on a cold Tuesday night!"

A possible League One North: