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Is Qatar 2022 a threat to the Vanarama National League, or an opportunity?

The 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup begins this weekend, but you’d probably have to have been living in a cave not to be aware that it’s a tournament surrounded by controversy.

A first-ever winter World Cup wasn’t what was originally envisaged; however, when it became clear in 2014 that the searing Middle Eastern temperatures in June and July would make both football, and spectating, untenable, FIFA switched the tournament to November and December.

With all domestic leagues unaffected by international call-ups continuing, the National League finds itself competing against what is probably the biggest show on Earth.

There can only be one winner, right?

You’d think so, but perhaps not.

Gauging public interest in Qatar 2022 is difficult, and we won’t truly know how engaged audiences are until the tournament begins. The interruption to a Premier League that’s been running for 3 months hasn’t been welcomed, and that’s before anyone starts scrutinising the reasons why Qatar were awarded the World Cup, and whether they truly stand up.

Much of the tone is being set by the media; however, hopes weren’t high ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, and they turned into one of the most joyous periods of recent times any of us can remember. Once the football starts is when we’ll truly know.

So, we need the World Cup to be a flop to better sell the Vanarama National League to fans feeling disenfranchised… or do we?

In the midst of a cost of living crisis, you’d imagine that watching matches on TV might prove more persuasive than taking in a live game, so huge credit should go to Notts County for their £5 admission initiative for their game versus Yeovil Town on Saturday 19th November.

With still around 5 days to go before the fixture, the Magpies confirmed that only 800 tickets remained in the home end, and that they fully expected to smash the National League attendance record into the bargain. Who holds that record? Why, it’s the Magpies themselves, who attracted 12,843 people when their match against Solihull Moors last season was also priced at £5 per person, or £1 for under 16s.

With city rivals Nottingham Forest now a Premier League club, and thus out of action for 5 weeks, County are suddenly the only show in town. They’re also at the top of the league, with manager Luke Williams having just been crowned the October manager of the month, and they possess the division’s leading scorer and hottest property, Macaulay Langstaff.

The World Cup doesn’t start until the following day, so there may even be a few Forest fans popping in to see what the fuss at Meadow Lane is about, so let’s hope that all present like what they see and make a vow to return again.

Even if only a percentage of them do, the attention that another record attendance in the fifth tier will garner means that both they, and the Vanarama National League, may well have used Qatar 2022 to strike oil of their own.

World Cup or not the the NL Full Time podcast will continue unabated; it’s available weekly throughout the season, sometimes we even throw in a midweek special edition too, and all episodes of the podcast are available here, as well as through your preferred podcast platform:

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