We’re game for a laugh at Telpetty

By Matt Badcock

A new comedy pilot is shining an authentic light on the wonderful world of Non-League – and the special characters in it!

A Life in Non-League was released on YouTube yesterday with the hope fans will enjoy what they see and demand more.

Co-written by former Atherton Colleries and Runcorn Linnets assistant Rob Sadler and former Colls winger Lewis Coleman, the mockumentary style episode focuses on fictional club Telpetty FC.

Recently promoted to the ‘North West Premier League’, it is based around the day-to-day life of a Non-League football club.

Shot at Atherton Collieries, director Jack Spring – a Grimsby Town fan, who also watched Sutton United growing up – wants it to be an ode to the brilliant people and volunteers who make up this level of the game.

“Everyone involved in making it had spent so much time at Non-League grounds – Grimsby were Non-League for five years and then another year later on – the characters are basically an accumulation of everyone we’ve seen,” Spring told The NLP.

“The tone is very much celebratory of these people. It’s not taking the mick. It’s very much an ode to the people who make this thing run.

“In England we have a very special pyramid. I think what Premier League fans and managers fail to understand is the importance. A lot of the England squad has played in Non-League.

“The tone of the pilot – and series if it goes to series – is celebrating the people that weave these clubs together.

“Being a Grimsby fan, the club is the people. The ground is one thing but it’s the people that are there – and we felt haven’t ever been fairly done justice. There was something on Sky about a decade ago that was insulting to Non-League. I am sick of seeing black and white hexagon footballs.

“If anything our one is completely genuine to what Non-League is. And it’s this beautiful thing. It’s one of the few things that makes me incredibly proud to be British.”

And that’s why, as well as make people laugh, they have been so determined to strike the right balance.

“The style is uber real,” Spring said. “Deliberately not shot perfectly, you see boom poles. But, beyond the aesthetic, the people in it are very real. There’s a lot of improve in there.

“I think if you knew nothing about Non-League and that Telpetty FC isn’t a real club, you might think they are.

“We brought in real people. We did extensive auditions in the clubhouse at Atherton over a few days. Don Lennon – the announcer/DJ – drove his motorbike up from London and arrived looking the part. Quite a lot of the time we re-wrote the characters once we’d found the people.

“A lot have grown up around Non-League football or involved. A few of the cast are from Atherton, involved in the club, the co-writer was the assistant manager. It bled authenticity.

“My hope is we get enough viewership, engagement and good comments we can use that as a case study with commissioners to say, ‘There’s an audience for this – can we so some more please?’”

● Check out the pilot episode: https://youtu.be/ Ut00_88g0b0