B Teams in the Pyramid – Is It Really a Level Playing Field?

By Paul Wise
Paul Wise · Talking Point

Listening to the IBB10 Sunday Night Show this week, an interesting debate came up around B teams and their place within the lower reaches of the non-league pyramid.

It’s a subject I have fairly strong feelings about, partly because I’ve experienced first-hand the impact a B team can have on a league and a promotion race.

The question is a fairly simple one: should B teams belonging to clubs higher up the pyramid be allowed to compete at Steps 6 and 7 alongside traditional first teams?

For me, the answer is no.

That’s not because I don’t see the value of B teams. Far from it. Young players need competitive football, fringe players need minutes and senior players returning from injury need somewhere to regain match fitness.

My issue isn’t with the existence of B teams.

It’s where we put them.

This debate has come back into focus following Chichester City B’s extraordinary 17-0 victory over Worthing Town in SCFL Division Two. One of the players involved was Josh Irish, who scored six. Josh has previously scored plenty of goals higher up the pyramid, including at Step 5.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Josh choosing to play for Chichester B. But it does raise a question.

Would a player with that pedigree normally be playing Step 7 football for a traditional Step 7 club, or does the pulling power and pathway offered by a club like Chichester change the equation?

That’s one of my problems with B teams in senior football.

They aren’t necessarily operating with the same resources as the traditional clubs they’re competing against. They have the name, infrastructure, facilities, coaching and player pool of a club operating considerably higher up the pyramid behind them.

And I’ve experienced another side of the problem myself.

When I was managing Seaford Town in the 2023/24 season, we were competing for promotion alongside Roffey. We travelled to play Dorking Wanderers B on a weekend when Dorking’s first-team fixture had been called off.

The side we faced contained a significant number of players with senior first-team experience. It was a completely different proposition to what you would ordinarily expect when playing a development side at that level.

A few weeks later, Roffey played Dorking B and faced a side much more representative of their normal young B-team setup.

I want to make something absolutely clear here.

I am not saying Seaford didn’t win the league because of Dorking Wanderers.

Over the course of a season, you finish where you deserve to finish. Roffey won the league on merit and deserved their success. This isn’t an attempt to rewrite history or find an excuse for why we finished behind them.

My point is much simpler.

That situation should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Dorking did nothing wrong. If the rules allowed those players to play, they were perfectly entitled to select them. My criticism isn’t aimed at Dorking for using the resources available to them.

My problem is with a system that allows it.

A B team’s strength can potentially change dramatically from one Saturday to the next depending on what is happening with its parent club.

Imagine two clubs fighting for promotion. One plays a B team when its parent club’s first team has a fixture and faces a group of academy players. The other plays exactly the same B team when the first-team game is postponed and suddenly faces five or six senior players.

How is that a level playing field?

The same applies at the other end of the table. Imagine two clubs fighting relegation and their survival is decided because one happened to face the development version of a B team while the other faced a substantially strengthened version.

We’re talking about clubs’ seasons, promotions and relegations potentially being influenced by circumstances completely outside their control.

And there’s another fundamental issue.

B teams can influence who progresses through the pyramid while, in many circumstances, being restricted in how far they can progress themselves.

That doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

Traditional non-league clubs enter senior leagues with an ambition to progress. Chairmen, committees and volunteers spend countless hours trying to improve their clubs. Managers recruit players to win games. Supporters travel around the county every Saturday. Sponsors put money into clubs.

Promotion matters.

Just because we’re talking about Step 6 or Step 7 doesn’t make that ambition any less important.

The level might be lower, but the ambition isn’t.

For me, we already had a much more appropriate system for reserve and development football in competitions such as the Suburban League.

That environment catered for reserve sides from professional and semi-professional clubs.

And importantly, everyone understood what they were entering.

A reserve side might field a couple of first-team players returning from injury one week and a group of youngsters the next. But the opposition had broadly the same opportunities available to them.

That’s reserve football.

If your centre-forward has been out for six weeks and needs 60 minutes, play him in the reserves. If a young player needs his first experience of men’s football, give him that opportunity. If a fringe player needs minutes, get him a game.

That’s exactly what those competitions should be there for.

The difference comes when those teams are placed alongside independent first teams in the senior pyramid.

A traditional Step 6 club can’t suddenly borrow six players from a Step 2 squad because their game has been postponed. They don’t have another senior squad sitting above them.

So why are we asking them to compete against clubs who potentially do?

Perhaps the easiest way to look at it is to turn the pyramid upside down.

Dorking Wanderers have had an incredible rise through non-league football. They’ve fought their way through the divisions and experienced exactly what promotion means to a football club.

So imagine Dorking were fighting for promotion from the National League into the Football League.

Now imagine Premier League clubs were allowed B teams in the National League.

Dorking have a crucial Saturday fixture against one of them. The Premier League club doesn’t have a game that weekend, so its B team suddenly contains several players with Premier League first-team experience.

Dorking lose.

Two weeks later, their title rivals play exactly the same B team. This time the Premier League first team is playing, so their opponents face a team predominantly made up of young academy players.

Would that feel fair?

Would anyone involved with Dorking consider that a level playing field?

If the answer is no, then why should the principle be any different six or seven levels further down?

And again, this isn’t an attack on Dorking. Nor is it an attack on Chichester or any other club operating a B team within the current rules.

The clubs aren’t the problem.

For me, the structure is.

B teams absolutely have a place in football. Young players need somewhere to develop and senior players need somewhere to get minutes.

But I don’t believe that place should be within the senior pyramid.

Give B teams competitive reserve football. Give academies meaningful fixtures. Build strong competitions for professional and semi-professional development sides.

But don’t ask independent clubs to put their own ambitions at risk in order to provide somebody else’s development pathway.

Because whether you’re trying to reach the Football League, Step 3, Step 5 or Step 6, promotion means something to the people involved.

The level might be lower, but the ambition isn’t.

And the integrity of the competition should matter just as much.

First published in Dugout News, Issue 3, 23 August 2026. Republished here in full.