Watching the few FA Cup games we get to see via Fox Sports World, I am wondering how far down are the league players real pros? I.e., make a good living playing football. Then, are there some semi-pro leagues? In the states, those players get a few bucks (which rarely covers expenses), and a few really top players are given "jobs" by team sponsors. I know a couple of years ago, we saw an FA Cup game that included a team from an auto manufacturing plant. Whould that have been semi-pro? Finally, I assume there are many, many true amateur leagues. It would be interesting if the FA Cup teams were identified. Dick.
The top four divisions are all pro. About half the teams in the fifth division (the Conference) are pro with the rest being semi-pro. Leagues below that are semi-pro to some extent or other (welll, Hornchurch were pro until they had to release all their players). Legally, there's no distinction between amateur and professional in England, so no teams are classified as amateur. I suspect the team you are referring to is Vauxhall Motors. I don't think they have a connection with the car company nowadays but, yes, they are semi-pro.
I think the pyriamid of English Football is ........ Prem 20 Football League 72(3 div) Conferance(1 div), Conferance n/s 66 Regional leagues (Ismusthian(2 div), Dr. Martens(2 div))88 local leagues, county leagues, city leagues, weekenders 1000s The Football League(Prem and Coca-Cola) is exclusively pro, the Conferance is run by the FA and is nominally semi-pro, Conferances North and South are exclusively semi-pro , the Dr. Martens and others are nominally amatuer, and every thing below them is exclusively amatuer.
That last post doesn't make much sense, M's one is a much better description. You have the pyramid wrong - the Conference has three feeder leagues, not two. The Conference is under the FA in the same way the Football League is. It is an entity in its own right. The Conference National is about a 50-50 split in terms of professional/semi-pro clubs. Below this, even with recent events at Hornchurch, there is a full time professional squad in operation (Grays). The Conference feeders are semi-professional, ditto their feeders. There may be the odd amateur side there (Cortinthian Casuals), but they do pay their players, hence still semi-pro. And at certain clubs the amount paid is certainly a good bonus for doing something the players will be doing because they enjoy it. Feeders to the Isthmian, Dr Martens and Unibond Leagues cover a few counties, feeders to these are more than likely to be focusing in on just one (or a city). Amateur players who play in Sunday Leagues aren't part of the pyramid, they are amateur, they'll not be getting given any money for playing. Just turn up for fun.