Even if you support top-flight football teams, following a local side could benefit your wellbeing. Keeley Bolger reports

COMMUNITY is in the eye of the beholder, but, for me, there was no better representation of mine than the big-hearted send-off my local football team Dulwich Hamlet FC gave their rival side earlier this year.

Despite a draw with Maidstone putting paid to our dreams of finishing top of the Ryman Isthmian Football League, the fixture meant instant promotion for our visitors and the celebration wasn't lost on us.

Cheer we did, with drums, klaxons, horns and a record 3,000-strong crowd. And not just to Maidstone but their fans too who received a rousing round of applause and a chant of: "You won the league at Champion Hill".

It's no wonder then that the game can still be an all-time favourite experience. And as well as fostering a sense of community, lower league teams have plugged many other gaps for me over the years.

Going to see Dulwich most weeks means I've made more friends locally from 15 months of supporting the team than I have in my decade living in London.

Up the North-East, of course, there is everything from World Cup win celebrating West Auckland, from the Northern League, to Darlington 1886 and Blyth Spartans bidding to move towards top flight success from the EvoStick League Premier Division and Tyneside club Gateshead determined to replace the likes of Newport County in League 2 of the Football League next season.

Glories aside, there are many others who to have a lot of love for lower league. As campaign manager for Non League Day, which runs next weekend and promotes lower league football, Mike Bayly is convinced of the good local football can do.

Feeling 'disenfranchised' with a game that felt like a 'money making machine', Bayly's love of football was reinvigorated after attending a local match.

"It rekindled my love of football," he says. "You go outside and you see people selling raffle tickets to raise money for the clubhouse and you see people raising money to build a ramp for wheelchair access. And you think, actually there is still a lot of good going on and it rekindled my love of the game and my belief in the game as the people's game."

Of course many big clubs have community foundations and offer leads to new networks but, at a lower level, they can get right to the heart of what an area needs.

At Wingate and Finchley, the team Bayly supports, the club realised there was a large Polish community and so penned posters in the language. It's a small gesture but one which helps foster inclusivity.

"Community football clubs represent and are available to the local community," he explains. "I think at non-league level, it's a far more accessible experience. Of course it's a different experience, the skill levels aren't as high and you're not going to get the same atmosphere as some of these clubs with a couple of hundred fans in the ground, but do you do have that sense of community.

"You've got a bloke from down the road who's the photographer, the dad round the corner might be the press office, the people who live locally are the grounds people. It might be a tenner to get in, it might be free for kids or heavily subsidised for pensioners or the unemployed. It really retains and builds on this genuine sense of community focus."

So whether you're tempted by new friendships, the chance to see players you might know in action or because you can't afford Premier League prices, make sure you meet your match locally this season.

  • Non League Day is on Saturday, October 10. Visit nonleagueday.co.uk for more details
  • To mark Echo columnist Mike Amos' 20th and last season as Ebac Northern League chairman, he plans a 500-mile sponsored walk – around 12 match-day miles to each of our 44 grounds. The minimum target is £10,000.

Half of every penny raised will go to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and half in £1,000 segments to community-based charities nominated by the league's clubs and drawn at the annual league dinner in May 2016, the year of his 70th birthday.

"I'd be hugely grateful for your support or, indeed, your company. Donations can be made electronically at justgiving.com/lastlegschallenge – more details on that page – or by cheque payable to the Northern Football League to me at 8 Oakfields, Middleton Tyas, Richmond, North Yorks DL10 6SD. Alternatively, just press a few bob into my hand," says Mike.

The Challenge's progress will constantly be updated on the league website – northernleague.org