The fabled Conference AGM Cup is taking place today at the Celtic Manor in Newport.

Big winners so far are Southport and Thurrock who are both reprieved from relegation and will play in the Blue Square Premier and Blue Square South respectively next season whilst losers are Rushden & Diamonds who have been demoted to the Southern League Premier Division, although it looks likely that they will be wound up and ceast to exist after Monday.

The shift in teams means that Bishops Stortford, near London, the M25, Stanstead Airport and the Bow Bells will play their football in the Blue Square North.

North.

Incredible but just how I like my football!

How does the english non league pyramid actually work, So if 2 teams say are relegated does 1 go to the south and 1 go the conference north ? What happens if it was both southern teams ?? I'm confused.

It seems to be generally accepted that there is no "North" and no "South" in itself, at every AGM they just dot all of the teams on the map and draw a line between the 22 northernmost and the 22 southernmost. There will always be those out on a limb.

http://www.tigerroar.co.uk/spf/20112012a.jpg

Looking at that map you can see why Bishops Stortford might not be happy having lost lots of local games.

I can't fathom the idea of supporting a team for years and then them just not existing any more. We were a bit hairy when we were a half-hour from administration, but fading further into obscurity would at least mean there's still something there.

They had some hope until yesterday when they were linked with a takeover by the Glenn Hoddle academy, using R&D as a entry point for their players to play proper games.

Not sure why it fell through but that sounded a good and innovative idea.

The ground at Nene Park is too nice to sit idly by rusting away, there has been a suggestion that nearby Kettering Town may move it.

Won't they wreck the golf course playing it there

bit of a downfall for rushden... shows how quickly things can change in football... weren't they in league one just a few years back?

Yes, they enjoyed a lot of success in their 19 year history.

All we need now is some other Conference side to go bump, and hopefully not Wrexham, and Altrincham's incredible run would continue... No side has ever been as lucky as the Robin's, though perhaps a year down would do them good to regroup and get some confidence.

Well, now the AGM has passed and leagues ratified I believe there will be no more switching, but as far as Wrexham goes there have been strong rumours of a second club being expelled, albeit not today. Guess which club it is?

There could still be some changes, being ratified means nothing... Rushden & Stortford are able to appeal, this wouldn't be possible if no more changes could be made

I think Forest Green would give them a good run for their money in the luck stakes, this year surviving on goal difference was a marked improvement on a series of years remaining in the conference purely because of other teams being dumped out or unable to be promoted!

Oh well, they say it's better to be born lucky than rich

I was brought up a few miles from Stortford & watched many games there at the old and new ground.

It's almost farsical the situation they are in, although unavoidable. It was bad enough for Histon, but Stortford is south of Stansted airport! The Histon match will be Xmas Day & NYD.

As for the rest, they'll now be going up to Workington & Barrow for evening midweek matches, which could destroy them.

Barrow are in the Blue Square Premier.

They'll go to Blyth though, and if they have any sense they'll make it a stop over and a night out on the Toon like we do.

I'm not just saying this because they our rivals, but Croft Park is a dump.

One strong gust of wind and it'd fall down.

It was bloody windy while I was there and nothing happened. I like it.

boston fan here. were bishops stortsford really the most northern team in the BSS before this decision i find the fact they have been moved into our division as bizarre. for us its a long way to places like blyth but for them its going to be stupid.

For a few Rushden fans, I would think may football at the stadium would be good. But Kettering, after all the years might be a hard team to see using Nene Park as home.

Just looked at the map! Blimey.

Mind you don't know why you've picked the worst case scenarios. Surely at that level of football, they make the longest trips on a Saturday, it will probably be the trips to the midlands they make on a Tuesday night.

We are further south than Bishops Stortford though and have to do more miles but both of us pale into insignificance compared to the seasons mileage racked up by both Blyth and Workington.

i actually think the BSN is harder than the BSS as well at the moment when you look at the 2 divisions so i feel sorry for gloucester and bishop stortford. however i look forward to welcoming both to york street next season

as a side note just went on to the boston website and found our trip to bishop stortford is the 7th shortest this season at 96.3 miles compared to an average of 117.4 to other grounds. our trip to workington is 230.9 miles! http://www.bufc.co.uk/article/341922...-added-to-BSBN