I BET plenty of you know last Saturday was designated Non- League Day.

Non-league clubs up and down the country did their best to get supporters of Premier League and Championship teams who had a blank weekend to visit through the turnstiles.

Incentives were offered, Bungay Town of the Anglian Combination Division Two gave free mushrooms to punters who attended their game with Martha. The gate was 100 per cent up on the previous game.

A favourite idea was to give fans the option to pay what they wanted and hopefully those who attended had their wallets open.

Since its inauguration in 2010 Non League Day has grown in popularity year on year. Just because some of us prefer the non-league option doesn’t mean everybody does and if we can get the odd fan taking in a local game when their pro team aren’t playing then that can only be a good thing.

Two days previously there was a discussion on non-league football in the Houses of Parliament.

I checked out the Hansard notes on the UK Parliament website. The member for Hereford and South Herefordshire, Jesse Norman, brought the debate to the house.

Hereford United are having a bad time of it at the moment and Mr Norman’s main intention was to focus public intention on what had happened at the club.

When the discussion was thrown open plenty of other members had their say on the non-league scene. Many wallowed in nostalgia and one bloke said Horwich RMI was the place to go for hotpot. I always thought it was the Rovers Return.

Premier League wages were mentioned but that was always going to happen.

Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) said the main focus of his contribution to the debate was to highlight the importance of a football team to a local community. I cannot see anybody disagreeing.

The discussion started around 2.25pm and Mr Norman had the final say about four-ish.

Our local MP Julie Hilling attended our game on Non-League Day. She has helped us out in the past and showed real interest in what we are trying to achieve. I am still kicking myself I didn’t ask her to get Dennis Skinner’s autograph for me.

Bravo to the people behind the Non League Day concept and hopefully Mr Norman gets some satisfaction with Hereford United. The rest of us will keep plodding on because we love what we do, really.