Football presenter Matt Smith says he hopes non-league football coverage on TV will continue to grow.
The host is a regular face on TNT Sports, who show a National League game each week – one of the only mainstream outlets where lower levels of the game are highlighted.
Previously known as BT Sport, the channel shows a minimum of 45 live Vanarama National League matches per season, including one play-off semi final and the final in the coming weeks.
Smith said more coverage would increase interest in those teams further down the football pyramid.
“I think it’s important,” he said. “It gives smaller teams a chance to play on a big stage.
“It’s a positive sense to me that there is so much interest in the fifth tier of English football.
“The more coverage it gets the more it will grow, and that is great.
“It’s a different viewing experience but it’s refreshing.”
“But whereas even these non-league players are highly skilled, there is no VAR, they give each other a bit of a whack here and there, and the crowd and the players are connected more closely.”
Non-league football can be a place where supporters are able to enjoy a less commercialised experience than that in the upper reaches of the game.
Smith said: “There is a kind of old-fashioned value that fans really enjoy – and that’s part of what we try and bring to the coverage that we show on screen.
“With most non-league clubs, they are the only club in town. If you are from there that is your team, and that really matters.
“For these communities, it’s part of their week, their life – they go with their friends and family.
“It’s affordable as well, for a local team in your patch it’s possible to go every other week.”
TNT will be covering the National League playoff semi-final between Solihull Moors and Barnet tomorrow (27th April).