1997–98 Northern Premier League

The 1997-98 Northern Premier League season was the 30th in the history of the Northern Premier League, a football competition in England. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First. It was known as the Unibond League for sponsorship reasons.^[1]

Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division

Season	1997–98
Champions	Barrow
Promoted	Barrow
Relegated	Alfreton Town Radcliffe Borough
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1270 (2.75 per match)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The Premier League featured three new teams:

• Altrincham relegated from the Conference
• Leigh RMI promoted as runners up from Division One
• Radcliffe Borough promoted as champions from Division One

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barrow (C) (P)	42	25	8	9	61	29	+32	83	Promotion to the Conference
2	Boston United	42	22	12	8	55	40	+15	78	Transferred to the Southern League
3	Leigh RMI	42	21	13	8	63	41	+22	76
4	Runcorn	42	22	9	11	80	50	+30	75
5	Gainsborough Trinity	42	22	9	11	60	39	+21	75
6	Emley	42	22	8	12	81	61	+20	74
7	Winsford United	42	19	12	11	54	43	+11	69
8	Altrincham	42	18	11	13	76	44	+32	65
9	Guiseley	42	16	16	10	61	53	+8	64
10	Bishop Auckland	42	17	12	13	78	60	+18	63
11	Marine	42	15	11	16	56	59	−3	56
12	Hyde United	42	13	16	13	60	55	+5	55
13	Colwyn Bay	42	15	9	18	53	57	−4	54
14	Spennymoor United	42	14	11	17	58	72	−14	052*
15	Chorley	42	14	7	21	51	70	−19	49
16	Frickley Athletic	42	12	12	18	45	62	−17	48
17	Lancaster City	42	13	8	21	55	74	−19	47
18	Blyth Spartans	42	12	13	17	52	63	−11	039#
19	Bamber Bridge	42	9	12	21	51	74	−23	39
20	Accrington Stanley	42	8	14	20	49	68	−19	38
21	Radcliffe Borough (R)	42	6	12	24	39	70	−31	30	Relegation to the NPL Division One
22	Alfreton Town (R)	42	3	13	26	32	86	−54	22

Updated to games played on 23 February 2011
Source: [1].
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
^* Spennymoor United were deducted 1 point.
^#Blyth Spartans were deducted 10 points.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Division One

Northern Premier League Division One

Season	1997–98
Champions	Whitby Town
Promoted	Whitby Town Worksop Town
Relegated	Buxton Workington
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1431 (3.1 per match)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Division One featured five new teams:

• Buxton relegated from the Conference
• Belper Town promoted as runners-up from the NCEFL Premier Division
• Trafford promoted as champions from the NWCFL Division One
• Whitby Town promoted as champions from the Northern League Division One
• Witton Albion relegated from the Conference

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Whitby Town (C) (P)	42	30	8	4	99	48	+51	98	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Worksop Town (P)	42	28	7	7	93	44	+49	91
3	Ashton United	42	26	9	7	93	43	+50	87
4	Droylsden	42	24	8	10	70	49	+21	80
5	Lincoln United	42	20	11	11	76	62	+14	71
6	Farsley Celtic	42	20	10	12	72	66	+6	70
7	Witton Albion	42	19	9	14	77	55	+22	66
8	Eastwood Town	42	18	12	12	68	51	+17	66
9	Bradford Park Avenue	42	18	11	13	62	46	+16	65
10	Belper Town	42	18	7	17	68	66	+2	61
11	Stocksbridge Park Steels	42	17	7	18	75	77	−2	58
12	Trafford	42	17	9	16	68	63	+5	60
13	Whitley Bay	42	14	12	16	60	63	−3	54
14	Matlock Town	42	14	11	17	50	58	−8	53
15	Gretna	42	13	9	20	58	64	−6	48
16	Netherfield	42	12	11	19	55	75	−20	47
17	Flixton	42	10	12	20	45	73	−28	42
18	Congleton Town	42	11	8	23	65	101	−36	41
19	Harrogate Town	42	8	14	20	57	80	−23	38
20	Great Harwood Town	42	8	12	22	41	88	−47	36
21	Workington (R)	42	8	7	27	38	84	−46	31	Relegation to the NWCFL Division One
22	Buxton (R)	42	7	3	32	41	87	−46	24	Relegation to the NCEFL Premier Division

Updated to games played on 22 February 2011
Source: [2].
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Promotion and relegation

In the thirtieth season of the Northern Premier League Barrow (as champions) were automatically promoted to the Football Conference. Radcliffe Borough and Alfreton Town were relegated to the First Division; these two clubs were replaced by relegated Conference sides Gateshead and Stalybridge Celtic, First Division winners Whitby Town and second placed Worksop Town. In the First Division Workington and Buxton left the League at the end of the season and were replaced by newly-admitted Hucknall Town and Burscough.

Cup Results

Challenge Cup: Teams from both leagues.

• Altrincham bt. Gainsborough Trinity
  

President's Cup: 'Plate' competition for losing teams in the NPL Cup.

• Runcorn bt. Guiseley
  

Peter Swales Shield: Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup.

• Altrincham bt. Barrow

References

1. ^ Unibond League

External links

• Northern Premier League Tables at RSSSF