2002–03 Northern Premier League

The 2002-03 Northern Premier League season was the 35th in the history of the Northern Premier League, a football competition in England. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First.

Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division

Season	2002–03
Champions	Accrington Stanley
Promoted	Accrington Stanley
Relegated	Colwyn Bay Gateshead Hyde United
Matches played	506
Goals scored	1536 (3.04 per match)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The Premier League featured three new teams:

• Stalybridge Celtic relegated from the Conference
• Harrogate Town promoted as champions of Division One
• Ashton United promoted via playoffs from Division One

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Accrington Stanley (C) (P)	44	30	10	4	97	44	+53	100	Promotion to the Conference
2	Barrow	44	24	12	8	84	52	+32	84
3	Vauxhall Motors	44	22	10	12	81	46	+35	76
4	Stalybridge Celtic	44	21	13	10	77	51	+26	76
5	Worksop Town	44	21	9	14	82	67	+15	72
6	Harrogate Town	44	21	8	15	75	63	+12	71
7	Bradford Park Avenue	44	20	10	14	73	70	+3	70
8	Hucknall Town	44	17	15	12	72	62	+10	66
9	Droylsden	44	18	10	16	62	52	+10	64
10	Whitby Town	44	17	12	15	80	69	+11	63
11	Marine	44	17	10	17	63	60	+3	61
12	Wakefield & Emley	44	14	18	12	46	49	−3	060*
13	Runcorn F.C. Halton	44	15	15	14	69	74	−5	60
14	Altrincham	44	17	9	18	58	63	−5	60
15	Gainsborough Trinity	44	16	11	17	67	66	+1	59
16	Ashton United	44	15	13	16	71	79	−8	58
17	Lancaster City	44	16	9	19	71	75	−4	57
18	Burscough	44	14	9	21	44	51	−7	51
19	Blyth Spartans	44	14	9	21	67	87	−20	51
20	Frickley Athletic	44	13	8	23	45	78	−33	47
21	Gateshead (R)	44	10	11	23	60	81	−21	41	Qualification to the Division One Playoffs
22	Colwyn Bay (R)	44	5	9	30	52	99	−47	24	Relegation to the NPL Division One
23	Hyde United (R)	44	5	8	31	40	98	−58	23

Updated to games played on 8 February 2011
Source: [1].
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
^* From this season onwards Emley were known as Wakefield & Emley.
(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	2002–03
Champions	Alfreton Town
Promoted	Alfreton Town Radcliffe Borough Spennymoor United
Relegated	Eastwood Town Trafford
Matches played	465
Goals scored	1407 (3.03 per match)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Division One featured four new teams:

• Bamber Bridge relegated from Premier Division
• Bishop Auckland relegated from Premier Division
• Alfreton Town promoted as champions of the Northern Counties East Premier Division
• Kidsgrove Athletic promoted as champions of the North West Counties Division One

League Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Alfreton Town (C) (P)	42	26	9	7	106	59	+47	87	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Spennymoor United (P)	42	27	6	9	81	42	+39	87
3	Radcliffe Borough (P)	42	25	10	7	90	46	+44	85	Qualification to the Playoffs
4	North Ferriby United	42	23	9	10	78	45	+33	78
5	Chorley	42	21	10	11	80	51	+29	73
6	Belper Town	42	20	13	9	53	42	+11	73
7	Witton Albion	42	19	15	8	67	50	+17	72
8	Matlock Town	42	20	10	12	67	48	+19	70
9	Leek Town	42	20	9	13	63	46	+17	69
10	Workington	42	19	10	13	73	60	+13	67
11	Farsley Celtic	42	17	11	14	66	67	−1	62
12	Kendal Town	42	18	7	17	68	58	+10	61
13	Bamber Bridge	42	15	9	18	55	59	−4	54
14	Guiseley	42	14	11	17	68	63	+5	53
15	Bishop Auckland	42	13	10	19	58	83	−25	49
16	Lincoln United	42	12	9	21	67	77	−10	45
17	Stocksbridge Park Steels	42	11	9	22	54	81	−27	42
18	Rossendale United	42	12	5	25	58	88	−30	41
19	Kidsgrove Athletic	42	9	11	22	49	71	−22	38
20	Ossett Town	42	8	9	25	39	80	−41	33
21	Eastwood Town (R)	42	5	8	29	33	92	−59	23	Relegation to the NCEFL Premier Division
22	Trafford (R)	42	5	6	31	34	99	−65	21	Relegation to the NWCFL Division One

Updated to games played on 8 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.

Playoffs

The Division One playoffs saw the third to fifth placed sides in the Division and the team that finished 21st in the Premier Division compete for one place in the Premier Division.^[1]

	Semifinals					Final
	3	Radcliffe Borough	1
	4	North Ferriby United	0
						3	Radcliffe Borough	2(4)
						5	Chorley	2(2)
	5	Chorley	5
	21	Gateshead	2

Promotion and relegation

In the thirty-fifth season of the Northern Premier League Accrington Stanley (as champions) were automatically promoted to the Football Conference. Gateshead, Colwyn Bay and Hyde United were relegated to the First Division; these three clubs were replaced by relegated Conference side Southport, First Division winners Alfreton Town, second placed Spennymoor United and third placed Radcliffe Borough (via a Playoff). In the First Division Eastwood Town and Trafford left the League at the end of the season and were replaced by newly-admitted Bridlington Town and Prescot Cables.

Cup Results

Challenge Cup: Teams from both leagues.

• Marine bt. Gateshead 3–0 on aggregate^[2]
  

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

• Stalybridge Celtic bt. Ashton United
  

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

• Hucknall Town bt. Droylsden
  

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

• Accrington Stanley bt. Marine

External links

• Northern Premier League Tables at RSSSF

References

1. ^ "UniBond League Premier Division: Fixtures 2002-03". nonleaguefooty.co.uk. http://www.nonleaguefooty.co.uk/archive/northern03-fixtures.html. Retrieved 2011-07-11. 
2. ^ "The Official Gateshead FC Website - Fixtures/Results". Gateshead FC. Archived from the original on 2003-06-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20030622063504/http://gateshead-fc.com/fixtures.php. Retrieved 2011-07-11.