Northern Premier League Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division

Countries	England
Founded	1968
Number of teams	22
Level on pyramid	7
Promotion to	Conference North
Relegation to	NPL Division One North NPL Division One South
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup FA Trophy Challenge Cup Peter Swales Shield
Current champions	FC Halifax Town (2010-11)
Most championships	Boston United (4 times)
Website	Official website
2011-12

The Premier Division is the top division of the Northern Premier League. It is at Step 3 (or level 7) of the National League System, placing it six divisions below the Premier League. For sponsorship reasons, it is often referred to as the Evo-Stik League Premier Division.

The league was founded in 1968, as the northern equivalent of the Southern League, being the highest level non-League division below The Football League. In 1979, upon the creation of the Alliance Premier League, it became a feeder league and fell down one 'level' in the English football league system. Since then, its prestige has fallen further: there are now two levels between it and the Football League.

The division is at the same level as the Premier Divisions of the Southern League and the Isthmian League. At the end of each season two clubs are promoted to the Conference North: the league champions, and the winners of a play-off competition held between the 2nd through 5th placed clubs. The four lowest placed teams are relegated to the Northern Premier League Division One North or Northern Premier League Division One South, to be replaced by four promoted teams.

All clubs from the Premier Division also compete in the NPL Challenge Cup and the Peter Swales Shield knockout competition, but not in the other two NPL cup competitions (the President's Cup and the Chairman's Cup). Before 2007–08 Premier Division teams did compete in the Chairman's Cup.

Current clubs 2011–12

Club	Home Ground	Finishing position 2010–11
Ashton United	Hurst Cross	14th
Bradford Park Avenue	Horsfall Stadium	3rd
Burscough	Victoria Park	19th
Buxton	The Silverlands	6th
Chasetown	The Scholars Ground	10th
Chester	Exacta Stadium	Winners of the Northern Premier League Division One North
Chorley	The Chorley Group Victory Park Stadium	Playoff Winners in Northern Premier League Division One North (3rd)
FC United of Manchester	Gigg Lane	4th
Frickley Athletic	Westfield Lane	18th
Hednesford Town	Keys Park	Transferred from Southern League Premier Division (2nd)
Kendal Town	Lakeland Radio Stadium	7th
Marine	Arriva Stadium	8th
Matlock Town	Causeway Lane	11th
Mickleover Sports	Mickleover Sports Ground	15th
Nantwich Town	The Weaver Stadium	17th
North Ferriby United	Church Road	5th
Northwich Victoria	Victoria Stadium	12th
Rushall Olympic	Dales Lane	Playoff Winners in Northern Premier League Division One South (3rd)
Stafford Rangers	Marston Road	Relegated from Conference North (20th)
Stocksbridge Park Steels	Bracken Moor	13th
Whitby Town	Turnbull Ground	16th
Worksop Town	Cannon Park	9th

Past winners

1968–69 Macclesfield Town 1969–70 Macclesfield Town 1970–71 Wigan Athletic 1971–72 Stafford Rangers 1972–73 Boston United 1973–74 Boston United 1974–75 Wigan Athletic 1975–76 Runcorn 1976–77 Boston United 1977–78 Boston United 1978–79 Mossley

1979–80 Mossley 1980–81 Runcorn 1981–82 Bangor City 1982–83 Gateshead 1983–84 Barrow 1984–85 Stafford Rangers 1985–86 Gateshead 1986–87 Macclesfield Town 1987–88 Chorley 1988–89 Barrow 1989–90 Colne Dynamoes

1990–91 Witton Albion 1991–92 Stalybridge Celtic 1992–93 Southport 1993–94 Marine 1994–95 Marine 1995–96 Bamber Bridge 1996–97 Leek Town 1997–98 Barrow 1998–99 Altrincham 1999–00 Leigh RMI 2000–01 Stalybridge Celtic

2001–02 Burton Albion 2002–03 Accrington Stanley 2003–04 Hucknall Town 2004–05 Hyde United 2005–06 Blyth Spartans 2006–07 Burscough 2007–08 Fleetwood Town 2008–09 Eastwood Town 2009–10 Guiseley 2010–11 FC Halifax Town

References

External links

• Official Website