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NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE

The Northern Premier league, later known as the Unibond League, began in 1968, when the top non-league clubs in the North of England joined together in a single competition.  Sides were drawn from the Cheshire County League, the Lancashire Combination, the Midland League and the North Regional League.  The idea was to give better, stronger shape to the non-league game in the North and create a viable counterpart to soccer outside the Football League to the long-established Southern League.   Despite some initial,’teething’ problems, which were mainly to do with increased costs, the Northern Premier League proved popular and successful, with ambitious clubs clamouring to join.

The League had 20 members in its first season.  Results soon showed that the former Midland League clubs generally lacked the strength of teams from the other feeders, with ex-Cheshire League sides tending to be that bit higher-grade, though these things were not true ‘across the board’.  Macclesfield Town proved to be the dominant force in the inaugural season and the late interest focussed more on the foot of the table, where four sides fought to avoid the two relegation places above struggling Worksop Town.  In the end, Chorley’s 2-5 collapse at rivals Scarborough and a 0-6 drubbing for cash-strapped Ashington at South Liverpool proved decisive.

Northern Premier League Final Table 1968-1969

 

1	Macclesfield Town	38	27	6	5	82	38	60
2	Wigan Athletic	38	18	12	8	59	41	48
3	Morecambe	38	16	14	8	64	37	46
4	Gainsborough Trinity	38	19	8	11	64	43	46
5	South Shields	38	19	8	11	78	56	46
6	Bangor City	38	18	9	11	102	64	45
7	Hyde United	38	16	10	12	71	65	42
8	Goole Town	38	15	10	13	80	78	40
9	Altrincham	38	14	10	14	69	52	38
10	Fleetwood	38	16	6	16	58	58	38
11	Gateshead	38	14	9	15	42	48	37
12	South Liverpool	38	12	13	13	56	66	37
13	Northwich Victoria	38	16	5	17	59	82	37
14	Boston United	38	14	8	16	59	65	36
15	Runcorn	38	12	11	15	59	63	35
16	Netherfield	38	12	4	22	51	69	28
17	Scarborough	38	9	10	19	49	68	28
18	Ashington	38	10	8	20	48	74	28
19	Chorley	38	8	9	21	46	75	25
20	Worksop Town	38	6	8	24	34	88	20
		760	291	178	291	1230	1230	760

Ashington, Chorley and Worksop Town were replaced by Great Harwood, Matlock Town and Stafford Rangers.