Fair play Royals rewarded

Royals manager Neil Tooth has revealed how a chat with his financial advisor may have played a part in his Evo-Stik NPL First Division South side winning October’s Jungledrum Fair Play Award!

Tooth, who admits he’s hardly been a paragon of virtue in the past, insists he’s mended is ways and is trying to lead by example after being ticked off by his accountant for the amount of playing fines he was forced to pay last season.

Sutton Coldfield's manager is pictured being presented with the club’s accolade on Saturday before his side beat Belper Town 2-1 by League Director Phil Varney, left, and Jungledrum’s David Lunn, right. The club’s President Barnard Bent and Chairman Nick Thurston proudly stand alongside the trio at Coles Lane after the club won with an impressive record of just four cautions in eight matches during October. Their nearest rivals were led by Hucknall Town who received five cautions in seven matches.

Tooth said: "Everyone knows that I have had the occasional run in with officials in the past so I very pleased to see my team pick up this award so soon into my managerial career. Following advice from my financial advisor regarding how much I paid in fines last season I have tried hard to lead by example, to bite my tongue and channel my enthusiasm in a positive rather than negative manner towards the officials and it appears to have rubbed off on the team."

Jungledrum’s Lunn was delighted to see another club rewarded for good behaviour following their sponsorship of the awards this season.

He said: "It’s great to visit the different clubs and to see how proud they are with achieving an award for good behaviour. Jungledrum is proud to be the sponsors of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League’s Fair Play awards and are keen to help every club in the league generate new income streams that will help them become stronger, both on and off the field of play."

Ashton United and New Mills were named alongside the Royals as October’s Jungledrum Fair Play Awards winners, the Robins taking the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division honour and New Mills earning the Evo-Stik NPL First Division North accolade.

The three clubs topped their respective division's Jungledrum Fair Play tables, coming out on top after a totting up of red and yellow cards divided by the number of Evo-Stik NPL fixtures they’d played during October. Where clubs are tied on points judges decide on the basis of marks awarded by referees over the month for Technical Area behaviour.

Each month winning clubs receive an inscribed Jungledrum Fair Play Award certificate recording their achievement and a 1.5 litre bottle of Famous Grouse Whiskey.

Competition for the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division’s honours was a close affair with Ashton United incurring six cautions in as many games while their nearest rivals Stafford Rangers had just three cautions but one dismissal in their six games, tieing both clubs on six disciplinary points each for the month.

As a result, Technical Area behaviour marks were taken into account but the result was still close. Ashton received four ‘Excellent’ and two ‘Good’ marks while rivals Stafford, whose Technical Area behaviour marks had been poor in the earlier part of the season, improved massively to earn two ‘Excellent’ and four ‘Good’ marks in their six games.

New Mills, who had been due to collect their award on Monday night from League FA Respect Manager Phil Bradley before their postponed clash with Farsley, picked just three cautions in five games to take the Evo-Stik NPL First Division accolade. They were just in front of perennial naughty boys Cammell Laird who judges recognised had shown a vast improvement in their discipline this season. Lairds had four cautions in six games.

Like Sutton Coldfield Town, Ashton United showed on Saturday that fair play can go hand in hand with winning when they picked up October's Jungledrum Premier Division Fair Play Award before coming from behind to beat fellow title challengers Chorley 3-2 at Hurst Cross.

Delighted Robins manager Danny Johnson was presented with the award by Jungledrum’s Lloyd Bantleman and Evo-Stik NPL representative Bradley, before his side kicked off fresh celebrations at Surrey Street after climbing into second place behind league leaders North Ferriby United.

Competition for the Jungledrum Fair Play Awards isn’t limited to monthly honours. Come the end of the season all three overall divisional winners will receive a cheque for £1000 courtesy of the sponsors Jungledrum with the runners-up receiving £500 and the third place clubs £250.

In the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division FC United of Manchester took over the overall top spot in the tables from Nantwich Town with Ilkeston third and Blyth Spartans fourth.

There were new leaders too in Evo-Stik NPL First Division North where Skelmersdale United, with just two cautions and one dismissal in six games during October, did just enough to overtake previous leaders Clitheroe by 0.03 of a point. New Mills and Harrogate Railway are just 0.07 of a point further back in joint third.

Sutton Coldfield's excellent month enabled them to take over top spot on the Evo-Stik NPL First Division South leaderboard after averaging just 0.60 of a caution per game to lead Hucknall Town and last month's front-runners King's Lynn Town who are both also averaging under one caution per game.

The Jungledrum Fair Play Awards were instituted this season after the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League entered into a three year agreement with Jungledrum in August to reinforce the league’s reputation as one of the most forward thinking in English football by supporting fair play and the Football Association’s ongoing Respect campaign.

Marketing and advertising specialists Jungledrum harness their online expertise to open new income streams for the league's clubs while securing fans money saving deals. The Jungledrum Fair Play Tables are available throughout the season via a hyperlinked logo on the league's official site.

Jungledrum’s LLody Bantleman said: "Jungledrum is delighted to be associated with the Jungledrum Fair Play award as integrity and fair plays lies at the heart of our business ethos. We are working with clubs across the league to help them develop a measurable income stream that gives their business supporters a fair return on investment with the club."

For more information on Jungledrum and the work they are doing to open new and no risk income streams for Evo-Stik NPL clubs visit: jungledrumdeals.co.uk