Jungledrum winner hails unsung heroes

Blyth Spartans manager Paddy Atkinson is likely to get a warm welcome from groundsmen and women over the second half of the season after acknowledging their role in helping his side win December's Jungledrum Premier Division Fair Play Award.

Atkinson will be presented with the award at Croft Park on Saturday before Blyth take on Matlock Town. After praising his players the Spartans manager singled out the work of green fingered ground staff battling the elements as vital for encouraging fair play in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League.

Atkinson said: "It's always nice to receive any award but all of the credit has to go to the players for conducting themselves correctly on the pitch and it's good for the club to receive the award. But we should also give credit to the grounds staff who make it possible to play on nice pitches, some like carpets.

"It always helps. If you're playing on a mud bath as some teams do in lower leagues, you can see why the mistimed tackles start flying and dissent increases. Fair play awards become meaningless and pointless without good pitches."

Atkinson is the first of December's divisional Jungledrum winners to be honoured, League Vice Chairman Keith Brown and a representative from the sponsors making the presentation of an inscribed Jungledrum Fair Play Award certificate recording the club’s achievement and a 1.5 litre bottle of Famous Grouse Whiskey.

Chasetown are Evo-Stik First Division South's top Jungledrum club of the month. They're due to collect their accolade on Tuesday from League Representative John Beaumont when they take on Northwich Victoria in the Doodson Sport Cup. The Evo-Stik NPL’s League Respect Manager Phil Bradley will hand over Trafford’s Evo-Stik First Division North Jungledrum Fair Play Award before they kick off against Mossley next Saturday.

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 in the final month of 2012. Where clubs are tied on points judges decide on the basis of marks awarded by referees over the month for Technical Area behaviour.

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.

As part of the Evo-Stik NPL’s Respect Programme, £4000 in prize money is also available to clubs whose players back the Football Association’s ongoing campaign by cutting out cautions for dissent. The incentive has paid off. In the last three years the Evo-Stik NPL has won the FA’s overall award twice and last year were runner's up.

Blyth's single caution in the four games they played in December has seen the North East outfit climb back into the top five of the Premier Division’s overall Jungledrum Fair Play table. FC United of Manchester still lead the season-to-date table, Nantwich Town and AFC Fylde are second and third respectively, with Witton just ahead of the Spartans in fourth.

Trafford are still second in the overall table after picking up the Jungledrum First Division North honours with just two cautions in five matches. Leaders Harrogate Railway can count themselves unlucky not to have won the monthly accolade after avoiding censure altogether in three matches, only missing out after December’s waterlogged pitches saw them fail to play the four fixtures required to qualify.

The race at the top is still likely to be tight with the division’s best behaved sides averaging less than a caution a game. Both Trafford and Harrogate Railway also lead the chase for the NPL’s prize money for cutting dissent. Neither have yet to register a caution for the offence this season with only one other club in the division, Skelmersdale United, able to match them.

Evo-Stik NPL First Division South's Jungledrum winners Chasetown still lead the overall table and are another club without a single dissent caution all season. They played five games during December and didn't pick up a single card to pip second placed Mickleover Sports who collected one caution in their five games. There are now no fewer than four clubs averaging less than a caution a game in the division.

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 Lloyd 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