Last but not least as Millers honoured

It was a case of last but not least on Saturday at Church Lane when New Mills picked up their Evo-Stik NPL Jungledum First Division North Fair Play Award.

Evo-Stik NPL FA Respect Manager Phil Bradley, right, and Jungledrum's David Lunn, left, are pictured flanking Millers manager Roy Soule and Chairman Ray Coverley after presenting them with the league's monthly good behaviour award.

New Mills should have picked up their accolade last Monday before their match with Farsley but the fixture was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. They were the third and final club to be honoured with a Jungledrum award after Sutton Coldfield Town won the Evo-Stik NPL First Division South honours and Ashton United were the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division's best behaved outfit.

Jungledrum’s Lunn was delighted to see another club rewarded for good behaviour and looking forward to the next round of awards following their sponsorship of fair play 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."

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.

New Mills picked just three cautions in five games to take the Evo-Stik NPL First Division North 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.

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