Nearly three hundred nominations in

With the public poll set to close at a minute to midnight on Friday 20 October, 297 players who've played in the EVO-STIK League over the last five decades had been nominated by fans, officials and fellow players by 2pm on Monday.

Launched two weeks ago to promote NPL50 celebrations to mark this season's milestone anniversary, the online poll to choose the top 100 players and a ‘Team of all Time’ to feature in a specially commissioned book charting the Northern Premier League’s proud history since 1968 started capturing the public’s imagination within hours of opening.

They'll be added to the nominations of five players from the EVO-STIK League's current and former clubs which are still coming come before a public vote in November on who should make the final legends line-up.

A number of former NPL clubs including FC United of Manchester, Bangor City and Bishop Auckland have already submitted their nominations and the EVO-STIK League's social media manager James Heyes is delighted with the response so far.

"We know the nominations are being discussed intensely and we already have a great list of nominations going back over the years," said Heyes. "There is a healthy mix of older and newer players and positions too and so far the five clubs with the most nominations are Ashton United, Radcliffe, Mossley, Stafford Rangers and FC United."

He added: "The nominations deadline for clubs closes a week after the public and it will be interesting to see how they match up before the vote starts. If you haven't already done so get nominating to make sure your favourites from over the years are in the running. Its simple and only takes a few seconds and we're looking forward to seeing more more players nominated with just over ten days still to go."

Entitled ‘50 Glorious Seasons - A History of the Northern Premier League 1968-2018’, the new book charting the EVO-STIK League's history is currently being written by official historian and statistician Dominic McKenzie and will be out within weeks of the 2017-18 season ending.

To produce a definitive history with chapters on everything from the story behind the NPL’s foundation to its greatest cup kings and star graduates, he is inviting the public to share their memories and archives with him as well as shortlisting and voting for players over the next ten weeks. To contribute to the research for the official history email: dommckenzienpl50@gmail.com.

NPL Top 100 players nominations and voting

Dates & deadlines
The deadline for the public to nominate five players each is a minute to midnight on Friday 20 October with club nominations a week later at a minute to midnight on October 27. The online public poll of players who make the shortlist will start on Saturday 4 November and close on Sunday 17 December.
Nominations requirements and voting procedures
* To have played 50 games for any single NPL club while it was a member of the competition. This can include the League Challenge Cup, President’s Cup and Chairman’s Cup.
* Played in 100 games or more in the NPL at a number of clubs.
* An exception to the rule lowering the requirement to 30 games is allowed if a player has gone on to play in the professional game or shown exceptional standards in performance or behaviour.
* There are no restrictions to how many players can be picked from a single club.
* Players who have brought the game, league or a club into disrepute for their actions are ineligible.
* The shortlist for the public poll will be restricted to a maximum of 200 players, including 10 goalkeepers. If more than 200 players are selected, a judging panel will shortlist the choices.

For more information and to vote click here: http://pollmill.com/f/npl-50th-anniversary-3cqke2a/answers/new.fullpage.

Follow us: @evostikleague on Twitter | Facebook www.facebook.com/evostikleague