2003–04 Northern Premier League

The 2003–04 Northern Premier League season was the 36th in the history of the Northern Premier League, a football competition in England. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First. This season was the last before the formation of the Conference North and the Conference South, so most of the Premier Division teams were promoted to the Conference North for next season. Subsequently, the First Division had most of its teams promoted to the Premier Division, with new teams admitted from the leagues just below the Northern Premier in the English football league system. During this season, Radcliffe Borough's Jody Banim broke the English Record for the most Consecutive games where a player has scored at least one goal, which ran from 9 September to 4 November.

Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division
Season 2003–04
Champions Hucknall Town
Promoted
Relegated None
Matches played 513
Goals scored 1534 (2.99 per match)

The Premier Division featured four new teams:

League Table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Hucknall Town (C) (P) 44 29 8 7 83 38+45 95 Promotion to Conference North
2 Droylsden (P) 44 26 8 10 96 64+32 86
3 Barrow (P) 44 22 14 8 82 52+30 80
4 Alfreton Town (P) 44 23 9 12 73 43+30 78
5 Harrogate Town (P) 44 24 5 15 79 63+16 77
6 Southport (P) 44 20 10 14 71 52+19 70
7 Worksop Town (P) 44 19 13 12 64 50+14 70
8 Lancaster City (P) 44 20 9 15 62 49+13 69
9 Vauxhall Motors (P) 44 19 10 15 78 75+3 67
10 Gainsborough Trinity (P) 44 17 13 14 70 52+18 64
11 Stalybridge Celtic (P) 44 18 10 16 72 66+6 64
12 Altrincham (P) 44 16 15 13 66 51+15 63
13 Runcorn F.C. Halton (P) 44 16 13 15 67 63+4 61
14 Ashton United (P) 44 17 8 19 59 79−20 59* Qualification to Playoffs
15 Whitby Town 44 14 11 19 55 70−15 53
16 Marine 44 13 12 19 62 74−12 51
17 Bradford Park Avenue (P) 44 12 14 18 48 62−14 50
18 Spennymoor United 44 14 6 24 55 93−38 48
19 Burscough 44 10 15 19 47 67−20 45
20 Radcliffe Borough 44 12 6 26 74 99−25 42
21 Blyth Spartans 44 10 10 24 54 74−20 40
22 Frickley Athletic 44 11 7 26 51 83−32 40
23 Wakefield & Emley 44 8 6 30 45 99−54 30

Updated to games played on 8 February 2011.
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
* Although Ashton United did not progress through the playoffs, they were promoted nonetheless.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Premier Division Playoffs

Eight teams competed for the final Conference North place; including Hyde United, champions of Division One.

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
         
1 Ashton United 2
8 Hyde United 1
1 Ashton United 1
4 Bradford Park Avenue 2
4 Bradford Park Avenue 3
5 Spennymoor United 1
4 Bradford Park Avenue 2
6 Burscough 0
2 Whitby Town 2(2)
7 Radcliffe Borough 2(4)
7 Radcliffe Borough 0
6 Burscough 2
3 Marine 1
6 Burscough 3

Division One

Northern Premier League Division One
Season 2003–04
Champions Hyde United
Promoted
Relegated None
Matches played 463
Goals scored 1372 (2.96 per match)

Division One featured five new teams:

League Table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Hyde United (C) (P) 42 24 8 10 79 49+30 80 Promotion to NPL Premier Division and Playoffs
2 Matlock Town (P) 42 23 7 12 78 51+27 76 Promotion to NPL Premier Division
3 Farsley Celtic (P) 42 20 14 8 78 56+22 74
4 Lincoln United (P) 42 20 11 11 73 53+20 71
5 Witton Albion (P) 42 17 12 13 61 56+5 63
6 Gateshead (P) 42 21 4 17 64 68−4 64*
7 Workington (P) 42 17 11 14 70 58+12 62
8 Leek Town (P) 42 16 13 13 56 47+9 61
9 Guiseley (P) 42 16 12 14 66 44+22 60
10 Bamber Bridge (P) 42 16 12 14 64 53+11 60
11 Bridlington Town (P) 42 16 10 16 70 68+2 58
12 Prescot Cables (P) 42 16 10 16 63 65−2 58
13 Bishop Auckland (P) 42 14 13 15 61 64−3 55
14 Ossett Town (P) 42 15 10 17 62 73−11 54*
15 Rossendale United 42 13 12 17 53 62−9 51
16 Colwyn Bay 42 14 9 19 56 82−26 51
17 North Ferriby United 42 13 11 18 64 70−6 50
18 Chorley 42 13 10 19 54 70−16 49
19 Stocksbridge Park Steels 42 12 12 18 57 69−12 48
20 Belper Town 42 9 15 18 44 58−14 42
21 Kendal Town 42 11 7 24 53 79−26 40
22 Kidsgrove Athletic 42 10 9 23 45 67−22 39

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
*Gateshead and Ossett Town were deduced 3 points.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Promotion and relegation

In the thirty-sixth season of the Northern Premier League the top fourteen teams of the Premier Division plus Bradford Park Avenue were promoted to the newly formed Conference North. They were replaced by the top fourteen teams of the First Division, who in turn were replaced by the following fourteen teams:

No teams were relegated this season.

Cup Results

Challenge Cup: Teams from both leagues.

President's Cup: 'Plate' competition for losing teams in the NPL Cup.

Chairman's Cup: 'Plate' competition for losing teams in the NPL Cup.

Peter Swales Shield: Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup.

External links