The 1996–97 Northern Premier League season was the 29th in the history of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Teams were divided into two divisions; the Premier and the First. It was known as the Unibond League for sponsorship reasons.Unibond League
/ref>

Premier Division

The Premier League featured three new teams: *

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

promoted as runners-up from Division One *

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Foot ...

promoted as champions from Division One *

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

relegated from the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

League table

Results

Division One

Division One featured four new teams: *

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

relegated from the Premier Division * Flixton promoted as champions from the NWCFL Division One *

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

relegated from the Premier Division *

Stocksbridge Park Steels Stocksbridge Park Steels Football Club is an English association football club based in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire. They currently compete in the . The club was formed in 1986 after a merger between two clubs, and uses a yellow and blue hom ...

promoted as runners-up from the NCEFL Premier Division

League table

Promotion and relegation

In the twenty-ninth season of the Northern Premier League Leek Town (as champions) were automatically promoted to the

. Witton Albion and Buxton were relegated to the First Division while Knowsley United left the League at the end of the season. Boston United moved to the Southern League. These clubs were replaced by relegated Conference side

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

winners

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, where they play their home games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the National L ...

and second placed

Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich RMI (Railway Mechanics Institute) and Leigh RMI, is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancashire Counties Football League. The semi-professional ...

. In the First Division Curzon Ashton, Warrington Town and Atherton Laburnum Rovers left the League at the end of the season and were replaced by newly admitted Whitby Town,

Belper Town Belper Town Football Club is a football club based in Belper, Derbyshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Christchurch Meadow. The club are nicknamed the "Nailers" due to the town's nail-making industry. History The club ...

and

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...

Cup Results

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

: Teams from both leagues. *''Gainsborough Trinity'' bt. Boston United

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

: 'Plate' competition for losing teams in the NPL Cup. *''Blyth Spartans'' bt. Runcorn Peter Swales Shield: Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup. *''Gainsborough Trinity'' bt. Leek Town

References

External links

Northern Premier League Tables at RSSSF
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996-97 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 6