NWCFL Awards Evening 2026 round-up
Mon 22nd June 2026 | General | By Martin Fallon
Following on from Saturday's Annual General Meeting in Blackpool, the NWCFL held our annual Awards Evening on the evening as we recognised the accomplishments made by players and clubs in 2025/26.
Photographer Adam Gee was in attendance at the event, and you can see all the fantastic photos he took throughout the night here. Adam has kindly made all of the photos free for people to download, saying that this is his way of appreciating all of the hard work put in by the players, committee, volunteers and sponsors at clubs to help make the league a success.
After a beautiful three course meal, the awards evening began with an introduction to our guest host for the fourth year running, talkSPORT presenter and broadcaster Ged Mills, who brought up the NWCFL’s Fixtures Co-ordinator Jeff Voller to present the Programme of the Year awards.
The winners were Charnock Richard in the Premier Division, with Thornton Cleveleys winning for the second successive season in the First Division North. The First Division South award went to New Mills, with each team also earning a £75 prize for their efforts.
Up next were the League Respect Awards, handed out by Media Team member Ben Wilkinson. The criterion for these awards is based on points earned for clubs’ conduct before, during and after games. Winners also picked up £500 in prize money, which is double last season's award.
The most respectful clubs in the NWCFL by those metrics for 2025/26, were Charnock Richard in the Premier, Fulwood Amateurs in the North and Sandbach United in the South.
Next on the agenda was the distribution of the league’s Fair Play Awards for those teams who did their best during the campaign to avoid falling foul of the referee’s whistle, and especially the referee’s cards.
This award is sponsored by PSTSport, with Richard Jagger from PST on hand to present the winners with their awards and a £250 prize, The winners were West Didsbury & Chorlton in the Premier, Thornton Cleveleys in the North, and Wolverhampton Casuals in the South.
Following that was the Referee of the Year award. The man in the middle of any match is often the recipient of the most criticism, but they work so hard during the season, and the game simply doesn’t happen without them.
The winner is the referee receiving the highest marks across the season who refereed 12 or more games. Referee Appointments Officer Alex Gray was a special guest presenter for this award, and the recipient was Hadley Warhurst from Manchester FA.
The remainder of the first part of the evening was to recognise the solo awards, the first of which was for the leading scorers in each division. League Management Committee member Mick Ainsworth was on stage to present the respective Golden Boots and a £50 bonus to representatives of Chadderton, Daisy Hill and Haughmond.
Winning the Premier Division award for the second season in a row was Lewis-Simon Byrne, who bagged a quite astonishing 57 league goals, setting a new league record in the process. In total he scored 63 goals. The First Division North award went to Liam Sheppard who hit 27 league goals, whilst the First Division South one went to Ethan Pickford who also notched 27 league goals. Ethan's was unusual given the fact that his side got relegated this season.
The individual awards kept on coming with the Goalkeeper of the Year awards. This award is sponsored by paxsport, who supply gloves throughout the season to the winners of the Goalkeeper of the Month award, with paxsport founder Andy Paxton called to the stage to hand out each divisions Golden Glove award.
There was a tie in the Premier Division with the two winners keeping 17 clean sheets in league games this season. This was by Joe Bickerstaffe from Atherton LR, Joe following up winning the First Division North award last season. The other winner was Brad Rose of runners-up Ramsbottom United. The First Division North and South awards were both won by league winning goalkeepers, the North being Chris Thompson of Nelson with 12 clean sheets and the South being Will Ebbrell of Runcorn Town with 19 clean sheets.
Next on stage was newly appointed NWCFL General Manager Debbie Jessop to present each division’s Player of the Year awards. These were judged by the number of Man of the Match awards won throughout the season by their opponents.
Firstly, Sheriff Njie of Cheadle Town was rewarded for his 16 Man of the Match performances in the Premier Division, followed by Liam Sheppard picking up his second award of the night after winning 14 Man of the Match awards in the North. The South award was shared after two players received 12 Man of the Match awards, these being Nicky Parker from Eccleshall and Oliver McFadyen of Stockport Georgians.
Finally, from an individual perspective, there was each division’s Manager of the Year awards to present. Martin Fallon, Head of Results and Media, had the honour of handing out these trophies to their respective winners, all of whom were league champions in 2025/26.
In the Premier, Wythenshawe's James Kinsey was the winner for leading his side to the title, picking up 106 points in total. In the North, Nelson's Arron Ripley was credited for the same feat with his club, guiding them to the Premier Division ahead of next season after finishing runners-up the season before. In the South, the Runcorn Town duo of Darren Moore and Liam Page shared the prize for helping Runcorn to the league title, although they will face Step 5 in the Midland League next season after being laterally moved.
After a short intermission, it was time for the Roll of Honour, with County Cup Competitions first. Media Team member Jay Cooper presenting these. First up was Droylsden, who were re-presented with the Manchester Premier Cup after winning it for the 14th time after beating Curzon Ashton in the Final. Host Ged Mills then gave mentions to Runcorn Town, Glossop North End, Padiham, Eccleshall and Shawbury United who all reached their respective County Cup Finals. Six County Cup Finalists in one season is surely a new league record!
Jay also presented Charnock Richard with the Champions Cup, which is our curtain raiser trophy played for between the winners of the previous seasons Premier Division and Macron Cup. Charnock won this by default after Bury opted not to field a team in the scheduled game.
League Vice Chair Geoff Wilkinson was then called up to present the trophies to each division’s play-off winners. All three play-off's were close with all settled on penalties in the end. Runners-up were all given £100 in prize money for getting as close as they did, and each winner received £250 for their accomplishment.
First was the First Division North, with Maghull runners-up after being beaten by winners Droylsden. It was an epic semi final in which Droylsden led, then Magull turned around to lead. Droylsden then scored twice to regain the lead with Maghull levelling seven minutes into stoppage time to make it 3-3. There were no goals in extra time with Droylsden eventually winning on penalties.
In the First Division South, league runners up Eccleshall led for 83 minutes in their Final before Stockport Georgians struck three minutes into stoppage time to make it 1-1 and force extra time. Again there were no further goals, with Stockport winning on penalties.
Finally was the Premier Division play-off. There was nothing to choose between Padiham and Chadderton with the game finishing goalless after extra time. It was Padiham who emerged victorious though to gain promotion with Chadderton remaining with us next season.
After that, the penultimate round of awards were all to do with domestic cup competitions. Newly appointed Life Member Ian Williams presented this next batch of awards, with shoutouts being given to Edward Case Cup semi-finalists Nelson and Stockport Georgians who both won £150, and runners-up Darwen, who forefeited their prize money for non-attendance at the ceremony.
Runcorn Town's triple-crown acknowledgement started as it meant to go on, as they collected the Edward Case Cup, as well as a prize money total of £300. The Final against Darwen was a great game with Runcorn taking the lead, Darwen coming back to level before going ahead, then Runcorn hitting two more to run out 3-2 winners.
Then there was the Macron Cup to address with Development and Safeguarding Manager Gary Langley presenting these. Again, the semi-finalists received a mention, with Nelson and Burscough both earning £250 for getting so far in the tournament. Runners-up West Didsbury & Chorlton also collected a healthy £500 for pushing the eventual winners all the way.
Both finalists were competing in the Macron Cup Final for the first time, and it was AFC Liverpool who collected their well-earned trophy after a 2-0 victory in the Final, along with a cool prize packet of £1,000.
And finally, we had the trophies that everyone had been waiting for, presented by Chairman Chris Stirrup. There was an acknowledgement for both the First Divisions North and South runners-up, those being Droylsden and Eccleshall, with each receiving £250 in prize money for their efforts.
Then the winners were called up, firstly in the First Division North which Nelson won by nine points, and then to the First Division South which Runcorn Town won by 15 points. Both were re-presented with their league trophies and a £400 cash prize.
Before we moved on to the Premier Division, there was one more trophy to present to Runcorn Town, with the winners of both First Division's competing in the First Division Champions Cup Final following the culmination of the regular league season. This saw Runcorn run out 3-1 winners.
The evening finished with Chris presenting the runners-up in last season’s Premier Division, Ramsbottom United, with a £750 cash prize for their effort in pushing the champions all the way. There could only be one league winner though, and that was 106-point Wythenshawe, who were called up to collect their trophy and a handsome cash prize of £1,500.
As we count down to the new season, we will be looking at each of the winners in more depth starting tomorrow, so keep checking back on the website over the coming days and weeks.
Congratulations to all our winners, and we do it all again with the Champions Cup curtain raiser just under five weeks away!
NWCFL Awards Evening 2026 round-up
Mon 22nd June 2026 | General
By Martin Fallon
Following on from Saturday's Annual General Meeting in Blackpool, the NWCFL held our annual Awards Evening on the evening as we recognised the accomplishments made by players and clubs in 2025/26.
Photographer Adam Gee was in attendance at the event, and you can see all the fantastic photos he took throughout the night here. Adam has kindly made all of the photos free for people to download, saying that this is his way of appreciating all of the hard work put in by the players, committee, volunteers and sponsors at clubs to help make the league a success.
After a beautiful three course meal, the awards evening began with an introduction to our guest host for the fourth year running, talkSPORT presenter and broadcaster Ged Mills, who brought up the NWCFL’s Fixtures Co-ordinator Jeff Voller to present the Programme of the Year awards.
The winners were Charnock Richard in the Premier Division, with Thornton Cleveleys winning for the second successive season in the First Division North. The First Division South award went to New Mills, with each team also earning a £75 prize for their efforts.
Up next were the League Respect Awards, handed out by Media Team member Ben Wilkinson. The criterion for these awards is based on points earned for clubs’ conduct before, during and after games. Winners also picked up £500 in prize money, which is double last season's award.
The most respectful clubs in the NWCFL by those metrics for 2025/26, were Charnock Richard in the Premier, Fulwood Amateurs in the North and Sandbach United in the South.
Next on the agenda was the distribution of the league’s Fair Play Awards for those teams who did their best during the campaign to avoid falling foul of the referee’s whistle, and especially the referee’s cards.
This award is sponsored by PSTSport, with Richard Jagger from PST on hand to present the winners with their awards and a £250 prize, The winners were West Didsbury & Chorlton in the Premier, Thornton Cleveleys in the North, and Wolverhampton Casuals in the South.
Following that was the Referee of the Year award. The man in the middle of any match is often the recipient of the most criticism, but they work so hard during the season, and the game simply doesn’t happen without them.
The winner is the referee receiving the highest marks across the season who refereed 12 or more games. Referee Appointments Officer Alex Gray was a special guest presenter for this award, and the recipient was Hadley Warhurst from Manchester FA.
The remainder of the first part of the evening was to recognise the solo awards, the first of which was for the leading scorers in each division. League Management Committee member Mick Ainsworth was on stage to present the respective Golden Boots and a £50 bonus to representatives of Chadderton, Daisy Hill and Haughmond.
Winning the Premier Division award for the second season in a row was Lewis-Simon Byrne, who bagged a quite astonishing 57 league goals, setting a new league record in the process. In total he scored 63 goals. The First Division North award went to Liam Sheppard who hit 27 league goals, whilst the First Division South one went to Ethan Pickford who also notched 27 league goals. Ethan's was unusual given the fact that his side got relegated this season.
The individual awards kept on coming with the Goalkeeper of the Year awards. This award is sponsored by paxsport, who supply gloves throughout the season to the winners of the Goalkeeper of the Month award, with paxsport founder Andy Paxton called to the stage to hand out each divisions Golden Glove award.
There was a tie in the Premier Division with the two winners keeping 17 clean sheets in league games this season. This was by Joe Bickerstaffe from Atherton LR, Joe following up winning the First Division North award last season. The other winner was Brad Rose of runners-up Ramsbottom United. The First Division North and South awards were both won by league winning goalkeepers, the North being Chris Thompson of Nelson with 12 clean sheets and the South being Will Ebbrell of Runcorn Town with 19 clean sheets.
Next on stage was newly appointed NWCFL General Manager Debbie Jessop to present each division’s Player of the Year awards. These were judged by the number of Man of the Match awards won throughout the season by their opponents.
Firstly, Sheriff Njie of Cheadle Town was rewarded for his 16 Man of the Match performances in the Premier Division, followed by Liam Sheppard picking up his second award of the night after winning 14 Man of the Match awards in the North. The South award was shared after two players received 12 Man of the Match awards, these being Nicky Parker from Eccleshall and Oliver McFadyen of Stockport Georgians.
Finally, from an individual perspective, there was each division’s Manager of the Year awards to present. Martin Fallon, Head of Results and Media, had the honour of handing out these trophies to their respective winners, all of whom were league champions in 2025/26.
In the Premier, Wythenshawe's James Kinsey was the winner for leading his side to the title, picking up 106 points in total. In the North, Nelson's Arron Ripley was credited for the same feat with his club, guiding them to the Premier Division ahead of next season after finishing runners-up the season before. In the South, the Runcorn Town duo of Darren Moore and Liam Page shared the prize for helping Runcorn to the league title, although they will face Step 5 in the Midland League next season after being laterally moved.
After a short intermission, it was time for the Roll of Honour, with County Cup Competitions first. Media Team member Jay Cooper presenting these. First up was Droylsden, who were re-presented with the Manchester Premier Cup after winning it for the 14th time after beating Curzon Ashton in the Final. Host Ged Mills then gave mentions to Runcorn Town, Glossop North End, Padiham, Eccleshall and Shawbury United who all reached their respective County Cup Finals. Six County Cup Finalists in one season is surely a new league record!
Jay also presented Charnock Richard with the Champions Cup, which is our curtain raiser trophy played for between the winners of the previous seasons Premier Division and Macron Cup. Charnock won this by default after Bury opted not to field a team in the scheduled game.
League Vice Chair Geoff Wilkinson was then called up to present the trophies to each division’s play-off winners. All three play-off's were close with all settled on penalties in the end. Runners-up were all given £100 in prize money for getting as close as they did, and each winner received £250 for their accomplishment.
First was the First Division North, with Maghull runners-up after being beaten by winners Droylsden. It was an epic semi final in which Droylsden led, then Magull turned around to lead. Droylsden then scored twice to regain the lead with Maghull levelling seven minutes into stoppage time to make it 3-3. There were no goals in extra time with Droylsden eventually winning on penalties.
In the First Division South, league runners up Eccleshall led for 83 minutes in their Final before Stockport Georgians struck three minutes into stoppage time to make it 1-1 and force extra time. Again there were no further goals, with Stockport winning on penalties.
Finally was the Premier Division play-off. There was nothing to choose between Padiham and Chadderton with the game finishing goalless after extra time. It was Padiham who emerged victorious though to gain promotion with Chadderton remaining with us next season.
After that, the penultimate round of awards were all to do with domestic cup competitions. Newly appointed Life Member Ian Williams presented this next batch of awards, with shoutouts being given to Edward Case Cup semi-finalists Nelson and Stockport Georgians who both won £150, and runners-up Darwen, who forefeited their prize money for non-attendance at the ceremony.
Runcorn Town's triple-crown acknowledgement started as it meant to go on, as they collected the Edward Case Cup, as well as a prize money total of £300. The Final against Darwen was a great game with Runcorn taking the lead, Darwen coming back to level before going ahead, then Runcorn hitting two more to run out 3-2 winners.
Then there was the Macron Cup to address with Development and Safeguarding Manager Gary Langley presenting these. Again, the semi-finalists received a mention, with Nelson and Burscough both earning £250 for getting so far in the tournament. Runners-up West Didsbury & Chorlton also collected a healthy £500 for pushing the eventual winners all the way.
Both finalists were competing in the Macron Cup Final for the first time, and it was AFC Liverpool who collected their well-earned trophy after a 2-0 victory in the Final, along with a cool prize packet of £1,000.
And finally, we had the trophies that everyone had been waiting for, presented by Chairman Chris Stirrup. There was an acknowledgement for both the First Divisions North and South runners-up, those being Droylsden and Eccleshall, with each receiving £250 in prize money for their efforts.
Then the winners were called up, firstly in the First Division North which Nelson won by nine points, and then to the First Division South which Runcorn Town won by 15 points. Both were re-presented with their league trophies and a £400 cash prize.
Before we moved on to the Premier Division, there was one more trophy to present to Runcorn Town, with the winners of both First Division's competing in the First Division Champions Cup Final following the culmination of the regular league season. This saw Runcorn run out 3-1 winners.
The evening finished with Chris presenting the runners-up in last season’s Premier Division, Ramsbottom United, with a £750 cash prize for their effort in pushing the champions all the way. There could only be one league winner though, and that was 106-point Wythenshawe, who were called up to collect their trophy and a handsome cash prize of £1,500.
As we count down to the new season, we will be looking at each of the winners in more depth starting tomorrow, so keep checking back on the website over the coming days and weeks.
Congratulations to all our winners, and we do it all again with the Champions Cup curtain raiser just under five weeks away!
