# 1980–81 Northern Premier League

The 1980–81 Northern Premier League was the thirteenth season of the Northern Premier League, a regional football league in Northern England, the northern areas of the Midlands and North Wales. The season began on 16 August 1980 and concluded on 3 May 1981.

## Overview

The League featured twenty-two clubs.

### Team changes

The following club left the League at the end of the previous season:
* Frickley Athletic promoted to Alliance Premier League
The following club joined the League at the start of the season:
* King's Lynn transferred from Southern League Midland Division

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Runcorn (C, P) | 42 | 32 | 7 | 3 | 99 | 22 | +77 | 71 | Promoted to Alliance Premier League |
| 2 | Mossley | 42 | 24 | 7 | 11 | 95 | 55 | +40 | 55 | |
| 3 | Marine | 42 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 66 | 41 | +25 | 54 | |
| 4 | Buxton | 42 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 64 | 50 | +14 | 49 | |
| 5 | Gainsborough Trinity | 42 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 80 | 57 | +23 | 47 | |
| 6 | Burton Albion | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 63 | 54 | +9 | 46 | |
| 7 | Witton Albion | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 70 | 62 | +8 | 46 | |
| 8 | Goole Town | 42 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 56 | 50 | +6 | 44 | |
| 9 | South Liverpool | 42 | 19 | 6 | 17 | 59 | 64 | −5 | 44 | |
| 10 | Workington | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 57 | 48 | +9 | 43 | |
| 11 | Gateshead | 42 | 12 | 18 | 12 | 65 | 61 | +4 | 42 | |
| 12 | Worksop Town | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 66 | 61 | +5 | 41 | |
| 13 | Macclesfield Town | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 52 | 69 | −17 | 39 | |
| 14 | Grantham | 42 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 57 | 74 | −17 | 37 | |
| 15 | Matlock Town | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 57 | 80 | −23 | 36 | |
| 16 | Lancaster City | 42 | 13 | 9 | 20 | 48 | 70 | −22 | 35 | |
| 17 | Netherfield | 42 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 73 | 81 | −8 | 34 | |
| 18 | Oswestry Town | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 54 | 67 | −13 | 34 | |
| 19 | King's Lynn | 42 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 46 | 65 | −19 | 34 | |
| 20 | Southport | 42 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 42 | 68 | −26 | 33 | |
| 21 | Morecambe | 42 | 11 | 8 | 23 | 42 | 74 | −32 | 30 | |
| 22 | Tamworth | 42 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 38 | 76 | −38 | 30 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BRT | BUX | GAI | GAT | GOO | GRN | KLY | LNC | MAC | MAR | MAT | MOR | MOS | NET | OSW | RUN | SLI | SOU | TAM | WTN | WRK | WKS |
| Burton Albion | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 5–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 |
| Buxton | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 7–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Gainsborough Trinity | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 6–0 | 6–0 | 6–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Gateshead United | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Goole Town | 0–1 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–4 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Grantham | 1–2 | 4–0 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 2–0 | | 3–1 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| King's Lynn | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Lancaster City | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| Macclesfield Town | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–5 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 3–5 |
| Marine | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 7–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Matlock Town | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 3–3 |
| Morecambe | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 |
| Mossley | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–4 | | 4–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 5–0 | 2–3 | 3–2 |
| Netherfield | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 4–4 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 2–3 |
| Oswestry Town | 4–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–4 |
| Runcorn | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| South Liverpool | 2–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–3 | 2–0 | 2–4 | | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Southport | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Tamworth | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 |
| Witton Albion | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 3–4 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Workington | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 2–0 |
| Worksop Town | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | |

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Stadium |
| Burton Albion | Eton Park |
| Buxton | The Silverlands |
| Gainsborough Trinity | The Northolme |
| Gateshead United | Gateshead Youth Stadium |
| Goole Town | Victoria Pleasure Ground |
| Grantham | London Road |
| King's Lynn | The Walks |
| Lancaster City | Great Axe |
| Macclesfield Town | Moss Rose |
| Marine | Rossett Park |
| Matlock Town | Causeway Lane |
| Morecambe | Christie Park |
| Mossley | Seel Park |
| Netherfield | Parkside |
| Oswestry Town | Victoria Road |
| Runcorn | Canal Street |
| South Liverpool | Holly Park |
| Southport | Haig Avenue |
| Tamworth | The Lamb Ground |
| Witton Albion | Central Ground |
| Workington | Borough Park |
| Worksop Town | Central Avenue |

## Cup Results

Challenge Cup Cup:
* Marine bt. Runcorn
Northern Premier League Shield:
* Runcorn bt. Mossley

## Cup results
### Challenge Cup

| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Marine | 3–4 | Runcorn |

### Northern Premier League Shield

Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup. As Runcorn won both the Northern Premier League and the Challenge Cup, Mossley qualified as 2nd placed team of the NPL.
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Runcorn | 2–1 | Mossley |

### FA Cup

Only one of the twenty-two Northern Premier League clubs reached the second round:
Second Round
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Mossley | 1–3 | Mansfield Town |

### FA Trophy

One of the twenty-two Northern Premier League clubs reached the fourth round:
Fourth Round
| Home Team | Score | Away Team |
| Bangor City | 5–3 | Mossley |

## End of the season

At the end of the thirteenth season of the Northern Premier League, Runcorn applied to join the Alliance Premier League and were successful.

### Promotion and relegation

The following club left the League at the end of the season:
* Runcorn promoted to Alliance Premier League
The following club joined the League the following season:
* Bangor City relegated from Alliance Premier League (returning after a two year's absence)