2015–16 Northern Premier League
The 2015–16 season is the 48th season of the Northern Premier League Premier Division, and the ninth season of the Northern Premier League Division One North and South. The League sponsors for 2015–16 are Evo-Stik. Premier Division. The Premier Division featured six new teams: Division One North. Division One North featured three new teams: Division One South. Division One South will feature five new teams: Challenge Cup. The 2015–16 Northern Premier League Challenge Cup, known as the 15–16 Integro Doodson League Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 46th season of the Northern Premier League Challenge  Cup, the main cup competition in the Northern Premier League. It will be sponsored by Doodson Sport for a fifth consecutive season. 68 clubs from England will enter the competition, beginning with the Preliminary Round, and all ties will end will end after 90 minutes and conclude with penalties. Due to weather damage to pitches in late December, two ties were reversed. The defending champions were Warrington Town, who defeated Farsley on penalties in the 2015 Final. Warrington Town were unable to defend their title as they were eliminated in the first round by Ramsbottom United. Preliminary Round. Eight teams  from the Northern Premier League Division One North or Northern Premier League Division One South have to compete in the Preliminary round to win a place in the competition proper. The draw for this round was made on 10 July 2015. First Round. Teams that were not in the preliminary round from Northern Premier League Division One North or Northern Premier League Division One South entered at this stage as well as teams from the Northern Premier League Premier Division, along with the winners from the preliminary round. The draw for this round was made on 10 July 2015. Second  Round. The 32 winners from the First Round were entered into the Second Round draw on 12 November 2015. The ties are originally scheduled to be played between 30 November and 2 December. Third Round. The 16 winners from the Second Round were entered into the Third Round draw on 20 January 2016. The ties are originally scheduled to be played between 9 and 16 February. Quarter-finals. The 8 winners from the Third Round were entered into the Quarter-final draw on 17 February 2016. The ties are originally scheduled to be played between 1 and 15 March. Semi -finals. The 4 winners from the Quarter-finals were entered into the Semi-final draw on 9 March 2016. The ties are originally scheduled to be played on 22 March and 26 April. Final. The Challenge Cup Final was played at Throstle Nest, the home ground of Farsley Celtic. This was Scarborough Athletic's first final appearance (Scarborough won in 1977) and the sixth final appearance for Marine (their most recent appearance was in 2003 where they defeated Gateshead). Source: