The National Game Awards, a ceremony to celebrate some of the best teams and talents from the world of Non-league Football were held at the home of the Premier League Champions, Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge this week. We sent our guys, Darren Byrne and Michael Bugajski to represent us at the awards.
Darren and Mike had a fantastic time, meeting old friends and new at this glamorous event.
Awards were given out for all aspects of the game, with Lincoln City taking the ceremony by storm and bagging a stunning 6 awards! Manager Danny Cowley claimed the Manager of Year award, along with Alex Woodyard taking the prestigious, Player of the Year award, previously won by Leicester City and England’s Jamie Vardy. Michael Bugajski was there to personally hand over the award to Alex, I asked Michael what it was like to be a part of the ceremony.
“I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to present Alex with his award, It was my first time presenting an award at one of these events and I look forward to being able to do so in the future if the opportunities arise.”
Alex wasn’t the only player from Lincoln’s roster to receive praise, Sean Raggett managed to scoop the award for Young Player of the Year, previously held by Woodyard last year. The Imps Paul Farman also managed to take home the Goal Keeper of the Year award, Lincoln took Team of the Year and finally the Best Cup Run of the Year.
Lincoln weren’t the only ones taking home trophies, Andrew Morris was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award for his work for over 50 years as Co-Founder and Executive of Westfield FC, a very prestigious and well deserved award.
The Community Club of the Year was handed to Sutton United, a team that proved that anything was possible with a very surprising FA Cup run.
AFC Fylde’s Danny Rowe stormed away with the award for the Golden Boot and Dan Maguire of Blyth Spartans, who managed a valiant 26 goals this season, received the Step 3 & 4 Player of the Year.
Goal of the Season went to Dave Tarpey of Maidenhead United for his wonder goal against Dartford FC.
Other awards included:
England C Player of the Year – Jake Gallagher, Aldershot Town
Fan of the Year – Andrew Betts
Fair Play Award – Clitheroe FC
Unsung Hero – Albert Lunt, Concord Rangers
Finally, the award for Celebration of the Year was awarded to Corby Town defender Jason Lee after Ben Milnes fired a shot home to make it four league games unbeaten, Jason celebrated this by chugging a fans pint on the side lines.
In the end a great day was had by all. We would like to thank everybody involved in the ceremony, it wouldn’t be such a fantastic event without the input of every one of you.
We look forward to the opportunity to do this again next year.
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