Northumberland FA, in conjunction with Reeves Independent, is pleased to announce our ‘Fair Play Project’ which is aimed at reducing the amount of foul play in adult male football.

A disciplinary league table will be published at the end of each month detailing the teams with the lowest amount of cautions and sending offs in competitive fixtures.

The league table will be made up of all teams competing in male 11v11 competitive football in either a Saturday or Sunday league at Step 7 or below.

Statistics show that these footballing categories return the worst disciplinary records in Northumberland.

On top of this a newly-created ‘Reeves Independent Trophy’ will be held at the end of season at Whitley Park.

This game will be contested by the two teams with the best disciplinary record within the county; the overall winners of the competition having the incentive of £1,000 in prize money.

Northumberland FA Commercial Manager, Andrew Cook said: “We are always looking for innovative ways to improve the participant experience across Northumberland.

“Although we collect fines for those whom misbehave on the pitch, we don’t necessarily reward those whom play the game in the right spirit.

“Therefore in Reeves Independent we have found a partner committed to those ideals of reward over punishment, the contract will see the prize fund increase year-on-year - demonstrating everyone’s commitment to this project.”

After signing a three-year deal to launch the project, Nigel Reeves added: “Integrity and fair play is critical to competitive football and our business.

“For this reason I’m excited to be able to support Northumberland FA and promote good behaviour in a competitive football environment.

“It will be great to see two fair play teams competing on a football pitch to win the annual trophy.”

The first fair play table is scheduled to be published early in December with the updates following thereafter on a monthly basis.