Northern League sponsor Ann Barkas made history at the league AGM today by becoming the first woman to be elected to the league's management committee.

For Barkas, who has sponsored the league for the last two seasons though her Start to Learn business, it was third time lucky, as she clinched a place in the top six of the poll. Her energetic canvassing before the AGM certainly paid dividends.

“The number 13 is my lucky number, and so I thought I had a chance when Mike Amos said before the meeting started that it was the 113th AGM of the league,” she said. “It was also the third time I’ve put up for a place on the management committee, so that was lucky as well. It’s a great feeling to be the first female in the league’s history to be elected, especially considering that there were other people also putting up for election.

“I hope to bring some new ideas to the league and to clubs, and I really believe that I can contribute plenty. I want to help clubs obtain funding for lottery grants etc, and give them a basis of what they need to progress. I want to help them with marketing and forming business plans, and I'll happily organise sessions with them.

“I’ve been involved with football for many years. In the season just ended, I went to 100 games, not just in the north east, but following Northern League clubs around the country in the FA Cup and FA Vase. I’ve been to every Northern League club at least once in the each of the last two seasons."

Barkas is delighted with the mutual benefits that her sponsorship is bringing for the league and her company.

“I’m very happy with the sponsorship. I agreed a five year deal, and we’re starting the third in the new season. There’s always something going on, and it gives the company credibility in the football world.”

Barkas isn’t the first woman to serve the Northern League in an official capacity. When then secretary Gordon Nicholson was suspended by the FA in 1979, his wife Margaret stepped in and took on the secretary’s role for a year, although many observers noted at the time that her correspondence was in her husband’s typical style.

Meanwhile, Norton secretary Steve Lawson has also made history by becoming the youngest ever person to be elected to the management committee at the age of 29.

Lawson polled 31 votes in the election for six seats, coming fourth out of ten nominees, with Barkas coming sixth with 26. Tom Derrick and Ted Ilderton were both voted off the committee.