Notts County has won the Advance Performance Best Community Initiative Award for Coca-Cola League 2 at the 2008 Football League Awards incorporating FourFourTwo's Top 50 Football League Players.

The club received the award at a gala dinner at The London Hilton, Park Lane on Sunday 2nd March 2008 in front of over 800 attendees from clubs, sponsors and the football industry.

For their winning entry, the Notts County "On the Ball" scheme has been implemented by the club to aim to improve self esteem, motivation, confidence, communication and social skills amongst adult males with mental health issues through physical activity and professional football. Workshop and coaching sessions have been delivered and now a permanent group has been established to openly discuss mental health issues. Notts County coaches are trained to deliver group session workshops following mental health training.

On winning the award, Steve Hill commented: "We work with hard to reach groups, young male adults with mental health issues. Football is great at being able to reach out and grab people - we give them a comfortable environment with no pressure and that helps broaden horizons in terms of making new friends, talking about issues and forging relationships."

Mick Dennis from The Daily Express was a judge on the Best Community Initiative Award category. He commented that "Mental health issues are the 'hidden' illness which particularly affects young men and it is not a 'sexy' subject. Full marks to Notts County".

Commenting on the 2008 Football League Awards, The Football League Chairman, Lord Mawhinney, said: "For the third consecutive year, The Football League Awards has been an enormous success. Once again, it has given us the opportunity to recognise and reward the outstanding contributions made by fans, clubs and players to the continued growth and development of league football."

The number one spot in the FourFourTwo Top 50 Football League Players went to West Bromwich Albion striker, Kevin Phillips, followed by Andy Gray of Charlton and Michael Kightly of Wolverhampton Wanderers. The full list of The Top 50 Football League Players can be found either in the April issue of FourFourTwo which is on sale now, or on the FourFourTwo website www.fourfourtwo.com.

The Football League Awards show will be aired on Sky Sports 1 on Thursday 6th March at 8pm.

To find out more about The Football League Awards please visit www.footballleagueawards.com.