Northern Premier League Division One North
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Northern Premier League Division One North |
|---|
| Founded |
| 2007 |
| Nation |
 England |
| Feeder To |
| NPL Premier Division |
| Relegation To |
| Northern League Division One NWCL Division One NCEL Premier Division |
| Number of Teams |
| 20 |
| Level on Pyramid |
| Level 8 |
| Cups |
| FA Cup |
| Current Champions (2006/07) |
| Buxton F.C. (NPL First Division Champions) |
| Website |
| Unibond |
Division One North is one of the two second-tier divisions of the Northern Premier League. It is at Step 4 (or level 8) of the National League System, placing it seven divisions below the Premier League. For sponsorship reasons, it is also referred to as the UniBond League Division One North.
The split of the Northern Premier League First Division resulted in the creation of the Division One North and the Division One South. The division began play at the start of the 2007-08, initially with 18 teams.
At the end of the season, the champion of the league is promoted to the Northern Premier Division. The teams placed 2nd through 5th engaged in a playoff to determine which team is also promoted.
Contents |
[edit] League system
When the FA announced the details of the restructuring, a number of clubs complained that a 34 game season was too short. To address this perceived shortfall it was decided that the clubs would play an additional eight games on top of that; four to be played at home and four to be played away.[1]
To facilitate these additional games each division was split into two regional groups of nine clubs. Each team in Group A for example, would play the other teams in Group A three times, while they would play teams in Group B just twice. Likewise, the reverse was true for those teams in Group B, who woukd play teams in their group three times, and they would play teams in Group A twice. It is as yet unclear if this format will be repeated for the 2008-09 season.
[edit] Current clubs
| Club |
Finishing position 2007-08 |
|---|---|
| Bamber Bridge F.C. | 5th in NPL Division 1 North |
| Chorley F.C. | 14th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Clitheroe F.C. | 13th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Colwyn Bay F.C. | 7th in the NPL Division 1 South |
| Curzon Ashton F.C. | 4th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Durham City F.C. | 1st in the Northern League |
| Garforth Town F.C. | 10th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. | 12th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Lancaster City F.C. | 11th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Mossley F.C. | 15th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Newcastle Blue Star F.C. | 8th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Ossett Albion F.C. | 6th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Radcliffe Borough F.C. | 16th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Rossendale United F.C. | 9th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Salford City F.C. | 2nd in the North West Counties 1st Division |
| Skelmersdale United F.C. | 3rd in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Trafford F.C. | 1st in the North West Counties 1st Division |
| Wakefield F.C. | 7th in the NPL Division 1 North |
| Warrington Town F.C. | 13th in the NPL Division 1 South |
| Woodley Sports F.C. | 17th in the NPL Division 1 North |
The League may be increased to 22 teams, if Halifax and Gretna both have applications accepted to play in the league after they were both liquidated following the 2007/08 season. It is unclear which of the 3 divisions they will enter, but Gretna will most likely play in the North Division if accepted.
[edit] Past Champions
From 1987 until 2007, the league was united and just known as the Northern Premier League First Division, before being split into North and South subsections. Here are the champions from when the league was just the NPL First Division.
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