The Winter Leagues have now reached the halfway stage, and here is an update on the latest position in each division.

Men's Premier:

Northern 1 remain unbeaten at halfway but lead the table by just 3 points ahead of nearest rivals and reigning champions Northumberland 1. There is then a huge 44-point gap to Westoe 1 in 3rd, who are just ahead of Sunderland 1 and University 1A in the contest for the two remaining Northumbria Cup places.

Chester-le-Street 1 are adrift at the bottom following eight straight defeats, but only 2 points separate Northumberland 2, Tynemouth 1 and University 1B in 6th, 7th and 8th, and they will all be battling to avoid the end-of-season playoff place.

Division 1:

Unbeaten Northumberland 3 lead the table 21 points clear of Eldon 1 with Boldon 1 only a further 6 points back in 3rd, having finished the half strongly. Primrose 1 and Sunderland 2 will have a lot of work to do in the second half to catch them.

Down at the bottom, Westoe 2 remain winless and favourites for the drop, and Benwell Hill 1 are the likely relegation playoff contenders unless they can catch Primrose 2 who have an 8-point cushion at halfway.

Division 2:

Newbiggin 1 have a 28-point lead over Northern 3 at the top of the table, with Tynemouth 2 in the third automatic promotion place a further 8 points behind. Hexham 1 and Eldon 2 are contenders for the promotion playoff place.

Primrose 3 remain bottom without a win, and Concordia 1 will need to make up a 6-point gap to Boldon 2 to avoid the relegation playoff.

Division 3:

Despite losing to their main rivals Northern Juniors 1 in their opening match, University 3 lead Juniors by 3 points at the break, with Sunderland 3 a further 28 points behind in the 3rd automatic promotion place. Sunderland are 9 points clear of Northumberland 4 who themselves have a comfortable 16-pont advantage over Consett 1 for the promotion playoff place.

Hexham 2 and Northumberland Ladies are well adrift at the foot of the table on level points with an equal chance of avoiding automatic relegation in favour of the playoff.

Division 4:

Tynemouth 3 lead unbeaten Northern 5 by a single point at the top, with Eldon 3 lagging Northern by 25 points but still in the 3rd automatic promotion place with a 13-point advantage over Chester-le-Street 3 despite losing narrowly to them last time out. Northumberland 5 are just 2 points behind Chester-le'Street in the search for the 4th place promotion playoff spot.

Hexham 3 are bottom with Consett 2 looking likely relegation playoff contenders and Boldon 4 moving 12 points clear of danger.

Division 5:

The two automatice promotion places are currently occupied by Benwell Hill 2 and University 4, who are 4 points behind Benwell. There is then a 9-point gap to Concordia 2 followed by Newbiggin 2 a further 3 points behind. These are the only other teams in the promotion race, with a playoff place for 3rd.

At the other end, Primrose 4 are trailing Tynemouth 4 and Consett Development, but all teams have registered at least one win.

Ladies Division 1:

University Ladies 1A remain unbeaten and have established a 12-point lead over Northern Ladies 1 in a straight race for the title won last year by the University. University Ladies 1B and Northumberland Ladies 1 are both out of contention for the title, so will look to secure their 3rd and 4th places for the Northumbria Cup.

Meanwhile Tynemouth Ladies 1 have slipped to the bottom of the table, 13 points behind Northern Ladies 2 but with a match in hand, and at this stage these two teams look most likely to occupy the automatic relegation and playoff places at the end of the season.

Ladies Division 2:

As in Division 1, Northern Ladies 3 remain unbeaten and lead by 12 points over Northumberland Ladies 2, although Northumberland have two further chances in the remainder of the season to overturn their narrow defeat to the division leaders. University Ladies 3 still have an outside chance of reaching the promotion playoff but it looks a tall order. 

Last-minute entry University Ladies 4 are still finding their feet having recorded no team wins and just one individual win so far. All good experience though.

End-of-season playoffs - Last season saw the successful introduction of end-of-season playoffs between the teams finishing immediately outside the automatic promotion and relegation places in each division. This extends interest during the season run-in, as a number of teams will remain in contention for a playoff place right up to their final fixture. Although no challenging teams were victorious last season, there were a couple of really close matches which gave the higher-placed teams a nervous evening!

The playoffs will again take place at Northern as follows:

Tue 16th April: Divisions 4 and 3

Wed 17th April: Divisions 2 and 1

Thu 18th April: Premier Division and (new for this season) Ladies Division 1

More details will be provided nearer the time.