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 recovered from two narrow defeats in mid-half to go into the break leading the table on 142 points, just two ahead of nearest rivals University 1B, who are now unbeaten in their last five outings. Then come Northumberland 1C and 1B a further 14 and 15 points respectively behind the University. Northumberland 1A and Tynemouth 1 remain in the reckoning for a top-4 finish and a Northumbria Cup place if they can improve on their first-half results. So it's still all to play for!

It's also very tight at the other end of the table, with University 1A and Sunderland 1 locked on 79 points and Boldon 1 only two points better off, with Westoe 1 (assisted by a 20-0 walkover against Sunderland) looking reasonably comfrotable. Two go down automatically, with the third-bottom team involved in a playoff.

Division 1:

After relegation from the Premier last season, Chester-le-Street 1 look to be heading straight back. They were playing catch-up throughout the first half, but emerged unbeaten on 149 points to lead the table by a huge 33 points. The battle is on for the second automatic promotion place (and third playoff place), with Primrose 1 (116 points) just ahead of Eldon 1 (114), Northern 2 (110) and Tynemouth 2 (106) at halfway.

Down at the bottom, Primrose 2 remain winless on 50 points with Westoe 2 (62) and Sunderland 2 (66) likely to be battling it out in the second half to avoid the automatic drop in favour of the chance of playoff redemption.

Division 2:

University 3 with 146 points have a 6-point advantage over Northern Juniors 1 despite their early-season defeat to Juniors, who remain unbeaten at halfway. Well behind the leaders, Hexham 1 (114 points) and Northumberland 4 (110) are vying for the promotion playoff place.

It's a close call at the other end, with Primrose 3 and Sunderland 3 both on 50 points and Northern 3 slightly better off on 54, with a long gap to Eldon 2 who appear safe on 84.

Division 3:

Consett 1 lead the table on 133 points, their only defeat being to main rivals Northumberland 5 (120 points) who recovered from a shaky start to win their last 5 matches. Hexham 2 are a further 8 points behind on 112, with Concordia 1 (106) and Chester-le-Street 2 (103) still in the running for a promotion playoff place.

Tynemouth 3 finish the half at the foot of the table on 64 points, despite having beaten the the three teams immediately above them, namely Eldon 3 and Boldon 3 (both 70 points) and Northern 4 (76), so there remains a lot to play for in the second half.

Division 4:

Benwell Hill (139 points) have a relatively narrow lead over University 4 (135), Benwell having followed up a relatively comfortable win over the University with a surprise defeat at the hands of 6th-placed Concordia 2. The next four teams maintain an interest in the promotion playoff place, namely Chester-le-Street 3 (104 points), Sunderland 4 (103), Boldon 4 (97) and Concordia 2 (93).

Tynemouth Social remain winless and adrift at the foot of the table on 34 points, and above them Consett 2 (68 points) will struggle to catch Northumberland 6 (86 points), who have a realistic chance of escaping the relegation playoff place in the second half.

Division 5:

Northern Juniors 2 lead the way on 132 points, 25 points clear of their nearest rivals Primrose 4 (107), who are in a promotion battle with Hexham 3 (106), Tynemouth 4 (100) and Northern 5 (98).

At the bottom, Tynemouth 5 are still finding their feet in their first season with 26 points and no wins so far, with Northumberland 7 (80 points), Consett Development (87) and Newbiggin 2 (94) well ahead after picking up several wins each.

Ladies Division 1:

At halfway, University Ladies 1 look odds-on to retain their title with 8 straight wins and 153 points, giving them a huge 31-point lead over Northern Ladies 1 (132 points), with Northumberland Ladies 1 on 106 points (with one result still to come) followed by Tynemouth Ladies 1 (99) and Northumberland Ladies 2 (93). These five teams will continue in Division 1 playing each other twice (both home and away) in the second half.

The bottom four teams, namely Primrose Ladies, University Ladies 2, and Northern Ladies 2 and 3, will now form Ladies Division 2, starting on zero points and playing each other twice in the second half.

End-of-season playoffs:

In the Men's League, end-of-season playoffs will once again be held between the teams finishing immediately outside the two 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.

Last season we had our first successful challenger, Sunderland 3 beating Primrose 3 in the Division 2 playoff, although Primrose 3 were given a last-minute stay of execution in order to maintain nine teams in Division 2, and both teams now sit neck-and-neck at the foot of the table!

The playoffs will again take place at Northern, all 7pm starts as follows:

Mon 7h April: Divisions 4 and 3

Tue 10th April: Divisions 2 and 1

Wed 11th April: Premier Division

More details will be provided nearer the time.