Northern Premier League Division One South

Northern Premier League Division One South

Country	England
Founded	2007
Number of teams	22
Level on pyramid	8
Promotion to	NPL Premier Division
Relegation to	NWCL Premier Division NCEL Premier Division Midland Football League
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup FA Trophy Challenge Cup Peter Swales Shield
Current champions	Stafford Rangers F.C (2015–16)
Website	Official website
2016–17

Division One South is one of the two second-tier divisions of the Northern Premier League. It is at Step 4 of the National League System, placing it at the eighth level of the overall English football league system, seven divisions below the Premier League. For sponsorship reasons, it is also referred to as the Evo-Stik League Division One South.

The split of the Northern Premier League First Division resulted in the creation of the Division One South and the Division One North. The division began play at the start of the 2007–08 season, initially with 18 teams but increased to 22 teams from the 2009–10 season.

At the end of the season, the champion of the league is promoted to the Northern Premier Division. The teams placed 2nd to 5th engage in a playoff to determine which team is also promoted. The teams placed 21st and 22nd are relegated to level 9.^[1]

League system

The league operates a double round robin system, where each team plays each other team twice, once at home and once away. After 42 games, the team that are placed top of the league will automatically promote to the Northern Premier League Premier Division and the two teams at the bottom of the league relegate to one of the feeder leagues (usually either the North West Counties, Northern Counties East, United Counties League or Midland Alliance). Teams placed 2nd to fifth will play off for the final promotion spot.

In the 2007-08 season, when the league originally split from its traditional one division into a North and South, the league operated with 18 teams, leading to splitting the league into two separate groups of 9 teams each. Each team would play each team in their own group three times (once at home, once away then an extra game where each team received an extra four home games) and play the teams in the other group home and away once each.

This changed back to the traditional format in 2008–09 when more teams entered the league.

Current clubs 2016-17

Club	Home Ground	Finishing position 2015–16
Rushden & Diamonds	Dog & Duck	Transferred from the Southern Football League Division One Central, 5th
Basford United	Greenwich Avenue	4th
Bedworth United	The Oval	Relegated from the Southern Football League Premier Division, 21st
Belper Town	Christchurch Meadow	13th
Carlton Town	Bill Stokeld Stadium	18th
Chasetown	The Scholars Ground	13th
Gresley	The Moat Ground	5th
Kidsgrove Athletic	The Seddon Stadium	20th
Leek Town	Harrison Park	2nd
Lincoln United	Ashby Avenue	9th
Loughborough Dynamo	Nanpantan Sports Ground	14th
Market Drayton Town	Greenfields Sports Ground	19th
Newcastle Town	Lyme Valley Stadium	3rd
Northwich Victoria	Wincham Park	Transferred from the Division One North, 3rd
Romulus	The Central Ground	12th
Rugby Town	Butlin Road	9th
Shaw Lane Aquaforce	Shaw Lane	2nd
Sheffield	Coach and Horses Ground	15th
Spalding United	Sir Halley Stewart Field	7th
Stamford	Zeeco Stadium	Relegated from NPL Premier Division, 21st
Stocksbridge Park Steels	Look Local Stadium	17th
Witton Albion	Wincham Park	Transferred from the Division One North, 11th

Past champions

From 1987 until 2007, the division 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.

1987–88 – Fleetwood Town 1988–89 – Colne Dynamoes 1989–90 – Leek Town 1990–91 – Whitley Bay 1991–92 – Colwyn Bay 1992–93 – Bridlington Town 1993–94 – Guiseley 1994–95 – Blyth Spartans 1995–96 – Lancaster City 1996–97 – Radcliffe Borough

1997–98 – Whitby Town 1998–99 – Droylsden 1999–2000 – Accrington Stanley 2000–01 – Bradford Park Avenue 2001–02 – Harrogate Town 2002–03 – Alfreton Town 2003–04 – Hyde United 2004–05 – North Ferriby United 2005–06 – Mossley 2006–07 – Buxton

League summaries

Year	Champions	Promoted	Playoff Teams	Relegated
2007–08	Retford United	Cammell Laird Nantwich Town^*	Grantham Town Nantwich Town Sheffield Stocksbridge Park Steels	Alsager Town^#
2008–09	Retford United	Retford United Stocksbridge Park Steels	Belper Town Carlton Town Rushall Olympic Stocksbridge Park Steels	Gresley Rovers^†
2009–10	Mickleover Sports	Mickleover Sports Chasetown	Chasetown Glapwell Kidsgrove Athletic Sheffield	Willenhall Town
2010–11	Barwell	Barwell Rushall Olympic	Brigg Town Grantham Town Newcastle Town Rushall Olympic	Glapwell^† Spalding United
2011–12	Grantham Town	Grantham Town Ilkeston	Carlton Town Ilkeston Sheffield Leek Town	Quorn Shepshed Dynamo
2012–13	King's Lynn Town	King's Lynn Town Stamford	Coalville Town Belper Town Stamford Chasetown	Mickleover Sports Hucknall Town
2013–14	Halesowen Town	Halesowen Town Belper Town	Coalville Town Belper Town Leek Town Mickleover Sports	No relegation
2014–15	Mickleover Sports	Mickleover Sports	Newcastle Town Sutton Coldfield Town Leek Town Gresley	Brigg Town^† Rainworth Miners Welfare^†

^{* Retford United not promoted due to ground grading in 2007–08.
# Relegated for Ground Standards.
† Voluntarily asked for relegation.}

See also

• Northern Premier League Division One
• Northern Premier League Division One North

References

1. BBC Guide to the Non-League Pyramid

External links

• Current league tables