Northern League / Palace Shield Links

A meeting of Palace Shield clubs will be held on Mon 14th November. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the proposed links with the Northern League. At the meeting, the clubs will be asked to vote on whether to continue with the process of working towards a formal link. If the clubs vote in favour, the Exec will work to ascertain the necessary rule changes which will be put to a Special General Meeting probably in March 2017. The Exec will also work with the Northern League to ensure that both competitions are still on board and on track to put everything in place. If the clubs vote against continuing with the process, the discussions with the Northern League on these proposals will be closed.

Some of the issues were discussed at the Management Meeting on October 24th following the distribution of a framework document. The following points are here to help clarify the framework document and many of them were covered in the meeting:

1. General

1.1 On some occasions, the term 'merger' has been used to describe the agreement between the two competitions. The Exec would like to put on record that any agreement would not constitute a merger in any sense but would merely allow closer links between the two different competitions.

1.2 The competitions will remain autonomous playing under their own rules and conditions. Registrations etc will be kept separate and each competitions will continue to have full control over their own rules on eligibility etc and any team that moved between the competitions will be adopting the rules in that competition.

1.3 We will probably need to define a small set of rules jointly between the two competitions to determine the process for promotion and relegations (e.g. a deadline date for the PS winners or runners-up to decide whether they wish to be promoted.

1.4 The process for what happens if Barrow or Penrith finish in the bottom two places in the Northern League and the Palace Shield teams at the top wish to take their place

1.5 Registrations for the two competitions will be separate. Players who may play in both competitions would have to be registered with both. However, this is exactly the same situation as currently exists for players for the 3rd XIs of NL clubs in the Palace Shield.

2. Northern League

2.1 The Northern League shouldn't need to adopt too many changes except they will now be losing their second teams into the Palace Shield structure.

3. Palace Shield

3.1 For the Premier Division, a rule change will be required to accept the Northern League relegated sides directly into the Premier Division should our top teams wish to be promoted.

3.2 The biggest change would occur in Division 1 with a split between 1st and 2nd teams with 1st teams only in Div 1A and 2nd teams in Div 1B. Promotion will only be possible from Div 1A with teams relegated from the Premier Division going into Div 1A. Second teams will not be allowed in the Premier Division

3.3 For Division 2, at least 2 sides will be eligible for promotion. If the top 2 are both first teams, they will go into Division 1A with the bottom two relegated. In this case, the highest placed 2nd XI will also be promoted with the bottom side relegated from Div 1B. If the top 2 teams are second teams, the same happens in reverse. If the top two consists of a first and second team, they will both go up and the bottom side from Divs 1A and 1B will go down. Please note, this is subject to the teams meeting the eligibility criteria for the division above otherwise the promotion spots will go down the division as now.

3.4 For Divisions 3 and below, the situation will remain as now.

4. Transition

4.1 At the end of season 2017, the top two sides in the Palace Shield Premier Division will be eligible for promotion to the Northern League should they so desire. If either does, one or both of the bottom two in the Northern League Division 1 in 2017 will be in the Palace Shield for 2018.

4.2 Promotion and relegation will take place as normal at the end of 2017 between the Palace Shield Premier Division and Division 1.

4.3 For 2018, Division 1 will be split into Division 1A and 1B. Currently, there are 8 first XIs and 4 second XIs in Division 1. The 8 first XIs (give or take those promoted / relegated between Div 1 and the Premier) will be joined by the 4 best placed eligible first teams in Division 2 to make up Division 1A for season 2018. The 4 second XIs will be joined by the 8 best placed teams in the Northern League Division 2 from season 2017 to make up Division 1B – n.b. Barrow and Penrith 2nd XIs will not be included in this. There will be no relegation from Division 1 in season 2017.

4.4 For 2018, Division 2 will be made up of the 8 remaining sides from Division 2 in 2017 plus the 2 teams remaining from the Northern League Division 2 as well as the 2 promoted sides from Division 3. Again, there will be no relegation from Division 2 in season 2017.

4.5 Division 3 and below will be increased by 2 teams by promotion from below and no relegation.

4.6 The resulting structure gives us an opportunity to look at extending the regionalisation of the lower divisions to include Division 5.

5. Cups

5.1 The teams in the Northern League will continue to play for Northern League cups in 2018.

5.2 The Meyler Cup will be for teams in the Premier and Division 1A.

5.3 The Loxham Cup will be for teams in Division 1B plus teams in Division 2 with no teams in Division 1B

5.4 The Crabtree Cup will be for anyone in Div 2 who cannot play in the Loxham plus teams in Divisions 3 and 4 who are not already in that cup

5.5 A new smaller cup competition could be added for teams in Division 3 and 4 who cannot play in the Crabtree plus those playing in Divisions 5 and 6.

5.6 The layout of the cups in this manner keeps the numbers for each to around the mid-twenties, reduces the chances of imbalances games so may encourage more entries and allows 4th XIs to take part in the cups.

Whilst some of these issues are still open to debate and will be discussed at the meeting on 14th November, the main and final point of the meeting will be to ask the clubs if they wish to continue towards implementation of these links. If they do, the actual rule changes will be brought to a Special General Meeting probably in March.

Appendix 1

To try to explain how this will all work, we will assume the Northern League tables in 2017 are in the same order as 2016 (minus Darwen).

NL1 NL2

Leyland Leyland Blackpool Blackpool Fleetwood Netherfield Barrow Chorley Morecambe Netherfield Fleetwood Preston St Annes Kendal Penrith St Annes Preston Penrith Barrow Morecambe Kendal Lancaster Lancaster

Likewise, we will assume the same order for the top 3 Palace Shield divisions with the promoted / relegated sides swapping places and assuming Longridge III are allowed into Division 2 for 2017 and that Standish finish high in Division 2.

PSP PS1 PS2

Fulwood Whittingham BAC/EE Preston Vernon Carus Longridge II Kirkham Longridge Garstang II Standish Garstang Fylde Freckleton Fulwood II Penwortham II Great Eccleston Vernon Carus II Wrea Green Norcross Tarleton Penwortham White Coppice Gregson Lane Thornton Cleveleys Whittle Torrisholme Fold Walton Eccleston South Shore Longridge III Rufford New Longton Grimsargh

Assuming the league tables are as above at the end of 2017:

1. Fulwood and Vernons would have the option to join the NL1. If one wishes to go, Lancaster would join the PS. If both wish to go, Morecambe would join as well.

2. Eccleston and Rufford would be relegated from the Premier Division and replaced by Whittingham and Fylde.

3. Division 1A for 2018 would consist of Eccleston and Rufford, plus Norcross, White Coppice, Hoghton, , South Shore and New Longton plus BAC/EE, Kirmham, Standish and Mawdesley.

4. Division 1B for 2018 would consist of Leyland, Blackpool, Netherfield, Chorley, Morecambe, Fleetwood, St Annes and Preston 2nd XIs pls Longridge, Garstang, Vernons and Fulwood 2nd Xis

5. Division 2 for 2018 would consist of Kendal and Lancaster 2nd XIs plus Penwortham II, Wrea Green, Tarleton, Gregson Lane, Whittle, Walton, Longridge III and Grimsargh plus the top 2 teams from Division 3.