For 2017 / 18 the top 2 teams from each of the 6 step 4 national league divisions will be promoted to the division above i.e. the Isthmian Premier, Northern Premier or Southern Premier. Additionally, the 3rd placed team with the highest points per game across the 6 divisions will also gain automatic promotion.
The play-offs will be contested by the teams finishing 3rd to 6th, but in the division which had the best 3rd placed team the play-offs will be 4th to 7th.
Tables for all 6 divisions are shown below, sorted by points per game.
| ISTHMIAN - NORTH |
| ISTHMIAN - SOUTH |
| NORTHERN - NORTH |
| NORTHERN - SOUTH |
| SOUTHERN - CENTRAL |
| SOUTHERN - SOUTH WEST |
Points per game / Points
This season promotion is changing with the introduction of the 2 new leagues from 2018/19. In addition to an extra automatic promotion place at our level (step 4) we also have a cross divisional promotion spot which will go to the 3rd placed team with the highest points per game across all 6 leagues at our level. These leagues are shown above sorted by points per game. These tables will differ from the "standard" league tables because the standard tables sort by total points whereas the tables above are sorted by points per game.
Sorting a league table by total points is the traditional way of representing a divisional hierarchy but as the season progresses the games played by one side may be different to that of another side such that we then start factoring in "games in hand" to try and work out which team is actually best placed. We then chat amongst oursleves deciding whether it's better to have these games in hand or whether "points on the board" are best. It's never clear cut and opinion varies.
Calculating a table using points per game smoothes out the games played differential since it calculates a figure based on points earned divided by games played. Whilst this table will look different from the total points table throughout the season it will be exactly the same at the end - the team with the most points at the end of the season will have the highest points per game - so is a better representation of who's doing better than who.
Using the 6 tables above the top 2 teams at the end of the season will be automatically promoted - this will be the same 2 teams that top the standard points table. We can then see which of the 6 3rd placed teams also earns automatic promotion by comparing their points per game.