Forecast your Division 7 winners & losers

Winter League

Today we are resuming our pre-season look at each of the 10 Divisions in the Winter League with a look at Division 7 teams to see who the main title contenders are and which teams are going to be fighting off relegation into Division 8 next season. Then we allow you to pick your favourite teams to go up and down. Its all a bit of fun although I will be keeping records of all of your selections and publishing them at different times throughout the 2026-27 season.

Division 7 Preview

Let's start with looking at last year's final Division 7 table and the 2026-27 line-up.

The Pts Column shows the number of points won last season

Holmfirth A just missed out on automatic promotion last season drawing on the 70-point mark along with Kirkheaton Con B who did get promotion after finishing second in the table courtesy of a better Aggregate For total over the season of 793-770. I am sure that the Holmfirth team will fancy their chances this time around with some justification. Marsh Lib A could also come into contention based on last year's form when they were just two points behind the Holmfirth outfit.

The two promoted teams come from different divisions with Hemplow A taking the usual route of winning the division below (Division 8) along with Thongsbridge who came second in Division 10 last year but, along with Rastrick, finished so far ahead of the other 6 teams that they were rewarded with elevation up 3 divisions. Have they found their level or is there more fuel in the tank to take them further? Your call.

The B teams from Springwood and Netherton Con both come down from Division 6 but both will have different expectations of their future fate. The Netherton B team finished in the Division 6 relegation places for a third consecutive season but this time they don't need to play their Avoid Relegation card to still be available to help proceedings on their own club's hosting day. A switch of the divisions for the Netherton and Rugby Club greens has worked for both clubs in getting key personnel on their on green on their hosting matchday.

Its a different story for the Springwood B side. A transplant of the Springwood B and C team bowlers sees the relegated B team swapping personnel with the C team masquarading as the B team. Still with me? No? All you need to know is that the B team in Division 7 is actually the C team that has finished 3rd in the Division 7 table for the previous three seasons I am convinced that they could finish in the promotion places if they really wanted to, so backing them to do that is always likely to be a bit of a gamble.

Huddersfield Recreation Club have also become a bit of a constant in the Division 7 mid-table and a change of home green this time around may or may not work for them. Another gamble to add them to your Forecast Game selection. Lockwood Con B make up the eight teams in the division and it is easier to make a case for them to go down rather than feature at the top end of the table or maybe they will avoid both once again.

If there are sufficient entries in the forcasting game I will put them into a table with periodical publications on the HuddWeb website. You get 3 points if your top selection is top of the Division table: 1 point if they are in 2nd place. Same for your selected bottom-of-the-table team: 3 points if your selection is in the bottom place and 1 point if they are 2nd to bottom. Just for fun this year but maybe we will attract some sponsorship to dish out some prizes next year. Up to you if you want to play.

In case you missed the previous entry forms you can still find them online along with the pre-season look at each team's chances. Follow these links. Division 8 Division 9    Division 10

Coming Next: Division 6 Preview & Forecast Game

Entries are open until the day before the Division 7 opening round of fixtures are scheduled. Entries are only welcome from bowlers in the Winter League.

My two tips for the Division 7 title and to be relegated have already been entered using the form below.

So what are your top and bottom selections? ENTER NOW

Submit your best guess for both top and bottom and then Click on 'see previous responses' to see all the previous best guesses submitted so far.

If you hit any problems using this entry form then try this link direct to the online option