Forecast your Division 9 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 9 teams to see who the main title contenders are and which teams are going to be fighting off relegation into a Division 10 next season. Then we allow you to pick your favourite team 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 9 Preview

Let start with looking at last year's final Division 9 table and the 2026-27 line-up.

The Pts Column shows the number of points won last season

I think we might have made an error in putting the new Elland WMC B team into Division 9 for the coming season. They are probably much stronger than any of the other teams in this Division but there was little scope for putting them in a higher Division at that time. If the information I have subsequently received about the strength of the Elland team is correct then I would expect them to be favourites to top the table. If that does work out correctly then hopefully there will be an opportunity to push them nearer the level they could be playing at for the start of next season, but first they must win this competition and there are a couple of teams that could challenge that assumption.

The Rastrick B team are certainly one of those, judging by the manner in which the Rastrick A team performed last season when they won the Division 10 title on the last day of the season. I anticipate the B team of being at a similar level to the A team and they will be looking for promotion this year. Meltham B and Linthwaite Hall B were 2 of 3 Division 8 teams on the same 36-point mark last season and both were relegated from a higher level than this last time. They should find things a tad easier most of the time and that could see a reverse in their fortunes.

The three teams filling 3rd, 4th and 5th places in Division 9 last season are all back in contention again this time around. With only 4-points separating the three teams, Kirkheaton C&BC B, Marsh Lib B and Kirkheaton Con C last season all will fancy their chances of joining in the promotion race. Mirfield C had a 46-point total last year to finish third from bottom of Division 9 and that total was only matched by the joint score of the two teams below them so they were well clear of any danger. Maybe that is the best they can hope for this time around or maybe they have their sights higher.

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.

There has been a number of entries received this morning for the Division 10 competition

If you missed the Division 10 invitation to enter the competition then find it here

Coming Next: Division 8 Preview & Forecast Game

Entries are open until the day before the Division 9 opening round of fixtures are scheduled. Entries are only welcome from bowlers in the Winter League.

My two tips for the 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