4NCL 2025-26 Division Two

[Neil Graham]

New thread to discuss this Division with the first weekend coming up 1st-2nd November at the Copthorne Hotel. Dudley.

[Roger de Coverly]

Division 2 winners were She Plays To Win Lionesses A on 17 points, one ahead of Sharks 2 and Schach Attack on 16 with Sharks 2 being 2 game points better on the tie break.

[Roger de Coverly]

Division 2 winners were She Plays To Win Lionesses A on 17 points

The potential rules problem this posed for the 4NCL has now made it to the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... join-sport

[Alan Walton]

This is an element from an article recently in the Telegraph, which is kind of the same principle; it generally says positive discrimination is illegal under the Equality Act so it requires a exemption from parliamment to apply anything like that; whilst not exactly relevant since the 4NCL is quite clear on the 50:50 rule, it can be a minefield of a subject

"The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is considering legal changes to address the gender imbalance in its membership. The club is consulting members on various schemes to increase female membership, which currently stands at only 3.2%. Proposals include fast-tracking women through the waiting list for full membership, allocating new memberships on a 50:50 gender split, and allowing members to nominate more candidates if they include women on their lists. However, the club's lawyers are concerned that these efforts could qualify as positive action, which would be illegal discrimination against men. The MCC is exploring the possibility of seeking an exemption to the law to allow it to breach the Equality Act 2010 in pursuit of more female members."

[LawrenceCooper]

Division 2 winners were She Plays To Win Lionesses A on 17 points

The potential rules problem this posed for the 4NCL has now made it to the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... join-sport

The Times (albeit behind a paywall) have also covered it: https://www.thetimes.com/article/emily- ... 1785447460

[Roger de Coverly]

The Times (albeit behind a paywall) have also covered it:

The story is spreading, as they do.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/gen ... 25212.html


The rules haven't changed since Play to Win first fielded all female teams in the third and fourth divisions. In the second division they could avoid having a male player by fielding a female junior instead.

[Brendan O'Gorman]

I'm not up to date on equality law but I thought positive discrimination was allowed to encourage greater participation by those currently under represented in an activity. If that’s right, couldn’t the 4NCL simply require each Division one team to include at least one female player?

[Ian Thompson]

The potential rules problem this posed for the 4NCL has now made it to the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... join-sport

... which has resulted in two of the She Plays to Win players being interviewed on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, starting at about 50:10 minutes into the replay.

The interviewer quoted most of what Mike Truran said in the Guardian article. As she was aware of the points he made, I thought it disappointing that she didn't put them to the two players she was interviewing.

[Roger de Coverly]

If that’s right, couldn’t the 4NCL simply require each Division one team to include at least one female player?

That's been the rule ever since the 4NCL was founded in 1993. It was diluted for the second division to allow a junior player instead and not imposed on the six board divisions.

Equality law permitting, you could allow all female teams in division 1 by enacting a rule which required an all female team to designate a couple of players as honorary males, at least one of whom had to play in every match.

[Alex Holowczak]

couldn’t the 4NCL simply require each Division one team to include at least one female player?

The question was included in the consultation that was sent to captains. They didn't want to do that.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Wasn't there a case many years ago of a Division 1 squad fielding seven women and one man?

I can see both sides of this one but on balance the 4NCL has always had the principle that teams must have one player of each gender and women have historically been beneficiaries of that.

[Roger de Coverly]

Wasn't there a case many years ago of a Division 1 squad fielding seven women and one man?

You are probably thinking of the Summerscale team Pride and Prejudice. They won the League in 2010-11 but with a conventional team. They had fielded a mostly female team on their way up from lower divisions.

Whilst browsing for Pride & Prejudice context I found this old thread

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1390

[Ian Thompson]

Wasn't there a case many years ago of a Division 1 squad fielding seven women and one man?

Yes - Wood Green, reportedly in 2004-05 although it doesn't give a date in the link.

[IM Jack Rudd]

If I'm reading Shirov's ECF Rating history correctly, 20 October 2004.

[Roger de Coverly]

Yes - Wood Green, reportedly in 2004-05 although it doesn't give a date in the link.

You can see John Littlewood as an opponent in one of the photos. The archive of rating results dates the game to 20th Oct 2004.
https://rating.englishchess.org.uk/play ... de=114485G