There will be no relegation from the NCU Premier League next year and two teams will be promoted from Section One after clubs voted for a 12-team top tier from the 2027 season.

The Board’s proposal to bring two more teams into the Premier League came after Carrickfergus’ decision to stay in Section One despite winning the division this year. However, a separate proposal from the Domestic Cricket Directorate to use Carrick as a precedent and permit a team to forgo promotion after winning the league was heavily defeated.

A suggestion from the floor that clubs should declare at the start of the season whether they are prepared to go up if they finish in an automatic promotion place was not voted on but it “very likely” will happen next season.

The current rule, for when a team does not want to be promoted, is that the team which finishes second are invited to take their place and if they do not accept then there will be no relegation. That will continue to be the case next year and is the reason why last year’s second place team in Section One, Laurelvale, will take Templepatrick’s place in the Premier League next season.

And unlike many clubs in recent years, who go up but return after just one season to Section One, the new format for 2027 guarantees Laurelvale two seasons in the Premier League.

Outgoing NCU chairman Michael Humphreys explained the rationale behind the proposal for increasing the top flight to 12 teams.

He accepted the 6-4 split after the first round of nine matches was “not always satisfactory” and did not increase the competitiveness of the league. The feedback was that a 10-team league, with a split, meaning only 14 for 15 matches “was not enough” (this year’s Premier League ended on August 23) while playing each other twice in an 18-match league season was “unlikely to be possible” because of the other competitions.

The 12-team league will give teams 16 games with an equal split after the first 11 matches with a mini-tournament for the ‘Championship’ title for the bottom six after the split.

It was accepted that there could still be mismatches in the first half of the season but the new rule should make post-split matches more competitive and it “should be the aspiration of most Section One teams to compete in the Premier League”.

Cregagh, one of the teams who were promoted and came straight back down, while supportive of the new 12-team league said it was only a “short-term fix and suggested long-term there should be a semi-professional league for teams from more than one union, leaving the other teams “to play among themselves” for the Premier League title.

The proposal to allow teams to forgo promotion sparked a lively debate with the majority speaking against it. Carrickfergus’ reasoning for not wanting to go up was that it would affect the future of the club but the perennial yo-yo club of recent years, Muckamore insisted “it didn’t affect our club in anyway despite finishing bottom” and it was a case of taking the learnings from playing in the Premier League.

With Templepatrick not wanting to stay up, one delegate put it bluntly, telling the chairman: “Laurelvale got the union out of a hole”.

Clubs also agreed that from next season, apart from Section One to the Premier League (which will begin in 2027) there will be one-up and one down through all senior leagues and Junior League One.

All the other motions on the night were passed, with only two requiring a vote to determine the 60% majority. One was the proposal by Ards and Donaghadee to permit clubs in Section Three to play one non-resident player, on the same amateur basis as Sections one and two.

The other was Derrighy’s proposal to allow teams to agree in advance to reduce Section One games from 50 to 40 overs per side.

Other proposals passed on the night included:

Board directors can serve continuously for 12 years, up from nine years;

the 1st XI of a developing club can remain in the Junior League (based on performance) for more than the current three years;  

when a club’s 1st XI are involved in a cup final, its junior teams are allowed to postpone their league matches on that day;

where teams are tied in Junior Leagues 1-4, nett run rate will decide promotion or relegation. Leagues 5-12 will continue to be decided on the previous season’s position.

At the start of the meeting, Ian Houston was proposed and elected as the incoming president with former chairman Andy Clement elected as his vice-president.

Michael Humphreys will hand over the chair to Andrew Cowden, although he remains a board member along with Richard Booth who is the new financial director.

The highlight of the night was the presentation of Life Membership to outgoing president Bryan Milford, who has served on the executive for the last 34 years, with posts including treasurer, chairman, PRO and from 2008 to 2022 as an indefatigable General Secretary – a “period of considerable change which he did as a full-time job on a voluntary basis”.

Bryan concluded the night, to applause from all delegates, by saying it was a “great honour” to accept Life Membership and thanked the outgoing chairman for his tremendous work over the last two years.