They originally refused to join the pyramid but they did do eventually in the early 90s and are a feeder league to the Northern Premier.SKIPPER wrote:The lack of Tyne/Wear area sides in the BSN is mainly down to the fact that the Northern League have always steadfastly refused to join the non-league Pyramid. Reasons unclear but I suspect it originally had something to do with saving travelling expenses.
There are less "Southern" BSP teams at the moment and if you look at the table this season it is certainly more North and Midlands based than it has often been with Dartford, Luton, Braintree, Woking, Newport, Forest Green, Ebbsfleet and Cambridge probably being the only teams you would consider to be truly southern. The tier below is more south-centric which has caused this shift in the dividing line of BSN and BSS further south.
It is likely to shift a bit further north next season and may well move further in coming seasons depending on what happens with individual clubs.