Harvest The previous most southern teams that I can remember being in the NLN were Hereford and Kings Lynn. The border has been sinking gradually, certainly in recent years, presumably due to the increasing dominance of southern clubs, Paraphrasing Wiki, which has a good description how it works:
At the bottom of National League North and National League South, three clubs from each division are relegated and these six clubs are divided among the Step 3 leagues of the National League System (NLS) i.e. the Northern Premier League, the Southern League, and the Isthmian League. Each of these Step 3 leagues promotes their respective champions and second- to fifth-place playoff winners. The NLS Committee determines which Step 3 leagues the relegated clubs join, and whether the promoted clubs join National League North or National League South.
Clubs relegated from the national division are not always geographically balanced. Thus, should it be deemed necessary, the NLS Committee may order one or more clubs from northern counties bordering the south and vice versa or from South Wales in the sixth tier ( i.e. NLN and NLS) to switch divisions (to move "horizontally" between the leagues, so to speak) so as to maintain numerical balance between North and South.
