At the other end of the table, Firewood City had dropped points uncharacteristically to three teams expected to finish near the foot of the table - Jraxville, Blacktube and Callisto City - while picking up easy wins over promoted Fort Mare and Hamtown. In perhaps their easiest opening five games of the last ten years, the Fourgian powerhouse failed to maximise their points haul, but fortunately, their main rivals had also stumbled at early hurdles. Grasshoppers manager Karl Heinz-Grichenbauer blamed a hectic international schedule - the national team had played twice in the ten days prior to the Queen's Shield this season, as well as the Di Bradini Cup and Olympics for younger players during the summer - and a lengthy domestic season, claiming that professional players in Osarius were expected to play at too a high tempo, too often, for it to realistically be sustainable. Interestingly enough, his Turic side sat second in the King's League table on goal difference at the time.
Cymrwell would follow up their impressive win over Burningham - who appeared to be struggling early in the season, also losing 4-3 in Elishat Stadium at the hands of Kart Hago - with a 2-1 home win over Firewood City, to hand the reigning champions the first of just two defeats in the first half of the season. With all the big teams dropping points left, right and centre, it looked like the title race would come down to results between the involved sides. It wasn't until matchday six that two of the "big teams" would face off, and Trothwands stole an early march in the title race, travelling to beat King's Guard Sporting 2-1 in Crown Valley Stadium. King's Guard bounced back with a solid 2-0 win over Grasshoppers in the Turic Thunderdome, while Burningham City took steps toward restoring the "fortress" mentality at Elishat Stadium with a convincing 3-0 win over Greeningham City on the same day.
The tussle at the top continued with Trothwands holding the visiting Burningham City to a goalless draw on matchday eight, and Burningham City keeping another home clean sheet against Turic, winning 2-0 on matchday nine. Hamtown's poor form continued throughout this period, pinning them firmly to the foot of the table, and seeing their odds to stay up stretching as far as 70/1, despite only a quarter of the season having passed. Real Jraxville kept up their endeavours to stay afloat in the King's League by picking up narrow wins over the likes of Wellmont, Paper Tree Town and Kart Hago, prompting manager Roberto Grosso to affirm that he was confident that his side could stay up - despite the skepticism of many pundits.
The real fire came from week fourteen through to the halfway point, as Firewood City faced a tough schedule, with the following matches in six successive weeks: Greeningham (A), King's Guard Sporting (H), Trothwands (A), Renneville (H), Turic (A), Burningham (H). Incredibly, they picked up an amaxing sixteen of a possible eighteen points in this period, re-installing them as firm favourites to retain their title as Osarian champions. The highlight of these games was the stunning 4-0 away win over Grasshoppers Turic, in which Willem Hamel unleashed his kids and saw Benni Watson lead the team - in the absence of injured Jermain Lewis - in teaching their Ikutursan rivals a masterclass in dominating the midfield. Gabriel Russell netted two, and created another in a man of the match performance which will surely have turned the head of Benedict di Corradi.
At the half way mark, the King's League looked thus:
Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 Firewood City F.C. 19 11 6 2 40 20 +20 39
2 Trothwands Evolution 19 11 2 6 28 16 +12 35
3 King's Guard Sporting 19 9 6 4 23 14 +9 33
4 Renneville United F.C. 19 10 3 6 26 21 +5 33
5 Greeningham City F.C. 19 10 3 6 26 18 +8 33
6 Burningham City F.C. 19 9 5 5 24 15 +9 32
7 Utica United F.C. 19 9 4 6 27 27 +0 31
8 Real Jraxville F.C. 19 9 3 7 19 18 +1 30
9 Grasshoppers Turic F.C. 19 9 2 8 27 27 +0 29
10 Kart Hago FC 19 7 8 4 37 31 +6 29
11 Hastmead Diamante CFC 19 7 5 7 18 20 -2 26
12 Cymrwell FC 19 8 2 9 14 17 -3 26
13 Wellmont United FC 19 6 6 7 17 16 +1 24
14 Blacktube Village F.C. 19 6 6 7 16 21 -5 24
15 Callisto City F.C. 19 6 5 8 23 27 -4 23
16 AFC Hollybrent 19 4 7 8 17 24 -7 19
17 Charleston Athletic FC 19 4 7 8 12 16 -4 19
18 Paper Tree Town F.C. 19 4 5 10 8 20 -12 17
19 Fort Mare FC 19 1 7 11 8 20 -12 10
20 Hamtown Athletic F.C. 19 2 4 13 11 33 -22 10
The Royal League was a minefield for punters, as the halfway table saw unfancied Bowsston United sitting pretty atop the table, six points clear of nearest rivals - also unfancied Pinturici Rangers - and seven ahead of one of the favourites, Rapid Hearthlands. Early season wins over former King's League teams like Junipa, Chestmana and Kronkow had seen Bowsston sneak up the table slowly, stealing a march on more heavily backed sides such as Rapid Hearthlands and Maharia United.
Strangely, many were surprised to see Junipa languishing in mid-table, while Spoturess - a King's League team fairly recently themselves - were hovering near the foot of the table. With the balance seemingly upset, many commented that this season's Royal League was perhaps the most open league in years, and a lucrative King's League spot was there for the taking for any Royal League club willing to take a risk and go for it. It looked as though a few mid-tablers like Rajahara, Violia and Masaka were really going to go for it though, with all three of them sitting between 6th and 10th at the halfway mark. That would soon change, as all three teams brought in King's League quality players - mostly on loan - during the transfer window.
At halfway, the Royal League table looked thus:
Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 Bowsston United FC 19 11 5 3 18 8 +10 38
2 Pinturici Rangers FC 19 8 8 3 24 12 +12 32
3 Rapid Hearthlands 19 9 4 6 27 21 +6 31
4 Maharia United F.C. 19 8 6 5 24 21 +3 30
5 Sparta Yurendam 19 7 7 5 22 18 +4 28
6 FC Masaka 19 8 3 8 27 25 +2 27
7 Real Rajahara FC 19 7 5 7 24 22 +2 26
8 Highport Athletic F.C. 19 7 5 7 21 26 -5 26
9 Bayer Schlossberg FC 19 6 8 5 18 17 +1 26
10 Violia FC 19 7 4 8 23 22 +1 25
11 Junipa Athletic F.C. 19 6 7 6 20 17 +3 25
12 Chestmana United FC 19 7 4 8 29 31 -2 25
13 Olympic Crono Polytes 19 6 7 6 16 18 -2 25
14 Priesthood of Baal 19 6 6 7 29 31 -2 24
15 Kronkow United FC 19 5 9 5 22 20 +2 24
16 Muirford Athletic F.C. 19 6 6 7 19 22 -3 24
17 FC Kaiserstadt 19 5 6 8 13 21 -8 21
18 Real Batik FC 19 5 6 8 22 30 -8 21
19 Spoturess FC 19 2 9 8 16 25 -9 15
20 Kornus Wanderers FC 19 2 9 8 8 15 -7 15