Eastern Counties Rugby Union

The Eastern Counties Rugby Union (ECRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk in England. Clubs in the old Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough are affiliated to the East Midlands Rugby Football Union. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The ECRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those three counties and administers the Eastern Counties county rugby representative teams.

Eastern Counties RFU
Full nameEastern Counties Rugby Union
UnionRFU
Founded1877 (1877)
RegionCambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk
Team kit
Official website
www.ecrurugby.com

History

The Eastern Counties Rugby Union was founded in 1890 and originally organised rugby union in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Cambridgeshire became part of the ECRU in 1952 and the Essex Rugby Football Union eventually split off from ECRU to form its own body in 2003.[1][2]

Men's senior county team honours

County Championship runners-up: 1948, 1975
County Championship Plate runners-up: 2015
County Championship Shield runners-up: 2007

Games played against international opposition
Year Date Opponent Venue Result Score Tour
1990 30 October  Argentina Cambridge Loss 15-28 1990 Argentina rugby union tour of British Isles

Affiliated clubs

There are currently 53 clubs affiliated with the Eastern Counties RU, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level. Each club is in turn affiliated with a sub-county rugby football union, either Cambridgeshire, Norfolk or Suffolk, and are mostly based in those three counties except several cases where they are instead based in Essex or Hertfordshire.

  • Beccles (Norfolk)
  • Brightlingsea (Suffolk)
  • Broadland-Great Yarmouth (Norfolk)
  • Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk)
  • Cambridge (Cambridgeshire)
  • Cambourne Exiles (Cambridgeshire)
  • Cantabrigan (Cambridgeshire)
  • Clacton (Essex/Suffolk)[a 1]
  • Colchester (Essex/Suffolk)[a 2]
  • Cottenham Renegades (Cambridgeshire)
  • Crusaders (Norfolk)
  • Dereham (Norfolk)
  • Diss (Norfolk)
  • Ely (Cambridgeshire)
  • Fakenham (Norfolk)
  • Felixstowe (Suffolk)
  • Hadleigh (Suffolk)
  • Harwich & Dovercourt (Suffolk)
  • Haverhill & District (Suffolk)
  • Holt (Norfolk)
  • Ipswich (Suffolk)
  • Ipswich YM (Suffolk)
  • Lakenham Hewett (Norfolk)
  • Lowestoft & Yarmouth (Norfolk)
  • March Bears (Cambridgeshire)
  • Mersea Island (Essex/Suffolk)[a 3]
  • Mildenhall Red Lodge (Cambridgeshire)
  • Mistley (Suffolk)
  • Newmarket (Cambridgeshire)
  • North Walsham (Norfolk)
  • Norwich (Norfolk)
  • Norwich Medics (Norfolk)
  • Norwich Union (Norfolk)
  • Saffron Walden (Hertfordshire/Cambridgeshire)[a 4]
  • Sawston (Cambridgeshire)
  • Shelford (Cambridgeshire)
  • Southwold (Suffolk)
  • Stowmarket (Suffolk)
  • Sudbury (Suffolk)
  • Suffolk College (Suffolk)
  • Swaffham (Norfolk)
  • Thetford (Norfolk)
  • The Gents (Suffolk)
  • Thorpeness (Suffolk)
  • Thurston (Suffolk)
  • UEA Trojans (Norfolk)
  • Watton (Norfolk)
  • Wendens Ambo (Cambridgeshire)
  • West Norfolk (Norfolk)
  • West Suffolk College (Suffolk)
  • Wisbech (Cambridgeshire)
  • Woodbridge (Suffolk)
  • Wymondham (Norfolk)

[3][4][5]

County Club Competitions

The Eastern Counties RU currently helps run the following competitions for clubs from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and occasionally Essex:

Leagues

The Eastern Counties allows 2nd and 3rd teams to play alongside 1st teams providing they are not from the same club. Divisions include:

Discontinued

  • Eastern Counties 4 - league that was at tier 12 for local clubs in the region, discontinued at the end of the 2016–17 season
  • Eastern Counties 5 - league that was at tier 13 for local clubs in the region, discontinued at the end of the 1996–97 season
  • Eastern Counties 6 - league that was at tier 14 for local clubs in the region, discontinued at the end of the 1991–92 season

Cups

There is no Eastern Counties cup competition. Instead, each sub-county organizes its own cup competitions for local teams.

Cambridgeshire

  • Cambridgeshire County Cup - premier cup competition in Cambridgeshire which features clubs from tiers 6-9 of the English rugby union system as well as invitee development teams from the Zoo Leagues
  • Cambridgeshire Intermediate Cup - clubs from tiers 10-11
  • Cambridgeshire Junior Cup - clubs from tiers 11

[6]

Norfolk

  • Norfolk Senior Cup - premier cup competition in Norfolk which features clubs from tiers 6-7 of the English rugby union system
  • Norfolk Cup - clubs at tiers 8-10
  • Norfolk Bowl - 2nd teams only

[7]

Suffolk

  • Suffolk Chadacre Cup - premier cup competition in Suffolk which features clubs from tiers 8-9 of the English rugby union system
  • Suffolk Plate - clubs from tiers 10-11

[8][9]

Notes
  1. Clacton are based in Essex but are joint members of both Essex RFU and Suffolk RFU.
  2. Colchester are based in Essex but are members of the Suffolk RFU.
  3. Mersea Island are based in Essex but are members of the Suffolk RFU.
  4. Saffron Walden are based in Hertfordshire but are members of the Cambridgeshire RFU.
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See also

References
  1. "Our history". Eastern Counties Rugby Union. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  2. "Essex RFU seek Constituent Body status". ESPN. 7 July 2003.
  3. "Affiliates Clubs". Cambridgeshire RFU. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  4. "Affiliated Club Websites, Club Representatives". Norfolk RFU. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  5. "Suffolk RU Clubs in Membership". Suffolk RFU. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  6. "County Cups 2016-17 (Word Doc)". Cambridgeshire RFU. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  7. "NORFOLK RFU COMPETITIONS UPDATE". Norfolk RFU. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  8. "Suffolk Chadacre Cup - 2016/17". Suffolk RFU. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  9. "Suffolk Plate - 2016/17". Suffolk RFU. Retrieved 3 June 2017.


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