North Premier

North Premier (formerly known as National League 3 North) is a level five league in the English rugby union system.[1] It is one of four leagues at this level, with its counterparts; London & South East Premier, South West Premier and Midlands Premier. The format of the league was changed at the beginning of the 2009–10 season following reorganisation by the Rugby Football Union when the league was originally known as North Division 1. A further name change from National League 3 to Premier was introduced for the 2017-18 season by the RFU in order to lessen confusion for what is a series of regional leagues.[1] The fourteen teams in the division are drawn from across northern England and is the highest regional rugby union league in the north of England.

For the football competition, see Northern Premier League.

North Premier

Current season or competition: 2019–20 North Premier
Sport	Rugby Union
Instituted	1987
Number of teams	14
Country	England
Holders	Blaydon (1st title) (2019–20 (promoted to National League 2 North)
Most titles	Bradford & Bingley, Darlington Mowden Park, Huddersfield, Kendal, Morley, Preston Grasshoppers (2 titles)
Website	clubs.rfu.com

The champion club is automatically promoted to National League 2 North and the runner-up meets the second placed team of Midlands Premier in a play-off, with the winner also gaining promotion.

Format

The fourteen teams in this league are drawn from across northern England with the league champions being promoted to National League 2 North and the runner-up going into a play-off with the second placed team from Midlands Premier with the winner also being promoted. The league's bottom three teams are relegated to either North 1 East or North 1 West depending on their geographic location.

The season runs from September to May and comprises twenty-six rounds of matches, with each club playing each of its rivals home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league table as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match

2019–20

Ten of the fourteen teams participated in last season's competition. They are joined by Macclesfield who were relegated from National League 2 North, and Blackburn, Carlisle and Morpeth who were promoted into the division.[2][3][4][5] Last season's champions Hull were promoted into National League 2 North, while the relegated teams were Vale of Lune and Wilmslow who all drop down into North 1 West and Kendal Rugby Union Football Club, Kendal who were relegated to North 1 East.

Participating teams and locations

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland 9th Billingham Greenwood Road 1,500 (100 seats) Billingham, County Durham 4th Blackburn Ramsgreave Drive Blackburn, Lancashire Promoted from North 1 West (playoff) Blaydon Crow Trees 2,000 (400 seats) Swalwell, Tyne and Wear Runners up (lost playoff) Carlisle Rugby Ground, Warwick Road 1,500 (250 seats) Carlisle, Cumbria Promoted from North 1 West (champions) Harrogate Rudding Lane Harrogate, North Yorkshire 3rd Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire 8th Kirkby Lonsdale Underley Park Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria 10th Lymm Crouchley Lane Lymm, Cheshire 11th Macclesfield Priory Park 1,250 (250 seats) Macclesfield, Cheshire Relegated from National 2 North (14th) Morpeth Grange House Field 1,000 Morpeth, Northumberland Promoted from North 1 East (champions) Rossendale Marl Pits Rawtenstall, Rossendale, Lancashire 5th Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 6th Wirral The Memorial Ground Clatterbridge, Wirral 7th

Alnwick Billingham Blackburn Blaydon Carlisle Harrogate Kirkby Lonsdale Lymm Ilkley Macclesfield Morpeth Rossendale Sandal Wirral Locations of the 2019–20 North Premier teams

Original teams

When league rugby began in 1987 this division contained the following teams:

• Hartlepool Rovers (now playing in Durham/Northumberland 1)
• Harrogate (still playing in North Premier)
• Hull & ER (now playing as Hull Ionians in National League 1)
• Kendal (now playing in North 1 East
• Middlesbrough (now playing in Yorkshire 1)
• Otley (now playing in National League 2 North)
• Tynedale (now playing in National League 2 North)
• Widnes
• Wigton
• Winnington Park (now playing in South Lancs/Cheshire 1
• West Park (now playing in Lancs/Cheshire Division 1

North Premier honours

In the first season of the English rugby union league pyramid, sponsored by Courage, there was four, tier five leagues. The geographical area for teams in the north of England covered the ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire Northumberland and Yorkshire There were eleven teams in the league and they played each other once, giving each team ten matches. The other tier five leagues were London Division One, Midlands Division One and South West Division One.[6] This system prevailed for five seasons, and in 1992–93 the number of teams increased from eleven to thirteen. The following season (1993–94) the league was reorganised and the four tier five leagues became two; National 5 North and National 5 South.[7] After three seasons, in 1996–97, a further reorganisation occurred, and there was a return to four, tier five leagues; with North Division One covering the area of northern England.[8] This system prevailed until 2009–10 when the number of teams was increased from twelve to fourteen and renamed National League Three North.

North Division 1 (1987–1993)

The original North Division 1 was a tier 5 league with promotion up to Area League 2 North and relegation down to North Division 2 (now split into two leagues known as North 1 East and North 1 West).

North Division One
Season	No of teams	No of matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams	Reference
1987–88	11	10	Winnington Park	Kendal	Widnes, Middlesbrough	[9]
1988–89	11	10	Kendal	Tynedale	West Park	[9]
1989–90	11	10	Otley	Harrogate	No relegation	[9]
1990–91	11	10	Aspatria	Bradford & Bingley	Halifax	[10]
1991–92	11	10	Rotherham	Tynedale	Birkenhead Park	[11]
1992–93	13	12	Bradford & Bingley	Tynedale	Lymm	[12]

North Division 1 (1993–1996)

At the end of the 1992–93 season the top six teams from North Division 1 and the top six from Midland Division 1 were combined to create National 5 North. This meant that North Division 1 dropped from a tier 5 league to a tier 6 league for the years that National 5 North was active.

North Division 1
Season	No of teams	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams
1993-94[13]	13	Wharfedale	Sandal	Hartlepool Rovers, Northern, Vale of Lune
1994-95	13	Sandal	Stockton	Durham City
1995-96	13	Manchester	Macclesfield	No relegation[lower-alpha 1]
Green backgrounds are promotion places.

North Division 1 (1996–2009)

For the end of the 1995–96 season National 5 North was discontinued and North Division One returned to being a tier 5 league. Promotion was up to National 4 North (now known as National League 2 North), while relegation continued to North Division 2 until 2000–01, and then into either North 2 East and North 2 West (currently North 1 East / North 1 West) in subsequent seasons.

North Division One
Season	No of teams	No of matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams	Reference
1996–97	12	22	Sedgley Park	Tynedale	Bradford & Bingley	[14]
1997–98	12	22	New Brighton	Doncaster	West Park Bramhope	[15]
1998–99	12	22	Doncaster	Northern	Bridlington, Broughton Park	[16]
1999–00	12	22	Tynedale	Hull Ionians	Widnes, Winnington Park	[17]
2000–01	12	22	Darlington Mowden Park	Blaydon	Northern, Stockton	[18]
2001–02	12	22	Halifax	Hull Ionians	Wigton, Middlesbrough, Bradford & Bingley	[19]
2002–03	12	22	Darlington	Macclesfield	Sandal, West Hartlepool	[20]
2003–04	12	22	Bradford & Bingley	Cleckheaton	Huddersfield, Aspatria, Driffield	[21]
2004–05	12	22	Preston Grasshoppers	Hull Ionians	Sheffield, Liverpool St Helens, Vale of Lune	[22]
2005–06	12	22	Morley	West Park St Helens	Whitchurch, Middlesbrough, Longton	[23]
2006–07	12	22	Caldy	Beverley	New Brighton, Chester, Stockport	[24]
2007–08	12	22	Kendal	Huddersfield	Penrith, Altrincham Kersal	[25]
2008–09	12	22	Westoe	Hull	No relegation	[26]

National League 3 North (2009–2017)

For the 2009–10 season North Division One was renamed as National League 3 North following a restructuring of the national leagues which led to changes at all levels.

National League 3 North
Season	No of teams	No of matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams	Reference
2009–10	14	26	Morley	Stockport	West Hartlepool, Cleckheaton, West Park St Helens	[27]
2010–11	14	26	Stockport	Chester	Rochdale, Billingham, Middlesbrough	[28]
2011–12	14	26	Darlington Mowden Park	Rossendale	Morley, Altrincham Kersal, Beverley	[29]
2012–13	14	26	Chester	Harrogate	West Hartlepool, Kendal, Birkenhead Park	[30]
2013–14	14	26	Huddersfield	Stockport	Penrith, Percy Park, Bradford & Bingley	[31]
2014–15	14	26	Sale FC	Sandal	Beverley, Westoe, Morley	[32]
2015–16	14	26	Sheffield Tigers	Wirral	Huddersfield YMCA, Birkenhead Park, Burnage	[33]
2016–17	14	26	Huddersfield	Rossendale	Stockport, Firwood Waterloo, Cleckheaton	[34]
Green background are the promotion places.

North Premier (2017–present)

The division was renamed North Premier for the 2017–18 season in order to make it more obvious that this was a regional division and the top one in the north.

North Premier
Season	No of teams	No of matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams	Reference
2017-18	14	26	Preston Grasshoppers	Hull	Pocklington, Morley, Birkenhead Park	[35]
2018-19	14	26	Hull	Blaydon	Wilmslow, Vale of Lune, Kendal	[36]
2019–20	14	21[lower-alpha 2]	Blaydon	Harrogate	Ilkley, Morpeth, Carlisle	[39]
2020–21	14	26
Green background are the promotion places.

Promotion play-offs

Since the 2000–01 season there has been a play-off between the league runners-up of North Premier and Midlands Premier for the third and final promotion place to National League 2 North. The team with the superior league record has home advantage. As of the end of the 2019–20 season the northern teams have been stronger with twelve wins to the Midlands seven, while the home team has won thirteen times compared to the away teams six.

North Premier v Midlands Premier promotion play-off results
Season	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Attendance	Reference
2000–01	Blaydon (N)	31–12	Leicester Lions (M)	Crow Trees, Swalwell, County Durham		[40]
2001–02	Hull Ionians (N)	35–22	Walsall (M)	Brantingham Park, Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire		[41][42]
2002–03	Luctonians (M)	3–17	Macclesfield (N)	Mortimer Park, Kingsland, Herefordshire	1,000	[43][44]
2003–04	Cleckheaton (N)	23–10	Kettering (M)	Cleckheaton Sports Club, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire	900	[45][46]
2004–05	Hull Ionians (N)	19–18	Kettering (M)	Brantingham Park, Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire		[47][48]
2005–06	Bedford Athletic (M)	17–24	West Park St Helens (N)	Putnoe Woods, Bedford, Bedfordshire		[49][50][51]
2006–07	Beverley (N)	7–3	Dudley Kingswinford (M)	Beaver Park, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire		[52][53]
2007–08	Huddersfield (N)	22–7	Luctonians (M)	Lockwood Park, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire		[54][55]
2008–09	Hull (N)	40–15	Chester (M)	Ferens Ground, Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire		[56][57]
2009–10	Stockport (N)	10–18	Luctonians (M)	The Memorial Ground, Stockport, Greater Manchester	350	[58][59]
2010–11	Sheffield Tigers (M)	16–14	Chester (N)	Dore Moor, Sheffield, South Yorkshire		[60][61]
2011–12	Dudley Kingswinford (M)	36–27	Rossendale (N)	Heath Brook, Kingswinford, West Midlands	1,000	[62][63]
2012–13	Sutton Coldfield (M)	13–28	Harrogate (N)	Roger Smoldon Ground, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands	650	[64][65][66]
2013–14	Stockport (N)	52–22	Sutton Coldfield (M)	The Memorial Ground, Stockport, Greater Manchester		[67][68]
2014–15	Sandal (N)	20–10	Hinckley (M)	Milnthorpe Green, Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire	200	[69][70]
2015–16	Hinckley (M)	33–20	Wirral (N)	Leicester Road, Hinckley, Leicestershire	650	[71][72]
2016–17	Rossendale (N)	31–32	Sheffield (M)	Marl Pits, Rawtenstall, Lancashire	413	[73]
2017–18	Hull (N)	22-31	Peterborough Lions (M)	Ferens Ground, Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire		[74]
2018–19	Luctonians (M)	31–17	Blaydon (N)	Mortimer Park, Kingsland, Herefordshire	1,757	[75]
2019–20	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Best ranked runner up - Harrogate (N) - promoted instead.
2020–21
Green background represent the promoted teams. (M) stands for the Midlands teams while (N) stands for the Northern teams.

Number of league titles

• Bradford & Bingley (2)
• Darlington Mowden Park (2)
• Huddersfield (2)
• Kendal (2)
• Morley (2)
• Preston Grasshoppers (2)
• Aspatria (1)
• Blaydon (1)
• Caldy (1)
• Chester (1)
• Darlington (1)
• Doncaster (1)
• Halifax (1)
• Hull (1)
• Manchester (1)
• New Brighton (1)
• Otley (1)
• Rotherham (1)
• Sale FC (1)
• Sandal (1)
• Sedgley Park (1)
• Sheffield Tigers (1)
• Stockport (1)
• Tynedale (1)
• Westoe (1)[lower-alpha 3]
• Wharfedale (1)
• Winnington Park (1)

Notes

1. Due to RFU restructuring of the English league structure there would be no relegation this season.
2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom the RFU cancelled all rugby below the Premiership with most clubs in North Premier having played 21 games, and a best playing record formula was used to decide the final table.[37][38]
3. Currently known as South Shields Westoe.

See also

• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

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