The Cheshire Cup is an annual

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

knock-out club competition organized by the

Cheshire Rugby Football Union The Cheshire Rugby Football Union (CRFU) is a rugby union governing body in the historic county of Cheshire and the Isle of Man. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cheshire. The CRFU administers and organis ...

. It was first introduced in the 1877–78 season as the Cheshire Challenge County Cup and the inaugural competition was won by

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

, who along with eight other local sides including New Brighton and Sale, made up the club members of the Cheshire RFU at that time. Four years later the cup was discontinued due to arguments over whether cup ties were beneficial to the county game. The Cheshire RFU reintroduced the cup during the 1969–70 season, with Sale the first winners of the competition in over 80 years. The Cheshire Cup is currently the premier county cup competition for club sides in tier 4 (

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

) and tier 5 (

National League 3 North North Premier was a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the fourteen teams drawn from across Northern England. The other leagues at this level were London & South East Premier, Midlands Premier and South West Premier. Th ...

or National League 3 Midlands) of the English rugby union system that are based in either Cheshire,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

or the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. Originally it was the only men's county cup competition but plate, shield and bowl competitions have been introduced over the years for lower ranked clubs. The current format is as a knock-out cup with a quarter-final, semi-final and final which is held at a neutral venue during the latter stages of the season (March–May). At present Cheshire Cup finals are held on the same date and at the same venue as Cheshire Plate finals.

Cheshire Cup winners

Number of wins

* Sale (17) * Macclesfield (8) * New Brighton (7) * Caldy (6) *

Winnington Park Winnington Park Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club situated in Winnington, Northwich in Cheshire, England. The club runs three senior sides, a Ladies team, two colts sides and ten junior teams The first XV currently plays in the North ...

(5) *

(4) * Sale Jets (2) * Sale FC (2) * Chester (1) *

Lymm Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

(1) *

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...

(1)

Notes

References

External links

Cheshire RFU
{{Rugby union in England Recurring sporting events established in 1877 Recurring sporting events established in 1969 Rugby union cup competitions in England Rugby union in Cheshire

Cheshire Cup winners

Number of wins

Notes

See also

References

External links