Eastern Counties 5 was an English level 13

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 its m ...

league with teams from

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

taking part. Promoted teams used to move up to

Eastern Counties 4 Eastern Counties 4 was an English level 12 Rugby Union league that was divided into two regional divisions - north and south - with teams from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex taking part. Promoted teams used to move up to the relevan ...

and relegation was to Eastern Counties 6 until that division was cancelled at the end of the 1991–92 season. After ten seasons Eastern Counties 5 was cancelled at the end of the 1996–97 campaign.

Original teams

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

Dereham Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city ...

* Haverhill & District *

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva a ...

* Old Brentwoods *

Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...

Sawston Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam about south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,260. History Prehistory Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a ha ...

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

* Thurston

Eastern Counties 5 honours

Eastern Counties 5 (1987–1993)

The original Eastern Counties 5 was a tier 12 league with promotion up to

and relegation down to Eastern Counties 6 until that division was cancelled at the end of the 1991–92 season.

Eastern Counties 5 (1993–1996)

The creation of National 5 South meant that Eastern Counties 5 dropped from a tier 12 league to a tier 13 league for the years that National 5 South was active. Promotion continued to

and there was no relegation.

Eastern Counties 5 (1996–1997)

The cancellation of National 5 South at the end of the 1995–96 season meant that Eastern Counties 5 once more became a tier 12 league. Promotion continued to

and there was no relegation. At the end of the 1996–97 Eastern Counties 5 was discontinued and all teams transferred into Eastern Counties 4.

Number of league titles

* Bancroft (1) *

(1) * Haverhill & District (1) *

(1) *

May & Baker May & Baker was a British chemical company founded by John May and William Gerrard Baker in Wandsworth, London in 1839. They initially specialized in the manufacture of chemicals derived from mercury and bismuth. Over the years they diversified ...

(1) *

Mersea Island Mersea Island is an island in Essex, England, in the Blackwater and Colne estuaries to the south-east of Colchester. Its name comes from the Old English word ''meresig'', meaning "island of the pool" and thus is tautological. The island is s ...

(1) *

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

(1) *

(1) * Ongar (1) *

(1)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Counties 5 Defunct rugby union leagues in England Rugby union in Essex Rugby union in Cambridgeshire Rugby union in Norfolk Rugby union in Suffolk

Original teams

Eastern Counties 5 honours

Eastern Counties 5 (1987–1993)

Eastern Counties 5 (1993–1996)

Eastern Counties 5 (1996–1997)

Number of league titles

See also

Notes

References