The Eastern Counties Rugby Union (ECRU) is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

for the sport of

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 ...

in the counties of

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 ...

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 ...

in England. Clubs in the old

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

and the

Soke of Peterborough The Soke of Peterborough is a historic area of England associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire. The Soke was also described as the Liberty of Peterborough, or Nassaburgh hundred, and compr ...

are affiliated to the

East Midlands Rugby Football Union The East Midlands Rugby Football Union (EMRFU) is a governing body for rugby union in part of The Midlands, England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union for the counties of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire and the Hunti ...

. The union is the constituent body of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

(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.

History

The Eastern Counties Rugby Union was founded in 1890 and originally organised rugby union in

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 ...

, Suffolk and Norfolk. Cambridgeshire became part of the ECRU in 1952 and the

Essex Rugby Football Union The Essex Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Essex in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Essex, and administers and organises rugby union clubs an ...

eventually split off from ECRU to form its own body in 2003.

Men's senior county team honours

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

runners-up: 1948, 1975

County Championship Plate The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 (formerly known as County Championship Plate) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield ...

runners-up: 2015

County Championship Shield The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 (formerly County Championship Shield) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Pl ...

runners-up: 2007

Games played against international opposition

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

, and are mostly based in those three counties except several cases where they are instead based in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. *

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow fli ...

(Norfolk) *

Brightlingsea Brightlingsea is a coastal town and an electoral ward in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. At the 2011 Census, it had a popu ...

(Suffolk) * Broadland-Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) *

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

(Suffolk) *

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(Cambridgeshire) * Cambourne Exiles (Cambridgeshire) * Cantabrigan (Cambridgeshire) * Clacton (Essex/Suffolk) *

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

(Essex/Suffolk) * Cottenham Renegades (Cambridgeshire) *

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

(Norfolk) *

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 ...

(Norfolk) * Diss (Norfolk) *

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

(Cambridgeshire) *

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norwic ...

(Norfolk) *

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

(Suffolk) * Hadleigh (Suffolk) * Harwich & Dovercourt (Suffolk) * Haverhill & District (Suffolk) *

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

(Norfolk) *

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

(Suffolk) * Ipswich YM (Suffolk) * Lakenham Hewett (Norfolk) * Lowestoft & Yarmouth (Norfolk) * March Bears (Cambridgeshire) *

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 ...

(Essex/Suffolk) * Mildenhall Red Lodge (Cambridgeshire) *

Mistley Mistley is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is around 11 miles northeast of Colchester and is east of, and almost contiguous with, Manningtree. The parish consists of Mistley and New Mist ...

(Suffolk) * Newmarket (Cambridgeshire) *

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...

(Norfolk) *

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

(Norfolk) * Norwich Medics (Norfolk) *

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 ...

(Norfolk) *

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

(Hertfordshire/Cambridgeshire) *

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 ...

(Cambridgeshire) * Shelford (Cambridgeshire) *

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is a ...

(Suffolk) *

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

(Suffolk) *

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

(Suffolk) * Suffolk College (Suffolk) *

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 ...

(Norfolk) *

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

(Norfolk) * The Gents (Suffolk) *

Thorpeness Thorpeness is a seaside village in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, which developed in the early 20th century into an exclusive holiday village. It belongs to the parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe and lies ...

(Suffolk) * Thurston (Suffolk) * UEA Trojans (Norfolk) * Watton (Norfolk) *

Wendens Ambo Wendens Ambo is a village in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The population at the 2011 census was measured at 473. Its name originates from the merging of two originally separate villages called Wenden Magna (or Great Wenden) and We ...

(Cambridgeshire) * West Norfolk (Norfolk) *

West Suffolk College West Suffolk College is a Further Education college in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The college delivers a range of courses, including vocational and technical courses, apprenticeships, and an array of higher-apprenticeships and bachelor's degree ...

(Suffolk) *

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

(Cambridgeshire) *

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of ** Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

(Suffolk) *

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich, England, Norwich off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through ...

(Norfolk)

County Club Competitions

The Eastern Counties RU currently helps run the following competitions for clubs from

and occasionally

Leagues

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

Eastern Counties 1 Eastern Counties 1 is an English level 9 Rugby Union League. From the 2017-18 promoted teams move up to the newly created London 3 Eastern Counties with the league champions going up automatically, while relegated teams drop down to Eastern C ...

- league at tier 9 of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

, divided into three regional divisions with end of season play-offs *

Eastern Counties 2 Eastern Counties 2 is an English level 10 Rugby Union League - currently divided into 3 regional divisions (north, south, west). Promoted teams move up to Eastern Counties 1 with teams in this league tending to be from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk ...

- tier 10 league, divided into three regional divisions *

Eastern Counties 3 Eastern Counties 3 is an English level 11 Rugby Union league, currently divided into 3 regional leagues (north, south, west). Promoted teams moved up to the relevant regional divisions in Eastern Counties 2 while since the abolition of Eastern ...

- tier 11 league, divided into three regional divisions Discontinued *

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 ...

- tier 11-12 league, discontinued in 2017 *

Eastern Counties 5 Eastern Counties 5 was an English level 13 Rugby Union league with teams from Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk taking part. Promoted teams used to move up to Eastern Counties 4 and relegation was to Eastern Counties 6 until that divi ...

- tier 12-13 league, discontinued in 1997 * Eastern Counties 6 - tier 13 league, discontinued in 1992

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

which features clubs from tiers 6-9 of the

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 Norfolk *

Norfolk Senior Cup The Norfolk Senior Cup (currently known as the Ashtons Legal Senior Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football cup competition for clubs in the county of Norfolk, England, who compete between steps three and seven of the non-League pyramid. The fi ...

- premier cup competition in

which features clubs from tiers 6-7 of the English rugby union system *

Norfolk Cup Norfolk () is a ceremonial county, 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 bounda ...

- clubs at tiers 8-10 *

Norfolk Bowl Norfolk () is a ceremonial county, 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 bounda ...

- 2nd teams only Suffolk * Suffolk Chadacre Cup - premier cup competition in

which features clubs from tiers 8-9 of the English rugby union system *

Suffolk Plate 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 ...

- clubs from tiers 10-11

Notes

References

External links

Eastern Counties Rugby Union website
Rugby union governing bodies in England 1890 establishments in England Rugby union in Cambridgeshire Rugby union in Norfolk Rugby union in Suffolk {{Rugbyunion-stub

History

Men's senior county team honours

Games played against international opposition

Affiliated clubs

County Club Competitions

Leagues

Cups

Notes

See also

References

External links