The North Midlands Shield 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 its m ...

knock-out cup club competition organized by the

North Midlands Rugby Football Union The North Midlands Rugby Football Union 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 Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and the Gre ...

and was first contested during the 2001–02 season with Ledbury being the first ever winners, defeating Old Saltleians in the final held at Finstall Park in

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...

. It is currently open for clubs ranked in tier 7-8 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 ...

that fall under the North Midlands RFU umbrella, including sides based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. A tier 9 side,

based Oswestry, who play in Cheshire (South), also take part. In 2014 the North Midlands RFU introduced a 'Plate' competition for sides eliminated in the early stages of the Shield. It is one of three men's club competitions in the region along with the

North Midlands Cup The North Midlands Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out cup club competition organised by the North Midlands Rugby Football Union and was first contested during the 1971-72 season with the inaugural cup being won by the now defunct Birmingham P ...

(for tier 5-6 sides) and the

North Midlands Vase The North Midlands Vase is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the North Midlands Rugby Football Union and was first contested during the 2005-06 season when Kings Norton RFC, Kings Norton became the first winners when th ...

(for tier 9-10 sides). The current format is as a knock-out cup with a preliminary round, first round, quarter-final, semi-final and final which is held at a neutral venue in May (2021-22’s Final was held at Worcester RFC) along with the cup and vase finals. Due to the disjointed numbers of teams, teams that lose in either the preliminary or first round stage then contest the shield plate while winners go on to contest the shield.

North Midlands Shield winners

Number of wins

Shield

*Kidderminster Carolians (3) *

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

(3) *

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. The ...

(2) *Solihull (2) *

Bournville Bournville () is a model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" (or "model") village where the sale of alcohol was forbidd ...

(1) *Camp Hill (1) *Ledbury (1) *

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

(1) * Moseley Oak (1) * Old Halesonians (1) *Old Saltleians (1) *Old Yardleians (1)

Plate

*Old Saltleians (2) *

(1) *

Edwardians The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

(1) *Old Yardleians (1)

Notes

References

External links

North Midlands RFU
{{Rugby union in England Recurring sporting events established in 2001 Rugby union cup competitions in England