Stoke-on-Trent Rugby Union Football Club is a

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 ...

club located to the east of Barlaston near

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. The first XV currently play in

Regional 1 Midlands Regional 1 Midlands (until 2022–23 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

, a sixth tier league in 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 ...

Early league history

When league rugby was introduced in 1987, Stoke-on-Trent was placed in Midlands Division 1 and won promotion to Area 4 North in their first season. However, after two seasons they were relegated back to tier 5, having narrowly escaped relegation the previous season and in their relegation season of 1989-90 they lost every league game. They won immediate promotion back to Area 4 North and stayed there until they were placed in a new fifth tier -

Courage League Division 5 Courage Division 5 was a short lived English rugby union competition created as a tier 5 regional competition divided into Courage Division 5 North and Courage Division 5 South. In 1993 the RFU decided to change the whole league structure, with a ...

- following a league structure by the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the 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 (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

. They remained in the North Division until another restructure in 1996 saw them move back to the fourth tier - National 4 North - but after just a single season they were relegated to Midlands Division 1.

Honours

* Midlands Division 1 champions (2): 1987–88, 1991–92 * Staffordshire Senior Cup winners (2): 1992–93, 1995–96 * Midlands 3 West (north v south) promotion play-off winners (2): 2002–03, 2007–08 *

Midlands 2 West (North) Midlands 2 West (North) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 2 of the Midlands League, made up of clubs from the northern part of the West Midlands region including Shropshire, Staffordshire, parts of Birmingham and the West Midl ...

champions: 2011–12

References

External links

Official club site
{{Stoke-on-Trent Rugby union teams in England Rugby union in Staffordshire Stoke-on-Trent