Counties 1 Cumbria (formerly Cumbria League and Cumbria 1) is a competitive

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 ...

league at level 7 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 ...

run by the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) for club sides based in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

.English Rugby Football Union, ''SSE Northern Division'', nline 2012, Available from:http://www.rfu.com/FixturesAndResults/Version/Northern.aspx ast Accessed 16:19 16 April 2012/ref> It was previously a tier 7 league but the creation of North 2 West demoted it to level 8. Promoted teams typically go up to North 2 West and since

Cumbria 2 Cumbria 2 was a short-lived competitive rugby union league at tier 8 of the English rugby union system run by the English Rugby Football Union for club sides based in Cumbria. Teams were promoted to Cumbria 1 and as it was the lowest ranked RFU ...

was cancelled at the end of the 2018–19 season there is no relegation. Each season a team from Cumbria 1 is picked to take part in the

RFU Senior Vase The RFU Senior Vase is a rugby union national knockout cup competition in England run by the Rugby Football Union, which has been competed for since the 2006–07 season. It is contested for by teams at level 8 of the English rugby union system ...

- a national competition for clubs at level 8. The original Cumbria league was formed at the start of the 1992–93 season when the North-West North 1 division was cancelled. Until the end of the 2017–18 season the Cumbria League was a single division involving 10 clubs and ranked at tier 8 of the English rugby union system. The champions were automatically promoted to the now discontinued North Lancashire/Cumbria league and until the 2016–17 season the second placed team faced the runner-up from Lancashire (North) for the final promotion place until Lancashire (North) was cancelled. There was no relegation due to it having been the lowest competitive league for Rugby Union in Cumbria. It ran alongside the Cumbria 2 North & West and Cumbria 2 South & East Merit Leagues.English Rugby Football Union, ''SSE Northern Division'', nline 2012, Available from:http://www.rfu.com/FixturesAndResults/Version/Northern.aspx ast Accessed 16:49 17 April 2012/ref>English Rugby Football Union, ''North Adult Merit Leagues'', nline 12 February 2013, Available from: ast Accessed 17:00 16 April 2012/ref> This changed for the 2018–19 season due to RFU having to restructure the northern leagues after 19

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

based clubs withdrew from the league system to form their own competition. The result was that the Cumbrian clubs based in North Lancashire/Cumbria joined the top 3 Cumbria League sides in Cumbria 1, while the rest of the Cumbrian League sides along with a handful of 2nd XV teams formed Cumbria 2. Another change to the structure from the 2018–19 season was that the division would play two stages - the first involving all eight teams to decide who would be contesting promotion and relegation during the second stage when the division was divided into two mini leagues (one promotion/one relegation). In 2022 the RFU further restructured the adult community leagues and the Cumbria League was renamed Counties 1 Cumbria from the 2022–23 season.

Teams 2022–23

The 2022–23 Counties 1 Cumbria league consists of 12 teams. Eight of these competed in the 2021–22 Cumbria 1 competition; Creighton, Egremont, Hawcoat Park, Millon, Upper Eden, Whitehaven, Wigton and Workington. Cockermouth and St. Benedict's dropped down from North 2 West having finished 7th and 12th respectively. Penrith II joined the league as a new team and Silloth returned to league rugby after not taking part in any competition since the 2019–20 season. A ninth member of the 2021–22 Cumbria 1 league, Furness, had also been assigned to Counties 1 Cumbria but withdrew before the start of the season.

Teams 2021–22

The teams competing in 2021-22 achieved their places in the league based on performances in 2019-20, the 'previous season' column in the table below refers to that season not 2020-21. Outgoing teams St Benedicts and Cockermouth were promoted to North 2 West, and Windermere, who finished 12th but did not return, competed in the Cumbria 2 Shield (Group 1) instead. Silloth, who finished 11th, were initially due to compete but withdrew before the season began. Consequently the league was reduced from 13 sides to 9.

Season 2020–21

On 30 October 2020 the RFU announced that due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

a decision had been taken to cancel Adult Competitive Leagues (

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

and below) for the 2020/21 season meaning Cumbria 1 was not contested.

Teams 2019–20

Original teams

When this division was introduced in 1992 it contained the following teams: *

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (8th) * British Steel - transferred from North-West North 1 (5th) *

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 reco ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (4th) * Creighton - transferred from North-West North 1 (7th) * Greengarth - joined league system *

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southwest Cumbria, historically part of Cumberland, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furnes ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (6th) *

Silloth Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (8th) *

Smith Brothers The Smith Brothers were makers of the first cough drops produced and advertised in the United States, becoming one of the most famous brands in the country in its day. History William Wallace Smith I (1830–1913) and Andrew Smith (1836–1895 ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (3rd) *

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

- transferred from North-West North 1 (9th)

Cumbria honours

Cumbria (1993–1996)

The Cumbria league was formed from teams from the old North-West North 1 division when it was disbanded at the end of the 1991–92 season. Promotion was to Cumbria/Lancs North and as the basement division for clubs in the region there was no relegation. Initially a tier 10 league, the creation of National 5 North for the 1993–94 season meant that Cumbria/Lancs North dropped to become a tier 11 league.

Cumbria (1996–2000)

The league system was restructured from top to bottom by the Rugby Football Union for the start of the 1996–97 season. The cancellation of National 5 North and creation of North West 3 meant that Cumbria remained a tier 11 league, with promotion into North Lancs/Cumbria (formerly Cumbria/Lancs North).

Cumbria (2000–2018)

Northern league restructuring 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 ...

at the end of the 1999–00 season saw the cancellation of

North West 1 North West 1 (not to be confused with North 1 West) was an English Rugby Union league which was at the seventh tier of the domestic competition and was available to teams in North West England. Promoted teams moved up to North 2 West while rel ...

, North West 2 and North West 3 (tiers 7-9). This meant that Cumbria became a tier 8 league, with promotion continuing to North Lancs/Cumbria. As the lowest ranked league for clubs in the region there was no relegation until the introduction of

at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Cumbria 1 (2018–2019)

Restructuring of the north-west leagues at the end of the 2017–18 season, including the cancellation of North Lancs/Cumbria and the introduction of

, meant that Cumbria was renamed to Cumbria and became a tier 7 league. Promotion was now up to

while relegation was to the new Cumbria 2.

Cumbria (2019–present)

After just one season

was cancelled and Cumbria 1 reverted to being a single division named Cumbria, while the introduction of North 2 West for the 2019–20 season meant that Cumbria dropped back to being a tier 8 league with promotion into this new division and no relegation. Adult community leagues were cancelled for the 2020–21 season. In 2021–22 the league was contested by nine teams and the league restructure meant that no teams were promoted at the end of the season.

Promotion play-offs

From the 2018–19 season onwards there was a play-off between the runners-up of Cumbria 1 and North 2 West for the third and final promotion place to North 1 West. Previously Cumbria League sides had a play-off against Lancashire (North) for a place in the discontinued North Lancashire/Cumbria division (see following sub section). As of 2019–20 North 2 West sides have one win to Cumbria's zero; and the home side has one win to the away side's zero.

Discontinued promotion play-offs

Between the 2000–01 and 2016–17 seasons there was a play-off between the runners-up of the Cumbria League and Lancashire (North) for the third and final promotion place to North Lancashire/Cumbria. The team with the superior league record has home advantage in the tie. At the end of the 2016–17 season the Lancashire (North) teams have been the most successful with eleven wins to the Cumbria League team's four; and the home team has won promotion on twelve occasions compared to the away team's three. Since the cancellation of Lancashire (North) the play-off has been discontinued.

Number of league titles

*Keswick Rugby Club, Keswick (5) *Hawcoat Park RUFC, Hawcoat Park (3) *Netherhall RUFC, Netherhall (3) *

(2) *Furness Rugby Club, Furness (2) *

(2) *Upper Eden RUFC, Upper Eden (2) *

(2) *Workington RFC, Workington (2) *

(1) *Egremont RUFC, Egremont (1) *Moresby RUFC, Moresby (1) *

(1) *

(1) *St. Benedict's RUFC, St. Benedict's (1)

Notes

References

{{Rugby union in England Rugby union leagues in England, 7 Rugby union in Cumbria