Eastern Counties 3 is an English level 11

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, currently divided into 3 regional leagues (north, south, west). Promoted teams moved up to the relevant regional divisions in

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 o ...

while since the abolition of

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 ...

at the end of the 2016–17 season there has been no relegation. For most of its history, Eastern Counties 3 was divided into two regional divisions – north and south – 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

taking part. A breakaway of Essex teams at the end of the 2002–03 to form a new league would lead to Eastern Counties 3 being abolished by the end of 2003–04 only to return due to a league restructure to cater for more 2nd and 3rd teams.

Original teams

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

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 ...

* Harwich & Dovercourt *

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 ...

* Lakenham Hewett *

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...

* Newmarket * Old Edwardians *

South Woodham Ferrers South Woodham Ferrers is a town and civil parish in the borough of Chelmsford, in the English county of Essex. It is approximately from London and southeast of the city of Chelmsford, and had a population of 16,453 at the 2011 Census, a decr ...

* Southwold *

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 ...

* Wymondham

Eastern Counties 3 honours

Eastern Counties 3 (1987–1993)

The original Eastern Counties 3 was a tier 10 league with promotion up to

and relegation down to

Eastern Counties 3 (1993–96)

The creation of National 5 South meant that Eastern Counties 3 dropped from a tier 10 league to a tier 11 league for the years that National 5 South was active. Promotion and relegation continued to

and

respectively.

Eastern Counties 3 (1996–1997)

The cancellation of National 5 South at the end of the 1995–96 season meant that Eastern Counties 3 reverted to being a tier 10 league. Promotion continued to

, while relegation was to

Eastern Counties 3: North / South (1997–2000)

Ahead of the 1997–98 season Eastern Counties 3 was split into two regional divisions - north and south - with both divisions remaining as tier 10 leagues. Promotion and relegation continued to

, while relegation was to

- now split into two regional divisions (north and south).

Eastern Counties 3: North / South (2000–2004)

the introduction of London 4 North East ahead of the 2000–01 season meant that Eastern Counties North and South dropped to once again become tier 11 leagues. The regionalisation of

meant that promotion was now to either Eastern Counties 2 North or Eastern Counties 2 South, while the cancellation of

at the end of the 1999–00 season meant there was no longer relegation. The creation of

Essex 1 Essex 1 (known as Essex/Canterbury Jack 1 for sponsorship reasons) is an English Rugby Union league at the ninth tier of the domestic competition and features teams from Essex and parts of north-east London. Promoted clubs tend to move up to L ...

, Essex 2 and

Essex 3 Essex 3 (also known as Essex Oranjeboom League 3 for sponsorship reasons) was an English Rugby Union league which was at the eleventh tier of the domestic competition. It was formerly the basement division of club rugby in Essex and promoted t ...

ahead of the 2003–04 season, meant that Essex based sides left the Eastern Counties leagues. This in turn would lead to the cancellation of Eastern Counties 3 North and South at the end of the 2003–04 season, with all teams transferred to relevant divisions in Eastern Counties 2.

Eastern Counties 3: North / South / West (2014—present)

After an absence of nine years, Eastern Counties 3 was re-introduced as a tier 11 league ahead of the 2014–15 season, this time split into three regional divisions - north, south and west. Promotion was to the respective regional division in

, and relegation was to

- north or south - until that league was cancelled at the end of the 2016–17 season

Number of league titles

* Aldeburgh & Thorpeness (1) * Bancroft (1) *

(1) * Beccles II (1) * Billericay (1) * Brightlingsea (1) * Broadland – Great Yarmouth (1) *

Burnham-On-Crouch Burnham-on-Crouch is a town and civil parish in the Maldon District of Essex in the East of England. It lies on the north bank of the River Crouch. It is one of Britain's leading places for yachting. The civil parish extends east of the town t ...

(1) * Campion (1) * Colchester III (1) *

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 ...

(1) * Diss III (1) *

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

(1) * Ely II * Fakenham (1) * Hadleigh (1) * Ipswich Y.M. (1) * Loughton (1) * March Bears (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) * Newmarket (1) * North Walsham (1) * Old Cooperians (1) * Old Edwardians (1) * Ravens (1) * Sawston (1) * Shelford V (1) *

(1) * Southwold (1) * Southwold II (1) *

Stanford Le Hope Stanford-le-Hope is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish situated in the county of Essex, England. Often known locally simply as Stanford, the town is within the unitary authority of Thurrock and located 23.8 miles (38.4 ...

(1) * Stowmarket (1) * Swaffham (1) * Thurston II (1) *

(1) * Woodbridge II (1) * Wymondham (1)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:East Counties 3 11 Rugby union in Essex Rugby union in Cambridgeshire Rugby union in Norfolk Rugby union in Suffolk