The Northumberland Rugby Union 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

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 historic county of

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and one of the constituent bodies of the national

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 ...

having been formed in 1880. In addition, the county has won the

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 ...

on two occasions, and finished runners-up on a further five occasions.

History

The Union was founded in 1880 by six club sides. The six founding members were The Northumberland Football Club (defunct), The (original) Borough of Tynemouth Football Club (defunct), The Northern Football Club, The (original) Gosforth Football Club, The Tynedale Football Club and The Percy Park Football Club. Northumberland were one of the very few counties to own their own ground. In 1912 they began using the land of the Northumberland County Ground and later built a stadium. Many international fixtures were played there; all County Finals were played at the ground until it was demolished in 1988. Northumberland County Ground 1965

After moving from Scotland where he played for

Royal HSFP Royal High School Former Pupils was a former Edinburgh rugby union club; but the club was re-formed as Barnton RFC and is now known as Royal High RFC. Royal HSFP was a founder member of the Scottish Rugby Union, the second oldest national gove ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, James Robertson then played for Northumberland, a local club - but not the County team. Robertson was the first known black

player.

Northumberland senior men's county 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 ...

winners (2): 1898,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

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 ...

winners (4): 2003, 2008, 2011,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Affiliated clubs

There are currently 24 clubs affiliated with the Northumberland RFU, making it one of the smaller unions in

. Most of the clubs in the Northumberland RFU have teams at both senior and junior level and are based either in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

. *

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

*Ashington * Berwick *Blyth * Border Park *

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...

* Medicals *

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Newcastle Ravens Newcastle Ravens Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The current Chairman : Robin Davies History The team was organised to help encourage gay people to take part in the sport. The team was founded ...

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

*North Shields * Northern * Northumbria University * Novocastrians * Percy Park *

Ponteland Ponteland ( ) is a large village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name means "island in the Pont", after the River Pont which flows from west to east and joins the River Blyth further downstream, be ...

*Prudhoe & Stocksfield *

Seghill Seghill is a large village located on the Northumberland border which is the county boundary between Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. Seghill is situated between the villages of Seaton Delaval and Annitsford, about north of Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

Tynedale __NOTOC__ Tynedale is an area and former local government district in south-west Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 Census. Its main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. Th ...

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

* West End * West Tynedale * Whitley Bay Rockcliff

County club competitions

The Northumberland RFU currently runs the following competitions for club sides based in

and

Leagues

Durham/Northumberland 1 Durham/Northumberland 1 is an English amateur rugby union competition. The league consists of fourteen clubs, and is the seventh tier of the English rugby union system, as one of the 16 regional leagues, though is the highest level of local rug ...

(alongside Durham RFU) - league ranked at tier 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 ...

for clubs that are based in either

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, Northumberland or

Durham/Northumberland 2 Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland, formerly known as Durham/Northumberland 2, is an English rugby union league at the eighth tier of the domestic competition for teams from North East England. The champions and runner-up are promoted to Coun ...

- tier 8 league *

Durham/Northumberland 3 Counties 3 Durham & Northumberland, previously known as Durham/Northumberland 3, is an English rugby union league at the ninth tier of the domestic competition and is currently the basement league of club rugby in North East England. Any club ...

- tier 9 league

Cups

Northumberland Senior Cup The Northumberland Senior Cup, officially named the Techflow Marine Senior Cup, is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Northumberland Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for ...

- founded in 1882, typically open to clubs at tiers 4-6 of the

* Northumberland Senior Plate - founded in 2002, open to clubs at tiers 7-9

Discontinued competitions

* Durham/Northumberland 4 - tier 10 league that was discontinued in 2006

Note

References

Rugby union governing bodies in England 1880 establishments in England Rugby union in Northumberland {{Rugbyunion-stub