The 1987–88 Courage League National Division Three was the first full season of

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

within the third tier of the English league system, currently known as the

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 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 Lea ...

. Both Wakefield and West Hartlepool won ten matches, lost one and finished on twenty points. Wakefield finished as champions due to their superior

points difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

but neither team was promoted to National Division Two. Morley and Birmingham (without a win) finished in the bottom two places and both clubs were relegated to Area League North for the following season. Almost all clubs in the national divisions reported an increase in attendances.

Structure

Each team played one match against the other teams, playing a total of eleven matches each. There was no set date for matches, clubs having to arrange the fixtures amongst themselves.

Participating teams and locations

League table

Sponsorship

National Division Three is part of the Courage Clubs Championship and was sponsored by

Courage Brewery Courage was an English brewery, founded by John Courage in London, England, in 1787. History Origin and family ownership The Courage Brewery was started by John Courage (1757 – October 1793). He was a Scottish shipping agent believed to b ...

References

External links