North Premier


North Premier is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of four leagues at this level, with its counterparts; London & South East Premier, South West Premier and Midlands Premier. The format of the league was changed at the beginning of the 2009–10 season following reorganisation by the Rugby Football Union when the league was originally known as North Division 1. A further name change from National League 3 to Premier was introduced for the 2017-18 season by the RFU in order to lessen confusion for what is a series of regional leagues. The fourteen teams in the division are drawn from across northern England and is the highest regional rugby union league in the north of England.
The champion club is automatically promoted to National League 2 North and the runner-up meets the second placed team of Midlands Premier in a play-off, with the winner also gaining promotion.

Format

The fourteen teams in this league are drawn from across northern England with the league champions being promoted to National League 2 North and the runner-up going into a play-off with the second placed team from Midlands Premier with the winner also being promoted. The league's bottom three teams are relegated to either North 1 East or North 1 West depending on their geographic location.
The season runs from September to May and comprises twenty-six rounds of matches, with each club playing each of its rivals home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league table as follows:
Ten of the fourteen teams participated in last season's competition. They are joined by Macclesfield who were relegated from National League 2 North, and Blackburn, Carlisle and Morpeth who were promoted into the division. Last season's champions Hull were promoted into National League 2 North, while the relegated teams were Vale of Lune and Wilmslow who all drop down into North 1 West and Kendal Rugby Union Football Club, Kendal who were relegated to North 1 East.

Participating teams and locations

TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season
AlnwickGreensfield1,200 Alnwick, Northumberland9th
BillinghamGreenwood Road1,500 Billingham, County Durham4th
BlackburnRamsgreave DriveBlackburn, LancashirePromoted from North 1 West
BlaydonCrow Trees2,000 Swalwell, Tyne and WearRunners up
CarlisleRugby Ground, Warwick Road1,500 Carlisle, CumbriaPromoted from North 1 West
HarrogateRudding LaneHarrogate, North Yorkshire3rd
IlkleyStacks Field2,000 Ilkley, West Yorkshire8th
Kirkby LonsdaleUnderley ParkKirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria10th
LymmCrouchley LaneLymm, Cheshire11th
MacclesfieldPriory Park1,250 Macclesfield, CheshireRelegated from National 2 North
MorpethGrange House Field1,000Morpeth, NorthumberlandPromoted from North 1 East
RossendaleMarl PitsRawtenstall, Rossendale, Lancashire5th
SandalMilnthorpe GreenSandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire6th
WirralThe Memorial GroundClatterbridge, Wirral7th

Original teams

When league rugby began in 1987 this division contained the following teams:
In the first season of the English rugby union league pyramid, sponsored by Courage, there was four, tier five leagues. The geographical area for teams in the north of England covered the ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire Northumberland and Yorkshire There were eleven teams in the league and they played each other once, giving each team ten matches. The other tier five leagues were London Division One, Midlands Division One and South West Division One. This system prevailed for five seasons, and in 1992–93 the number of teams increased from eleven to thirteen. The following season the league was reorganised and the four tier five leagues became two; National 5 North and National 5 South. After three seasons, in 1996–97, a further reorganisation occurred, and there was a return to four, tier five leagues; with North Division One covering the area of northern England. This system prevailed until 2009–10 when the number of teams was increased from twelve to fourteen and renamed National League Three North.

North Division 1 (1987–1993)

The original North Division 1 was a tier 5 league with promotion up to Area League 2 North and relegation down to North Division 2.

North Division 1 (1993–1996)

At the end of the 1992–93 season the top six teams from North Division 1 and the top six from Midland Division 1 were combined to create National 5 North. This meant that North Division 1 dropped from a tier 5 league to a tier 6 league for the years that National 5 North was active.

North Division 1 (1996–2009)

For the end of the 1995–96 season National 5 North was discontinued and North Division One returned to being a tier 5 league. Promotion was up to National 4 North, while relegation continued to North Division 2 until 2000–01, and then into either North 2 East and North 2 West in subsequent seasons.

National League 3 North

For the 2009–10 season North Division One was renamed as National League 3 North following a restructuring of the national leagues which led to changes at all levels.

North Premier

The division was renamed North Premier for the 2017–18 season in order to make it more obvious that this was a regional division and the top one in the north.

Promotion play-offs

Since the 2000–01 season there has been a play-off between the league runners-up of North Premier and Midlands Premier for the third and final promotion place to National League 2 North. The team with the superior league record has home advantage. As of the end of the 2019–20 season the northern teams have been stronger with twelve wins to the Midlands seven, while the home team has won thirteen times compared to the away teams six.

Number of league titles