| Full name | Durham County Rugby Football Union | |
|---|---|---|
| Union | RFU | |
| Founded | 1876 | |
| Region |  County Durham | |
| President | Andrew Openshaw | |
| ||
| Official website | ||
| durhamrugby | ||
The Durham County Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the historic county of Durham in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Durham County, it administers and organises rugby union clubs, competitions and Durham county rugby representative teams.
Organized rugby union as we know it was first played in the county in 1850 when Durham School took up the game, and the first club side followed in 1863, when Darlington was formed. In October 1876 the Durham County Rugby Football Union was formed, with a preliminary meeting on 10 October followed by the first recorded meeting of representatives later that month on the 31st. The 31 October meeting was chaired by P.B. Junor and attended by representatives from six local clubs; Bensham, Darlington, Durham University, Houghton, Stockton, Sunderland and Westoe. The first recorded official of the Durham County RFU was J.B. Brooks, the chairman of Darlington, who became the honorary secretary and retained this title until 1980. An unofficial county side is believed to have played a match as early as March 1875, when they faced Yorkshire in Leeds [1] [2] [3]
An official county team was formed soon after the creation of the Durham County RFU, with games in the early years largely restricted to meetings with nearby Yorkshire, and the majority of players were supplied by the two powerhouse clubs of the day, Darlington and Sunderland. In 1878 Durham went further afield, linking up with Northumberland to send a combined side down to face Lancashire in Manchester. As the union started to grow, new clubs appeared such as Hartlepool Rovers (1879) and West Hartlepool (1881). In the middle of this a Challenge Cup competition was introduced in 1880, giving the clubs proper competition and in turn increasing the popularity of rugby union in the region. [2]
Durham became a member of the Rugby Football Union in 1882, and the advent of the County Championship in 1890 saw them among the first counties to take part in this illustrious competition. They won their first championship in 1900, beating Devon 11–3 in the final held at Exeter, and they quickly went on to dominate the County Championships. In between 1900 and 1910 they had appeared in all ten finals, coming away with six victories, one of which was shared with Devon. During this period of dominance, Durham boasted an overall record of having scored 740 points to their opponents 293. [4] [2]
The success enjoyed during the 20th century would start to fade, and although Durham made two further final appearances in 1914 and 1932 they were unable to add any further trophies. It was only until 1967 that they tasted success again, sharing the trophy with Surrey after two drawn games. In 1989 Durham won the County Championship for the eight time, defeating Cornwall 13–9 at Twickenham Stadium. [4] Once one of the most decorated sides in the Championships, in recent times Durham have flickered back and forth between Division 1 and Division 2 of the championships, with their last Twickenham appearance being the 2014 County Championship Plate final which they lost 31–23 to Kent. [5]
Durham County senior men's currently play in the Bill Beaumont Cup - the first division of the County Championship - having been promoted from the Division 2 at the end of the 2017–18 season. [6] [7]
Honours:
There are currently 30 clubs affiliated with the Durham County RFU, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level. Most clubs are based in County Durham but there are also teams from Tyne and Wear.
The Durham County RFU currently runs the following competitions for club sides based in County Durham:
Durham County RFU run the following cup competitions for 1st teams:
As well as a number of cup competitions for 2nd, 3rd & 4th teams:
Finally, there is also a cup competition for clubs in Hartlepool:
Darlington Mowden Park is a professional rugby union club, based in Darlington, County Durham, England. They currently compete in National League 1, the third division of the Rugby Football Union domestic league competition pyramid, having achieved promotion on 3 May 2014, after defeating Ampthill in the 2013–14 play-off. The club's former name, Darlington Grammar School Old Boys, was changed when they moved to Yiewsley Drive, which was located in Mowden. They relocated to The Darlington Arena, a 25,000 all-seater stadium in Darlington, purchasing the previously-vacated ground for £2 million; Yiewsley Drive had previously been sold to a housing estate company, and the Arena was previously owned by Darlington Football Club. They played their first game at the arena on 2 February 2013, in front of a crowd of over 1,000, comprehensively defeating Bromsgrove 62–7 in a National League 2 North league game.
North 1 East was a sixth tier league in the English rugby union domestic competition, formed in 1987 using the name North Division 2, involving clubs from the north of the country. There was also a division known as North East 1 that began in 1987 for clubs based in the north-east but this was a seventh tier league. North Division 2 would later split into two regional divisions, known as North 1 East and North 1 West. North 1 East was made up of teams from around the North East and Yorkshire, playing home and away matches throughout a winter season.
North East 3 was an English Rugby Union league which was at the ninth tier of the domestic competition and was available to teams in North East England. Promoted teams moved up to North East 2 while relegated teams dropped to either Yorkshire 1 or Durham/Northumberland 1 depending on their location.
South Shields Westoe RFC is a Rugby Union Football Club which currently plays in Durham/Northumberland 1 at Wood Terrace, South Shields. The club changed its name from Westoe RFC to South Shields Westoe RFC in August 2015, using the new name from the 2015-16 season onwards.
North Premier was a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the fourteen teams drawn from across Northern England. The other leagues at this level were London & South East Premier, Midlands Premier and South West Premier. The RFU reorganised the level five leagues for season 2022–23, with an increase from four to six and reducing the teams in each from fourteen to twelve. The teams in this league now play in either Regional 1 North East or Regional 1 North West.
Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland, formerly known as Durham/Northumberland 1 is an English amateur rugby union competition. The league consists of twelve 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 rugby in the North East of England. The champions are automatically promoted to Regional 2 North, a division with a wider geographical area that also encompasses the Yorkshire region. The runners-up participate in a play-off against the runners-up from the equivalent regional league, Counties 1 Yorkshire, for promotion. The bottom two are relegated to Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland.
Mark Bedworth, known locally as Bedders, is a rugby union Footballer who is currently player Coach at Westoe RFC. Mark Bedworth was born in Durham City in 1982 and attended Bow Preparatory School before moving onto Durham School where he is now a teacher of Physical Education. Having completed his A-levels, he continued to university in York. An excellent points kicker he became one of the all-time top scorers in National League 2 North and National League 1 with over 2,000 points scored between the two divisions.
The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 3 is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2005 when it known as the County Championship Plate —changing to Shield by 2010 and Bill Beaumont Division 3 by 2017. It is contested by third tier teams in the RFU County Championship. From 2010 Division 3 involves counties that are only able to select players from clubs at level five and below. The eight teams involved are divided roughly on geographic terms into two pools and play three games each.
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 Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland and the bottom two clubs are relegated to Counties 3 Durham & Northumberland. Each season two teams from Durham/Northumberland 2 are picked to take part in the RFU Senior Vase - one affiliated with the Durham County RFU, the other with the Northumberland RFU. Ponteland won their fourth title in 2020 with Sunderland also promoted.
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 in the north east wishing to join the rugby union club hierarchy must begin at the bottom so all new teams from the north east start in this division - although until 2005-06 there was relegation to the now defunct Durham/Northumberland 4. The champions and runner-up are promoted to Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland.
North East 1 was an English Rugby Union league which was at the 7th tier of the domestic competition and was available to teams in North East England. Promoted teams moved up to North 2 East while relegated teams dropped to North East 2. The division was abolished at the end of the 1999–2000 season due to RFU restructuring with teams either being moved up to North 2 East or dropping down to regional leagues such as Yorkshire 1 or Durham/Northumberland 1.
North East 2 was an English Rugby Union league was at the eighth tier of the domestic competition when it was founded in 1987 and was available to teams in North East England. Promoted teams moved up to North East 1 while relegated teams dropped to Durham/Northumberland 1 and latterly North East 3. The division was abolished at the end of the 1999–2000 season due to RFU restructuring with teams being transferred to regional leagues such as Yorkshire 1 or Durham/Northumberland 1.
The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield - changing to Plate by 2010 and then to Bill Beaumont Division 2 by 2017. Division 2 is contested for by second tier teams in the RFU County Championship. Each county draws its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system.
The 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 115th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition were the two finalists from the 2014 County Championship Plate – Kent (winners) and Durham County (runners-up) who replaced North Midlands and Northumberland. Lancashire were the defending champions.
The 2016 County Championship Plate, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division 2, was the 15th version of the annual English rugby union, County Championship organised by the RFU for the tier 2 English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system. The counties were divided into two regional pools (north/south) with four teams in each and the winners of each pool meet in the final to be held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the division included Kent and Durham County who were relegated from the 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup while Leicestershire were promoted as the winners of the 2015 County Championship Shield.
The Northumberland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the historic county of Northumberland, England and one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1880. In addition, the county has won the county championship on two occasions, and finished runners-up on a further five occasions.
The Kent Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Kent in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Kent, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Kent county rugby representative teams.
The Cumbria Rugby Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Cumbria in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cumbria, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Cumbria rugby representative teams.
The Oxfordshire Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Oxfordshire in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Oxfordshire, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Oxfordshire county rugby representative teams.
The Durham County RFU Senior Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Durham County Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced during the 1880-81 season, with the inaugural winners being Sunderland Rovers who defeated Houghton 3 tries to 0 in the final.
