North Midlands Rugby Football Union

The North Midlands Rugby Football Union is a governing body for rugby union in part of The Midlands, England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union for the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and the Greater Birmingham area.[1]

North Midlands RFU
Full nameNorth Midlands Rugby Football Union
Founded1920 (1920)
RegionBirmingham, West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire
PresidentRobert Bray
Team kit
Official website
www.northmidsrfu.co.uk

History

The North Midlands RFU was founded at a meeting in Birmingham on 14 January 1920. The area had previously been part of the Midland Counties Rugby Union, from which Warwickshire split in 1914, with further changes in 1919 leading to Leicestershire Rugby Union becoming a county on its own and North Midlands being created for the Birmingham, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire areas. The majority of the clubs in the union's initial membership came from the Birmingham area.[2] Staffordshire separated from North Midlands in 1964 to become a county on its own.[3]

County team

The North Midlands men's county team play in the County Championship, competing in Division 3.[4]

Honours

  • Tetley's County Shield winners: 2004[5][6]

Affiliated clubs

There are currently 71 clubs affiliated with the North Midlands RFU, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level, although some of the more prominent second teams have also been listed by the North Midlands RFU as affiliated clubs. The North Midlands region covers a large area with club sides based in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. Occasionally clubs based in other county rugby football unions, such as Staffordshire and Warwickshire, are also members of the North Midlands RFU. This was a result of county boundaries changing in 1974 as a consequence of the Local Government Act 1972.

[7]

County club competitions

The North Midlands currently runs the following competition for clubs sides based in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire:

Cups

[8]

Notes
  1. Bloxwich are historically based in Staffordshire but are now joint members of the North Midlands RFU and Staffordshire RU.
  2. Dudley Wasps are the second team of Dudley Kingswinford RFC.
  3. Essington are historically based in Staffordshire but are now joint members of the North Midlands RFU and Staffordshire RU.
  4. Moseley Oak are the amateur side of Birmingham Moseley RFC.
  5. Silhillians are historically based in Warwickshire but are joint members of both the North Midlands RFU and Warwickshire RFU.
  6. Stourbridge Lions are the second team of Stourbridge RFC.
  7. Sutton Coldfield are historically based in Warwickshire but are joint members of both the North Midlands RFU and Warwickshire RFU.
  8. Walsall are historically based in Staffordshire but are now joint members of the North Midlands RFU and Staffordshire RU.

See also

References
  1. "North Midlands RFU". Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  2. "North Midlands". Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  3. Gallagher, Brendan (30 April 2004). "About Rugby: Nostalgic Park play the Blues". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  4. "County Championships". Englandrugby. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  5. "Tetley's County Shield 2004". englandrugby.com. 29 May 2004.
  6. "RUGBY: Twickenham heartache". Bury Free Press. 3 June 2004. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  7. "CLUB DIRECTORY". North Midlands RFU. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  8. "NORTH MIDLANDS CUP COMPETITIONS". North Midlands RFU. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
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