Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland

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.

Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland

Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	1987; 38 years ago (1987)
Number of teams	12
Country	England
Holders	Sunderland (1st title) (2024-25)
Most titles	Horden (4 titles)
Website	Website
Related competition	Counties 1 Yorkshire
Promotion to	Regional 2 North
Relegation to	Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland

Each season, two teams from the league are selected to take part in the RFU Intermediate Cup, a national competition for clubs in the seventh tier: one is affiliated with the Durham County RFU, the other is affiliated with the Northumberland RFU.

Clubs

Well known clubs have competed in Durham/Northumberland 1 throughout the league's history. Many of these clubs enjoyed successful histories, mainly during the amateur era of rugby. These include Gosforth RFC who in the '70s enjoyed great success, winning the John Player Cup in 1975/76 and 76/77; West Hartlepool who played in the Premiership in the 1990s; Northern who produced many international players; and Medicals, who have the rare distinction of having been the home club of two RFU Presidents. Clubs such as Alnwick RFC, Stockton RFC and Horden RFC have traditionally played in higher leagues and tend to finish towards the top of Durham/Northumberland 1.

2025–26

Leaving the league were Sunderland promoted to Regional 2 North while Whitley Bay Rockcliff were relegated to Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 9th Bishop Auckland West Mills Playing Fields Bishop Auckland, County Durham 10th Darlington Blackwell Meadows 3,000 Darlington, County Durham 8th Durham University Hollow Drift Durham, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (champions) Gateshead Eastwood Gardens Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Promoted from DN2 (runners-up) Hartlepool Mayfield Park Hartlepool, County Durham 11th Horden and Peterlee Eden Lane Park Peterlee, County Durham 3rd Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 4th Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 2nd Ponteland Ponteland Leisure Centre Ponteland, Tyne and Wear 6th Ryton Main Road Ryton, Tyne and Wear 7th Stockton The Grangefield Ground Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham 5th

Acklam Bishop Auckland Darlington Durham Uni Gateshead Hartlepool Horden & Peterlee Medicals Novos Ponteland Ryton Stockton Locations of the 2025-26 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams

2024–25

Leaving the league were Guisborough promoted to Regional 2 North while South Shields Westoe and Hartlepool Rovers were relegated to DN2. Joining in their place were Stockton (relegated), Darlington and Horden and Peterlee (both promoted).

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 6th Bishop Auckland West Mills Playing Fields Bishop Auckland, County Durham 7th Darlington Blackwell Meadows 3,000 Darlington, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (runners-up) Hartlepool Mayfield Park Hartlepool, County Durham 7th Horden and Peterlee Eden Lane Park Peterlee, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (champions) Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 4th Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 3rd Ponteland Ponteland Leisure Centre Ponteland, Tyne and Wear 8th Ryton Main Road Ryton, Tyne and Wear 5th Stockton The Grangefield Ground Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham Relegated from Regional 2 North (11h) Sunderland Ashbrooke Sports Club Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear 2nd Whitley Bay Rockcliff Lovaine Avenue Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear 10th

Acklam Bishop Auckland Darlington Hartlepool Horden & Peterlee Medicals Novos Ponteland Ryton Stockton Sunderland Whitley Bay Locations of the 2024-25 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams

2023–24

Leaving the league were West Hartlepool promoted to Regional 2 North while Darlington and Horden and Peterlee were relegated to DN2. Joining in their place were South Shields Westoe (relegated), Bishop Auckland and Ryton (both promoted).

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 8th Bishop Auckland West Mills Playing Fields Bishop Auckland, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (runners-up) Guisborough Belmangate Guisborough, North Yorkshire 5th Hartlepool Mayfield Park Hartlepool, County Durham 7th Hartlepool Rovers New Friarage Hartlepool, County Durham 9th Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 3rd Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 10th Ponteland Ponteland Leisure Centre Ponteland, Tyne and Wear 4th Ryton Main Road Ryton, Tyne and Wear Promoted from DN2 (champions) South Shields Westoe Grosvenor Road South Shields, Tyne and Wear Relegated from Regional 2 North (11h) Sunderland Ashbrooke Sports Club Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear 2nd Whitley Bay Rockcliff Lovaine Avenue Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear 6th

Acklam Bishop Auckland Guisborough Hartlepool Rovers Medicals Novos Ponteland Ryton South Shields Westoe Sunderland Whitley Bay Locations of the 2023-24 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams

2022–23

Leaving the league were Percy Park, Northern, South Shields Westoe, Stockton and Aspatria who were all promoted to Regional 2 North. There was no relegation from the league.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 13th Darlington Blackwell Meadows 3,000 Darlington, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (3rd) Guisborough Belmangate Guisborough, North Yorkshire Promoted from DN2 (champions) Hartlepool Mayfield Park Hartlepool, County Durham Promoted from DN2 (runners-up) Hartlepool Rovers New Friarage Hartlepool, County Durham 9th Horden and Peterlee Eden Lane Park Peterlee, County Durham 14th Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 7th Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 10th Ponteland Ponteland Leisure Centre Ponteland, Tyne and Wear 11th Sunderland Ashbrooke Sports Club Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear 8th West Hartlepool Brinkburn 2,000 (76 seats) Hartlepool, County Durham 6th Whitley Bay Rockcliff Lovaine Avenue Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear 12th

Acklam Darlington Guisborough Hartlepool Rovers H&P Medicals Novos Ponteland Sunderland West Hartlepool Whitley Bay Locations of the 2022-23 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams

2021–22

Middlesbrough RUFC finished runners-up in DN1 in 2019-20 but were level transferred to Yorkshire 1 for the current season, the space was taken by Aspatria RUFC who were level transferred from North 2 West.

The teams competing in 2021-22 achieved their places in the league based on performances in 2019-20, the 'previous season' column in the table below refers to that season not 2020-21.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 9th Aspatria Bower Park Aspatria, Cumbria Level transfer from North 2 West (6th) Hartlepool Rovers New Friarage Hartlepool, County Durham 10th Horden and Peterlee Eden Lane Park Peterlee, County Durham 11th Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 7th Northern McCracken Park 1,000 Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 3rd Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 6th Percy Park Preston Avenue North Shields, Tyne and Wear Relegated from North 1 East (12th) Ponteland Ponteland Leisure Centre Ponteland, Tyne and Wear Promoted from DN2 (champions) South Shields Westoe Wood Terrace South Shields, Tyne and Wear 4th Stockton The Grangefield Ground Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham 5th Sunderland Ashbrooke Sports Club Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Promoted from DN2 (runners-up) West Hartlepool Brinkburn 2,000 (76 seats) Hartlepool, County Durham Relegated from North 1 East (13th) Whitley Bay Rockcliff Lovaine Avenue Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear 8th

Northern Medicals Novos Percy Park Ponteland South Shields Westoe Sunderland Whitley Bay Locations of the 2021-22 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams in Tyne & Wear Acklam Aspatria Hartlepool Rovers Horden & Peterlee Stockton West Hartlepool Locations of the 2021-22 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams in County Durham, North Yorkshire & Cumbria

2020–21

On 30 October 2020 the RFU announced ^[1] that due to the coronavirus pandemic a decision had been taken to cancel Adult Competitive Leagues (National League 1 and below) for the 2020/21 season meaning DN1 was not contested.

2019-20

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Acklam Talbot Park Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 11th Barnard Castle Birch Road Barnard Castle, County Durham 9th Consett Amethyst Park Consett, County Durham Relegated from North 1 East (14th) Gateshead Eastwood Gardens Gateshead, Tyne and Wear 8th Hartlepool Rovers New Friarage Hartlepool, County Durham 7th Horden Eden Lane Park Peterlee, County Durham 10th Medicals Cartington Terrace 1,000 Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 12th Middlesbrough Acklam Park 5,000 (159 seats) Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire Level transfer from Yorkshire 1 (8th) North Shields Preston Playing Fields Preston, North Shields, Tyne and Wear Promoted from Durham/Northumberland 2 (runners up) Northern McCracken Park 1,000 Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 3rd Novocastrians Sutherland Park 1,150 Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 6th South Shields Westoe Wood Terrace South Shields, Tyne and Wear 5th Stockton The Grangefield Ground Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham 4th Whitley Bay Rockcliff Lovaine Avenue Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear Promoted from Durham/Northumberland 2 (champions)

Gateshead Northern Medicals North Shields Novos South Shields Westoe Whitley Bay Locations of the 2019-20 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams in Tyne & Wear Acklam Barnard Castle Consett Hartlepool Rovers Horden & Peterlee Middlesbrough Stockton Locations of the 2019-20 Durham/Northumberland 1 teams in County Durham & Yorkshire

Original teams

When league rugby began in 1987 this division contained the following teams:

• Acklam
• Ashington
• Blyth
• Darlington
• Horden
• Percy Park
• Ponteland
• Redcar
• Rockcliff
• Seghill
• Winlanton Vulcans

Durham/Northumberland 1 honours

Durham/Northumberland 1 (1987–1993)

The original Durham/Northumberland 1 was a tier 9 league with promotion up to North East 2 and relegation down to Durham/Northumberland 2.

Durham/Northumberland 1
Season	No of Teams	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated Teams
1987–88	11	Blyth	Rockcliff	Percy Park
1988–89	11	Rockcliff	Mowden Park	Winlanton Vulcans
1989–90	11	Ashington	Horden	Ponteland, Hartlepool
1990–91	11	Redcar	Horden	Whitby
1991–92	11	Horden	Acklam[a]	No relegation[b]
1992–93	13	Whitby	Darlington	Seghill, Hartlepool
Green backgrounds are promotion places.

Durham/Northumberland 1 (1993–2000)

The creation of National 5 North for the 1993–94 season meant that Durham/Northumberland 1 dropped to being a tier 10 league. A further restructure at the end of the 1995–96 season, which included the cancellation of National 5 North and the addition of North East 3 at tier 9, saw Durham/Northumberland 1 remain at tier 10 with promotion to the new North 3 East league.

Durham/Northumberland 1
Season	No of Teams	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated Teams
1993–94	13	Mowden Park	Darlington	Consett, Seaham
1994–95	13	Percy Park	Sunderland	Wallsend, Guisborough
1995–96	12	Darlington	Sunderland	North Durham, Ponteland
1996–97	10	West Hartlepool TDSOB	Ryton	Hartlepool, Guisborough, Novocastrians
1997–98	10	Ryton	Acklam	North Durham[c], Bishop Auckland
1998–99[2]	10	Medicals	Acklam	Blyth, North Shields
1999–00[3]	10	Consett	Winlaton Vulcans	Seghill, Novocastrians, Whitley Bay Rockcliff
Green backgrounds are promotion places.

Durham/Northumberland 1 (2000–2022)

Northern league restructuring by the RFU at the end of the 1999–2000 season saw the cancellation of North East 1, North East 2 and North East 3 (tiers 7–9). This meant that Durham/Northumberland 1 became a tier 7 league, with promotion to North 2 East (currently North 1 East).

Durham/Northumberland 1
Season	No of Teams	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated Teams
2000–01[4]	12	Westoe	Durham City	Medicals
2001–02[5]	12	Horden	Ashington	Winlaton Vulcans, Consett
2002–03[6]	12	Northern	Hartlepool Rovers	Ryton, Gosforth
2003–04[7]	12	Hartlepool Rovers	Alnwick	Houghton, Gateshead
2004–05[8]	12	Percy Park	Durham City	Ashington, Hartlepool
2005–06[9]	12	Horden	Malton and Norton	Acklam, West Hartlepool T.D.S.O.B.
2006–07[10]	12	Gateshead	Sunderland	North Shields, Consett, Gosforth
2007–08[11]	12	Billingham	Northern	West Hartlepool T.D.S.O.B., Ponteland
2008–09[12]	12	Hartlepool Rovers	Percy Park	No relegation[d]
2009–10[13]	14	Northern	Team Northumbria	Consett, Hartlepool
2010–11[14]	14	Gateshead	Darlington	Redcar, Wallsend
2011–12[15]	14	Darlington	Alnwick	Novocastrians, Ashington
2012–13[16]	14	Alnwick	Guisborough	Sunderland, Ryton
2013–14[17]	14	Horden	Guisborough	Bishop Auckland, Ponteland
2014–15[18]	14	Guisborough	Morpeth	Sunderland, Blyth
2015–16[19]	14	Durham City	Middlesbrough	Darlington, Ponteland
2016–17[20]	14	Northern	South Shields Westoe	Ryton, Hartlepool
2017–18[21]	14	Consett	Durham City	Redcar, Gosforth
2018–19[22]	14	Durham City	West Hartlepool	Whitby, Ponteland
2019–20[23]	14	Consett	Middlesbrough	Barnard Castle, North Shields, Gateshead
2020–21	14	N/A	N/A	Uncontested due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021–22[24]	14	Percy Park	Northern	No relegation
Green backgrounds are promotion places.															-->

Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland (2022-)

Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland
Season	No of Teams	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated Teams
2022-23[25]	12	West Hartlepool	Sunderland	Darlington, Horden
2023-24[26]	12	Guisborough	Sunderland	Hartlepool Rovers, South Shields Westoe
2024-25	12	Sunderland	Novocastrians	Rockcliff

Promotion play-offs

Since the 2000–01 season there has been a play-off between the runners-up of Durham/Northumberland 1 and Yorkshire 1 for the third and final promotion place to North 1 East. The team with the superior league record has home advantage in the tie. At the end of the 2019–20 season Yorkshire 1 teams have been the most successful with thirteen wins to the Durham/Northumberland 1 teams six; and the home side have won ten times to the away sides nine.

Durham/Northumberland 1 v Yorkshire 1 promotion play-off results
Season	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue	Attendance
2000–01[27]	Wheatley Hills (Y)	21-19	Percy Park (DN)[e]	Brunel Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
2001–02[28]	Ashington (DN)	17-23	Scarborough (Y)	Recreation Ground, Ashington, Northumberland
2002–03[29]	York (Y)	29-15	Hartlepool Rovers (DN)	Clifton Park, York, North Yorkshire
2003–04[30]	Alnwick (DN)	25-18	Pontefract (Y)	Greensfield, Alnwick, Northumberland
2004–05[31]	Durham City (DN)	26-13	Wheatley Hills (Y)	Hollow Drift, Durham, County Durham
2005–06[32]	Malton and Norton (DN)	19-39	Old Crossleyans (Y)	The Gannock, Malton, North Yorkshire
2006–07[33]	Sunderland (DN)	16-18	York (Y)	Ashbrooke Sports Club, Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
2007–08[34]	Northern (DN)	24-28	Ilkley (Y)	McCracken Park, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
2008–09[35]	Percy Park (DN)	36-3	Bridlington (Y)	Preston Avenue, North Shields, Tyne and Wear
2009–10[36]	Team Northumbria (DN)	34-13	Sheffield (Y)	Coach Lane Sports Ground, Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
2010–11[37]	Darlington (DN)	17-18	Sheffield (Y)	Blackwell Meadows, Darlington, County Durham
2011–12[38]	Alnwick (DN)	16-18	Keighley (Y)	Greensfield, Alnwick, Northumberland
2012–13[39]	Huddersfield Y.M.C.A. (Y)	33-12	Guisborough (DN)	Laund Hill, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
2013–14[40]	Dinnington (Y)	34-20 (aet)	Guisborough (DN)	Lodge Lane, Dinnington, South Yorkshire
2014–15[41]	Morpeth (DN)	14-11	Malton and Norton (Y)	Grange House Field, Morpeth, Northumberland
2015–16[42]	Middlesbrough (DN)	17-25	Malton and Norton (Y)	Acklam Park, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
2016–17[43]	South Shields Westoe (DN)	14-19	West Leeds (Y)	Wood Terrace, South Shields, Tyne and Wear
2017–18[44]	Durham City (DN)	AWO[f]	Scarborough (Y)	Hollow Drift, Durham, County Durham
2018–19[45]	West Hartlepool (DN)	24-23	Heath (Y)	Brinkburn, Hartlepool, County Durham
2019–20	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Best ranked runner up - Heath (Y) - promoted instead.
2020–21	N/A	N/A	N/A	Uncontested due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021–22	N/A	N/A	N/A	Uncontested due the RFU Adult Competition Review
Green background is the promoted team. DN = Durham/Northumberland 1 and Y = Yorkshire 1

Number of league titles

• Horden (4)
• Consett (3)
• Northern (3)
• Percy Park (3)
• Darlington (2)
• Durham City (2)
• Gateshead (2)
• Guisborough (2)
• Hartlepool Rovers (2)
• Alnwick (1)
• Ashington (1)
• Billingham (1)
• Blyth (1)
• Medicals (1)
• Mowden Park (1)
• Redcar (1)
• Ryton (1)
• Sunderland (1)
• Whitby (1)
• Rockcliff (1)
• West Hartlepool (1)
• West Hartlepool TDSOB (1)
• Westoe (1)^[g]

Notes

1. Runners up Acklam along with Bishop Auckland were promoted to North East 2.
2. League restructuring meant no clubs were relegated and five clubs would be promoted from Durham/Northumberland 2
3. North Durham merged with Gateshead Fell at the end of this season and therefore ceased to exist as a club. As such they did not take up their position in Durham/Northumberland 2 the following season.
4. No relegation as division set to expand from 12 to 14 teams for the following season.
5. Despite finishing third in the 2000-01 Durham/Northumberland league, Percy Park went into the promotion playoff instead of runners up Durham City.^[4]
6. Scarborough won by default as Durham City were unable to raise a team.^[44]
7. Currently known as South Shields Westoe.

See also

• Durham RFU
• Northumberland RFU
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England