2006–07 National Division Three North

2006–07 National Division Three North
Countries	England
Champions	Blaydon
Runners-up	Tynedale
Relegated	Orrell, Cleckheaton, Darlington
Attendance	44,916 (average 263 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	1,987 Fylde v Preston Grasshoppers 23 December 2006
Lowest attendance	60 Leicester Lions v Tynedale 25 November 2006
Top point scorer	James Hawken (Rugby Lions) 266 points
Top try scorer	Nick Royle (Fylde) 31 tries

The 2006–07 National Division Three North was the seventh season (nineteenth overall) of the fourth division (north) of the English domestic rugby union competition using the name National Division Three North. New teams to the division included Orrell who were relegated from the 2005–06 National Division Two while promoted teams included Rugby Lions who came up as champions of Midlands Division 1 as well as Morley (champions) and West Park St Helens who came up from North Division 1.^[1][2][3] The league system was 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and additional bonus points being awarded for scoring 4 or more tries and/or losing within 7 points of the victorious team. In terms of promotion the league champions would go straight up into National Division Two while the runners up would have a one-game playoff against the runners up from National Division Three South (at the home ground of the club with the superior league record) for the final promotion place.

At the end of the season Blaydon would pip Tynedale to the title by just one point with Tynedale actually having a better league record in terms of wins and draws but having fewer bonus points.^[4] After missing out on the league title by the finest of margins, Tynedale would fail to gain promotion to the 2007–08 National Division Two at the second attempt losing away to the 2006–07 National Division Three South runners up Westcombe Park in the promotion playoff.^[5][6] In terms of relegation Orrell would suffer their third relegation in a row, with just two draws all season, with the much more competitive Cleckheaton and Darlington going down at a later date.^[4] In Darlington's case they finished level with newly promoted West Park St Helens, with the same number of wins but with more defeats as West Park managed to draw two extra games (despite having less bonus points). Cleckheaton and Darlington would join North Division 1 for the subsequent season.^[7] In the case of Orrell the impact of relegation was much more drastic as the club folded due to its financial backers pulling out.^[8][9] However, an amateur version of the club would carry on playing in the South Lancs/Cheshire 2 league for 2007-08.^[10]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Blaydon	Crow Trees	2,000 (400 seats)	Swalwell, Tyne and Wear
Cleckheaton	Cleckheaton Sports Club		Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire
Darlington	Blackwell Meadows	3,000	Darlington, County Durham
Darlington Mowden Park	Yiewsley Drive		Darlington, County Durham
Fylde	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire
Hull Ionians	Brantingham Park	1,500 (240 seats)	Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire
Leicester Lions	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire
Macclesfield	Priory Park	1,250 (250 seats)	Macclesfield, Cheshire
Morley	Scatcherd Lane		Morley, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	5,500	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Rugby Lions	Webb Ellis Road	4,000 (200 seats)[11]	Rugby, Warwickshire
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	2,000 (400 seats)	Corbridge, Northumberland
West Park St Helens	Red Rocks		St Helens, Merseyside

2006-07 National Division Three North table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Blaydon (C)	26	21	0	5	847	448	+399	16	1	101	Promoted
2	Tynedale	26	21	1	4	806	367	+439	14	0	100	Promotion play-off
3	Preston Grasshoppers	26	17	1	8	704	482	+222	10	5	85
4	Rugby Lions	26	17	1	8	652	474	+178	9	2	81
5	Fylde	26	16	1	9	659	390	+269	11	2	79
6	Morley	26	13	1	12	556	558	−2	9	5	68
7	Leicester Lions	26	13	1	12	520	548	−28	5	4	63
8	Darlington Mowden Park	26	12	2	12	572	627	−55	6	4	62
9	Macclesfield	26	11	0	15	573	534	+39	7	8	59
10	Hull Ionians	26	11	0	15	469	590	−121	7	5	56
11	West Park St Helens	26	9	2	15	572	601	−29	7	6	53
12	Darlington (R)	26	9	0	17	533	626	−93	9	8	53	Relegated
13	Cleckheaton (R)	26	5	2	19	383	675	−292	2	6	32
14	Orrell (R)	26	0	2	24	293	1219	−926	3	3	4[a]

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 30 December 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 25 November 2006.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 April 2007.

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• Game rescheduled from 14 April 2007.

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The league runners up of National Division Three South and North would meet in a playoff game for promotion to National Division Two. Westcombe Park were the southern division runners up and as they had a superior league record than northern runners-up, Tynedale, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Blaydon	12[a 2]	3,765	314	810	120	16%
Cleckheaton	12[a 3]	2,941	245	850	130
Darlington	13	2,150	165	500	100	6%
Darlington Mowden Park	13	2,452	189	300	120
Fylde	13	7,176	552	1,987	240	6%
Hull Ionians	13	3,250	250	500	150	17%
Leicester Lions	13	1,515	117	200	60	6%
Macclesfield	9[a 4]	2,282	254	337	154	20%
Morley	12[a 5]	3,500	292	500	220
Orrell	12[a 6]	1,512	126	505	68	2%
Preston Grasshoppers	13	5,711	439	805	242	9%
Rugby Lions	11[a 7]	3,352	305	380	235	8%
Tynedale	13	3,155	243	410	160	12%
West Park St Helens	12[a 8]	2,155	180	260	100

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

• English Rugby Union Leagues
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine