2000–01 National Division Three North

The 2000–01 National Division Three North was the first season (fourteenth 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 Dudley Kingswinford who were promoted as the champions of Midlands Division 1 and Tynedale who were champions of North Division 1 with no northern based teams being relegated from the 1999-00 Jewson National League One. The league system was 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw with the promotion system changing for this season with a playoff system being introduced. The champions of both National Division Three North and National Division Three South would automatically go up but the runners up of these two divisions would meet each other in a one off match (at the home ground of the side with the superior league record) to see who would claim the third and final promotion place to National Division Two for the following season.

The season was a very fractured one due to the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak which primarily affected the two northernmost clubs in the division - Aspatria and Tynedale - leading to a large number of fixtures being cancelled in the latter half of the season. The league champions were Stourbridge who pipped Sedgley Park to the league title by just one point to gain promotion to the 2001–02 National Division Two. Sedgley Park would join them soon after when they won their promotion playoff game at home against the 2000-01 National Division Three South runners up Launceston in front of over 1,000 fans. The foot-and-mouth outbreak made relegation far from straightforward as initially the bottom two were Aspatria and Tynedale, who had played 18 games each - less than any of the other teams in the division. In Tynedale's case this was particularly hard as they were only 1 point behind 12th placed Sandal but had played six games less. In the end the RFU had to re-think relegation and used a complicated process based on early season form which meant that 14th placed Aspatria and 11th placed Walsall went down. Aspatria dropped to North Division 1 while Walsall went into Midlands Division 1.

Participating teams and locations

TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious seasonAspatria Bower Park3,000 (300 seats) Aspatria, Cumbria12thBedford Athletic Putnoe Woods 500 Bedford, Bedfordshire 9thDoncaster Castle Park 3,075 Doncaster, South Yorkshire 6thDudley KingswinfordHeathbrook2,260Kingswinford, Dudley, West MidlandsPromoted from Midlands 1 (1st)Liverpool St Helens Moss Lane 4,370 (370 seats) St Helens, Merseyside 13thMorley Scatcherd Lane 6,000 (1,000 seats) Morley, Leeds, West Yorkshire 7thNew Brighton Hartsfield 2,000 Moreton, Merseyside 3rdNuneatonLiberty Way 3,800 (500 seats)Nuneaton, Warwickshire 8thSandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 10thSedgley Park Park Lane 3,000 Whitefield, Greater Manchester 5thStourbridge Stourton Park 3,500 (450 seats) Stourbridge, West Midlands 2ndTynedaleTynedale Park2,000 (400 seats)Corbridge, NorthumberlandPromoted from North 1 (1st)Walsall Broadway 2,250 (250 seats)Walsall, West Midlands 4thWhitchurch Edgeley Park Whitchurch, Shropshire 11th

Final league table

Results Be aware that some of the early season scores from Rugby Statbunker may be incorrect (possibly due to an automatic scoring system used on that website) as they are different from those reported in the Telegraph. I have used references from the Telegraph wherever possible which should tie in with the results from the England rugby website.

Round 1

Round 2

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 23 September 2000.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 23 September 2000.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 23 September 2000.

Round 3

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 October 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Round 2 & 3 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 10 September 2000.

Game brought forward from 10 February 2001.

Game rescheduled from 10 September 2000.

Game rescheduled from 10 September 2000.

Round 4

Round 5

Round 3 (rescheduled game)

Game rescheduled from 16 September 2000.

Round 6

Round 7

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Round 12

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2001.

Round 13

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 March 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2001.

Round 14

Round 15

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 March 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 February 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 March 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 March 2001.

Round 16

Round 17

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 7 April 2001.

Round 18

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 7 April 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 April 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 17 February 2001.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 3 March 2001.

Round 19

Rounds 3, 7, 11 & 15 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 30 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 30 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 4 November 2000.

Game rescheduled from 30 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 16 September 2000.

Game rescheduled from 4 November 2000.

Game rescheduled from 2 December 2000.

Round 20

Game brought forward to 23 September 2000.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Rounds 12, 13 & 18 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 9 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 20 January 2001.

Game rescheduled from 9 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 16 December 2000.

Game rescheduled from 9 December 2000.

Round 21

Rounds 13, 15 & 18 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 16 December 2000.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 but would be postponed again until 28 April 2001.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 but would be postponed again until 28 April 2001.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 but would be postponed again until 14 April 2001.

Game initially rescheduled from 20 January 2001 but would be ultimately cancelled due to fixture congestion.

Round 22

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 May 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 May 2001.

Round 23

Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 April 2001.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 April 2001.

Round 24

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 May 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 May 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 May 2001.

Round 25

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 May 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 May 2001.

Rounds 15, 17 & 18 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 20 January 2001.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 but postponed again till 5 May 2001.

Round 26 (includes rescheduled game)

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000, then 3 March 2001.

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 May 2001.

Game initially postponed but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Rounds 18 & 23 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 20 January 2001.

Game rescheduled from 7 March 2001.

Rounds 15 & 23 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 17 March 2001.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 and then 3 March 2001 before finally being cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 and then 3 March 2001 before finally being cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Rounds 22 & 24 & ? (rescheduled games)

Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 and then again from 7 April 2001.

Game rescheduled from 14 April 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game rescheduled from 10 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game rescheduled from 24 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to fixture congestion.

Rounds 22 & 24 (rescheduled games)

Game initially rescheduled from 24 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially rescheduled from 24 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially rescheduled from 10 March 2001 but ultimately cancelled due to fixture congestion.

Round 25 (rescheduled games)

Game initially rescheduled from 31 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Tynedale's season and leading to them being relegated.

Game initially rescheduled from 31 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to foot & mouth crisis in northern England cutting short Aspatria's season and leading to them being relegated.

Promotion play-off The league runners up of National Division Three North and South would meet in a playoff game for promotion to National Division Two. Sedgley Park were runners-up in the north and because they had a better league record than south runners-up, Launceston, they hosted the play-off match.

Total season attendances Not including promotion playoff game. ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Aspatria 5 725 145 200 100 5% Bedford Athletic 6 1,450 242 400 150 48% Doncaster 9 6,215 691 900 265 22% Dudley Kingswinford 10 5,500 550 1,500 250 24% Liverpool St Helens 9 1,900 211 250 150 5% Morley 6 2,200 367 450 250 6% New Brighton 8 2,650 331 600 200 17% Nuneaton 5 1,050 210 250 150 6% Sandal 4 700 233 250 200 Sedgley Park 11 5,020 456 1,200 200 15% Stourbridge 13 6,950 535 1,500 200 15% Tynedale 4 850 213 250 200 11% Walsall 7 2,345 335 500 200 15% Whitchurch 8 3,310 414 540 300

Individual statistics

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

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Paul Brett New Brighton 24 298 2 Colin Stephens Sedgley Park 21 264 3 Simon Worsley Liverpool St Helens 24 259 4 John Liley Doncaster 22 249 5 Steve Smart Dudley Kingswinford 23 247 Duncan Hughes Stourbridge 25 247 6 Dave Evans Morley 25 182 7 Mike Crisp Walsall 22 181 8 Alan Moses Tynedale 17 179 9 John Canney Whitchurch 21 153

Top try scorers