Regional 1 North East is a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the twelve teams drawn from across North East England and the East Midlands. The other level five leagues are Regional 1 Midlands, Regional 1 North West, Regional 1 South Central, Regional 1 South East and Regional 1 South West.
Heath are the 2025-26 champions and are promoted to National League 2 North.
Format The twelve teams in this league are drawn from across North East England and the East Midlands, with the league champions promoted to National 2 North. The league's bottom two teams are relegated to either Regional 2 North, Regional 2 North East or Regional 2 North Midlands, depending on their geographic location.
The season runs from September to April and comprises twenty-two rounds of matches, with each club playing each of its rivals home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league table as follows: 4 points are awarded for a win 2 points are awarded for a draw 0 points are awarded for a loss, however 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match
2026–27 Seven of last season's teams competed in this season's competition.
Departing were the champions Heath (champions) promoted to National 2 North as were Harrogate (3rd - playoff winners), while Penrith (11th) and Cleckheaton (12th) were relegated to Regional 2 North and Regional 2 NE respectively. Also departing were Kendal (8th) on a level transfer to Regional 1 North West.
Dronfield, promoted from Regional 2 North Midlands as champions, were originally allocated to the league when the provisional lineup was announced before being switched to Regional 1 North West with Sandal taking their place having themselves been initially level transferred from R1NE to Regional 1 North West.
Participating teams and locations
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland Runners-up Blaydon Crow Trees 2,000 (400 seats) Swalwell, Tyne and Wear 5th Driffield Show Ground Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire 6th Hull Ferens Ground 1,500 (288 seats) Kingston upon Hull, East Riding Relegated from National League 2 North (14th) Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire 4th Middlesbrough Acklam Park 5,000 (159 seats) Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire 9th Northern McCracken Park 1,000 Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear Promoted from Regional 2 North (champions) North Ribblesdale Grove Park Settle, North Yorkshire Promoted from Regional 2 North West (champions) Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 7th Scarborough Silver Royd 4500 (425 seats) Scalby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire Promoted from Regional 2 North East (champions) Scunthorpe Heslam Park 1,212 (212 seats) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire Relegated from National League 2 North (13th) York Clifton Park York, North Yorkshire 10th
2025–26 Eight of last seasons teams competed in this season's competition. Departing were the champions Scunthorpe, promoted to National 2 North, while Percy Park (11th) and Selby (12th) were relegated to Regional 2 North and Regional 2 NE respectively. Also leaving was Huddersfield (2nd) on a level transfer to Regional 1 North West. The new teams entering the league were Harrogate (12th) relegated from National League North, Middlesbrough (1st) promoted from Regional 2 North and two teams, Penrith (7th) and Kendal (9th), both on a level transfer from Regional 1 North West.
Participating teams and locations
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland 5th Blaydon Crow Trees 2,000 (400 seats) Swalwell, Tyne and Wear 10th Cleckheaton Moorend Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire 6th Driffield Show Ground Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire 8th Harrogate Rudding Lane 2,000 Harrogate, North Yorkshire Relegated from National League 2 North (14th) Heath West Vale West Vale, Halifax, West Yorkshire 3rd Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire 7th Kendal Mint Bridge Stadium 3,500 (258 seats) Kendal, Cumbria Level transfer from Regional 1 North West (9th) Middlesbrough Acklam Park 5,000 (159 seats) Acklam, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire Promoted from Regional 2 North (champions) Penrith Winters Park Penrith, Cumbria Level transfer from Regional 1 North West (7th) Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 9th York Clifton Park York, North Yorkshire 4th
Table
Play-offs Promotion play-offs
National League 2 North Accession Final The 12th-placed team in the National League 2 North played the winner of the Regional 1 North East and Regional 1 North West promotion play-off to decide who would be the final side in next seasons National League 2 North.
Harrogate promoted.
Relegation play-off The 9th and 10th placed teams held a play-off, with the losing team playing in the Regional 1 Accession Final, against Pocklington, the winner of the Regional 2 North East promotion play-off. York remain in Regional 1 North East.
Regional 1 Accession Final
2024–25 Departing were Harrogate, promoted to National 2 North while Doncaster Phoenix (11th) and Pontefract (12th) were relegated to Regional 2 NE.
Participating teams and locations
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland 5th Blaydon Crow Trees 2,000 (400 seats) Swalwell, Tyne and Wear 6th Cleckheaton Moorend Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire 10th Driffield Show Ground Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire 4th Heath West Vale West Vale, Halifax, West Yorkshire 2nd Huddersfield Lockwood Park 1,500 (500 seats) Huddersfield, South Yorkshire Relegated from National 2 North (14th) Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire 9th Percy Park Preston Avenue North Shields, Tyne and Wear Promoted from Regional 2 North (champions) Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 8th Scunthorpe Heslam Park 1,212 (212 seats) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire 7th Selby Sandhill Lane Selby, North Yorkshire Promoted from Regional 2 NE (champions) York Clifton Park York, North Yorkshire 3rd
Table Regional 1 North East 2024–25TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPoints C Scunthorpe 22 17 0 5 761 421 340 16 4 88 2 Huddersfield 22 17 0 5 714 515 199 16 2 86 3 Heath 22 16 0 6 656 492 164 13 3 80 4 York 22 16 0 6 600 426 174 11 0 75 5 Alnwick 22 10 1 11 612 584 28 14 4 60 6 Cleckheaton 22 10 1 11 557 714 −157 10 1 53 7 Ilkley 22 9 1 12 563 597 −34 11 3 52 8 Driffield 22 9 1 12 543 607 −64 7 6 51 9 Sandal 22 9 0 13 573 704 −131 12 2 50 10 Blaydon 22 6 0 16 586 616 −30 12 5 41 R Percy Park 22 6 0 16 481 737 −256 9 5 38 R Selby 22 5 0 17 515 748 −233 12 5 37If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of draws Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places (subject to confirmation by the RFU).Updated: 13 April 2025Source:
2023–24 Nine of last seasons teams compete in this season's competition. Last season's champions, Billingham, are promoted to National League 2 North, while two teams were relegated to Regional 2 North Midlands; Paviors (11th) and West Bridgford (12th). New teams in the league are Blaydon and Harrogate, relegated from National League 2 North, and one team was promoted from Regional 2 North East, Pontefract.
Participating teams and locations
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland 4th Blaydon Crow Trees 2,000 (400 seats) Swalwell, Tyne and Wear Relegated from National League 2 North (13th) Cleckheaton Moorend Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire 7th Doncaster Phoenix Castle Park 5,000 Doncaster, South Yorkshire 9th Driffield Show Ground Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire 3rd Harrogate Rudding Lane 2,000 Harrogate, North Yorkshire Relegated from National League 2 North (14th) Heath West Vale West Vale, Halifax, West Yorkshire 2nd Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire 8th Pontefract Moor Lane Pontefract, West Yorkshire Promoted from Regional 2 North East (1st) Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire 5th Scunthorpe Heslam Park 1,212 (212 seats) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire 10th York Clifton Park York, North Yorkshire 6th
Table Regional 1 North East 2023–24TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPoints C Harrogate 22 16 2 4 595 382 213 11 3 82 2 Heath 22 16 1 5 563 393 170 11 3 80 3 York 22 15 1 6 596 385 211 11 3 76 4 Driffield 22 13 0 9 585 441 144 14 3 69 5 Alnwick 22 13 0 9 515 571 −56 7 1 60 6 Blaydon 22 10 1 11 570 570 0 14 2 58 7 Scunthorpe 22 10 0 12 490 493 −3 9 4 53 8 Sandal 22 9 1 12 520 517 +3 9 5 52 9 Ilkley 22 8 0 14 496 537 −41 7 6 45 10 Cleckheaton 22 8 0 14 504 588 −84 6 5 43 R Doncaster Phoenix 22 6 0 16 392 655 −263 5 3 32 R Pontefract 22 5 0 17 291 585 −294 1 3 24If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of draws Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places.Updated: 6 April 2024 Source:
Results
2022–23 Billingham are the first team to win this league and are promoted to National League 2 North.
Participating teams and locations
TeamGroundCapacityCity/AreaPrevious season Alnwick Greensfield 1,200 (200 in stand) Alnwick, Northumberland North Premier (7th) Billingham Greenwood Road 1,500 (100 seats) Billingham, County Durham North Premier (4th) Cleckheaton Moorend Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire Promoted from North 1 East Doncaster Phoenix Castle Park 5,000 Doncaster, South Yorkshire Midlands Premier (12th) Driffield Show Ground Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire Promoted from North 1 East Heath West Vale West Vale, Halifax, West Yorkshire Promoted from North 1 East Ilkley Stacks Field 2,000 (40 seats) Ilkley, West Yorkshire Promoted from North 1 East Paviors The Ron Rossin Ground Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Midlands Premier (13th) Sandal Milnthorpe Green Sandal Magna, Wakefield, West Yorkshire North Premier (11th) Scunthorpe Heslam Park 1,212 (212 seats) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire Midlands Premier (8th) West Bridgford The Memorial Ground West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire Promoted from Midlands 1 East York Clifton Park York, North Yorkshire North Premier (10th)
League table Regional 1 North East 2022–23 TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPoints 1 Billingham (P) 22 19 0 3 812 293 519 16 2 94 2 Heath 22 16 0 6 759 444 315 14 4 82 3 Driffield 22 15 1 6 860 478 382 14 3 79 4 Alnwick 22 16 0 6 629 460 169 10 2 76 5 Sandal 22 13 2 7 645 540 105 15 2 73 6 York 22 12 0 10 614 499 115 11 5 64 7 Cleckheaton 22 10 1 11 516 598 −82 9 2 53 8 Ilkley 22 10 0 12 461 522 −61 8 5 53 9 Doncaster Phoenix 22 8 0 14 481 583 −102 5 4 41 10 Scunthorpe 22 4 0 18 473 771 −298 11 6 33 11 Paviors (R) 22 5 0 17 425 856 −431 8 4 32 12 West Bridgford (R) 22 2 0 20 370 1001 −631 5 3 16If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Number of draws Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams