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1987–88 National Division 1

Rugby union competition in England

Rugby union competition in England

FieldValue
name1987–88 National Division 1
countriesEngland
championsLeicester (1st title)
runnersupWasps
relegatedCoventry
Sale
matches64
date5 September 1987 – 30 April 1988
top point scorer126 – Dusty Hare (Leicester)
top try scorer11 – Andrew Harriman (Harlequins)
nextseason1988–89

Sale

The 1987–88 National Division 1 was the first season of the top tier of the English rugby union league system, the Courage Clubs Championship, and the first to be sponsored by Courage Brewery. It was the first season of a truly national rugby union league, with the top flight currently known as Premiership Rugby.

At the end of the season Leicester finished top of the league table and were crowned as the first ever champions, while Coventry and Sale were relegated to the 1988–89 National Division 2, the latter side having lost all of its eleven matches.

Structure

Each team played one match against each of the other teams, playing a total of eleven matches each. For this first season there was no fixture list; the teams arranged fixtures amongst themselves. Most teams played eleven games, although some played ten due to cancellations and there were unequal home and away fixtures, with some sides playing up to seven games at home, while others as little as four. The bottom two sides were relegated to National Division 2.

The points scheme was such that a team received four points for a win, two for a draw and one point for a loss.

Participating teams

TeamStadiumCapacityCity/Area
BathThe Recreation Ground8,300 (1,000 seats)Bath, Somerset
BristolMemorial Stadium8,500 (1,200 seats)Bristol, Avon
CoventryCoundon Road10,000 (1,100 seats)Coventry, West Midlands
GloucesterKingsholm11,100 (1,100 seats)Gloucester, Gloucestershire
HarlequinsThe Stoop9,000 (2,000 seats)Twickenham, London
LeicesterWelford Road14,700 (9,200 seats)Leicester, Leicestershire
MoseleyThe Reddings9,999 (1,800 seats)Birmingham, West Midlands
NottinghamIreland Avenue4,990 (590 seats)Beeston, Nottinghamshire
OrrellEdge Hall Road5,300 (300 seats)Orrell, Greater Manchester
SaleHeywood Road4,000 (500 seats)Sale, Greater Manchester
WaspsRepton Avenue3,200 (1,200 seats)Sudbury, London
WaterlooSt Anthony's Road9,950 (950 seats)Blundellsands, Merseyside

League table

  1. 4 pts for a win
  2. 2 pt for a draw
  3. 1 pt for a loss

Results table

The home team is listed in the left column.

Fixtures and results

Clubs had to organise their own fixtures so there was no organised round by round fixture lists and also no equal allocation of home and away matches. Dates of games and results are given below in date order.

September 1987

October 1987

November 1987

December 1987

January 1988

February 1988

March 1988

April 1988

  • League and cup double header. The 1988 John Player Cup final would also count as Harlequins v Bristol Courage League game.

Cancelled games

References

References

  1. (1993). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1993–94". Tony Williams Publications.
  2. "Courage League 1987–1988". Ipernews.com.
  3. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  4. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  5. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  6. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  7. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  8. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  9. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  10. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  11. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  12. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  13. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  14. (21 May 2023). "Dallaglio's turned into Nostradamus". The Rugby Paper.
  15. (1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
  16. "England - National Championship 1987/88".
  17. The 1988 final of the [[John Player Cup]] which took place on neutral ground at [[Twickenham Stadium. Twickenham]] also counts for the league.
  18. "Fixtures / Results (September 5, 1987 to April 30, 1988)". Rugby Archives.
  19. (7 September 1987). "Results". The Guardian.
  20. Peter Hall and Colin Gale. (29 August 2014). "1987 to 1988". Bath Rugby Heritage.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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