2017–18 National League 1

2017–18 National League 1
Countries	England
Date	2 September 2017 – 28 April 2018
Champions	Coventry (3rd title)
Runners-up	Darlington Mowden Park
Relegated	Fylde, Old Albanian, Hull Ionians
Matches played	240
Attendance	156,700 (average 653 per match)
Highest attendance	3,758 Coventry v Hull Ionians 28 April 2018
Lowest attendance	103 Loughborough Students v Cambridge 23 December 2017
Tries scored	1651 (average 6.9 per match)
Top point scorer	262 England Will Maisey (Coventry)
Top try scorer	21 England Sam Baker (Ampthill) England James Stokes (Coventry)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the ninth season of the third tier of the English rugby union system, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Championship was introduced; and is the 31st season since league rugby began in 1987.

Following defeat at Blackheath on 10 March, Fylde are the first team to be relegated.^[1]^[2] A week later Coventry became the league champions with five games to go after beating Caldy away on the 17 March.^[3] On 21 April Old Albanian became the second team to go down with a game to go, losing 21–24 away to Plymouth Albion.^[4] The third and final relegation spot went to the taken by Hull Ionians who lost 21–38 away to champions Coventry on 28 April 2018 in front of a divisional record attendance of 3,758.^[5] As champions, Coventry are promoted into the 2018–19 RFU Championship, while relegated sides Fylde and Hull Ionians drop to the 2018–19 National League 2 North, and Old Albanian into the 2018–19 National League 2 South.

Of further interest were a number of divisional records set or equalled during the course of the season. These included a record crowd (3,758 at Coventry) and record overall league average attendance (653), while Coventry's promotion meant they now had 3 tier titles (equal with Otley). Ampthill also equalled a more obscure record of four league draws previously achieved by both Wharfedale and Richmond.

Structure

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The league consists of sixteen teams with all the teams playing each other on a home and away basis to make a total of thirty matches each. There is one promotion place with the champions promoted to the Greene King IPA Championship. There are usually three relegation places with the bottom three teams relegated to either National League 2 North or National League 2 South depending on the geographical location of the team.

Participating teams and locations

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2017–18 National League 1 is located in England

Ampthill

Birmingham Moseley

Bishop's Stortford

Caldy

Cambridge

Coventry

Darlington MP

Esher

London

Fylde

Hull Ionians

Loughborough Students

Old Albanian

Plymouth Albion

London teams: Blackheath Old Elthamians Rosslyn Park

London teams:
Blackheath
Old Elthamians
Rosslyn Park

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2017–18 National 1 teams in England

Greater London National League 1 clubs

Blackheath

Blackheath

Old Elthamians

Old Elthamians

Rosslyn Park

Rosslyn Park

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2017–18 Greater London National League 1 clubs

Twelve of the sixteen teams participated in the preceding season's competition. The 2016–17 champions, Hartpury College, were promoted to the 2017–18 RFU Championship, replacing London Welsh who went into liquidation, in the second half of the season, and ceased to exist as a professional team.^[6] Due to London Welsh's liquidation only two teams (instead of the usual three) were relegated last season – Macclesfield and Blaydon – both of whom drop to the 2017–18 National League 2 North.

The promoted teams are Bishop's Stortford and Caldy, champions of the 2016–17 National League 2 South and 2016–17 National League 2 North respectively, and Old Elthamians who won the promotion play-off against Sale FC.^[7]^[8]^[9] National League 1 is the highest level all three of these sides have ever reached.

Team	Ground	Capacity	City/Area	Previous season
Ampthill	Dillingham Park	3,000	Ampthill, Bedfordshire	3rd
Birmingham Moseley	Billesley Common	5,000 (1,300 seated)	Birmingham, West Midlands	5th
Bishop's Stortford	Silver Leys	1,600	Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire	Promoted from National League 2 South (champions)
Blackheath	Well Hall	1,650 (550 seats)	Eltham, Greenwich, Greater London	7th
Caldy	Paton Field	4,000	Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside	Promoted from National League 2 North (champions)
Cambridge	Grantchester Road	2,200 (200 seats)	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire	14th
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000 (3,000 seats)	Coventry, West Midlands	4th
Darlington Mowden Park	Northern Echo Arena	25,500	Darlington, County Durham	10th
Esher	Molesey Road	3,500 (1,200 seats)	Hersham, Surrey	8th
Fylde	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire	12th
Hull Ionians	Brantingham Park	1,500 (240 seats)	Brantingham, East Riding of Yorkshire	13th
Loughborough Students	Loughborough University Stadium	3,000	Loughborough, Leicestershire	11th
Old Albanian	Woollam Playing Fields	1,000	St Albans, Hertfordshire	9th
Old Elthamians	College Meadow	1,800	Eltham, Greenwich, London	Promoted from National League 2 South (play-off)
Plymouth Albion	The Brickfields	8,500	Plymouth, Devon	2nd
Rosslyn Park	The Rock	2,000	Roehampton, London	6th

League table

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2017–18 National League 1 table
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Coventry (C)	30	27	0	3	1213	495	+718	26	0	134	Promoted
2	Darlington Mowden Park	30	23	1	6	838	637	+201	19	2	115
3	Plymouth Albion	30	20	2	8	844	549	+295	18	6	108
4	Ampthill	30	19	4	7	797	540	+257	17	5	106
5	Blackheath	30	17	2	11	764	636	+128	13	3	88
6	Old Elthamians	30	15	1	14	714	709	+5	14	5	81
7	Birmingham Moseley	30	14	2	14	680	770	−90	13	6	79
8	Bishop's Stortford	30	15	1	14	750	713	+37	8	8	78
9	Esher	30	11	2	17	774	827	−53	18	8	74
10	Cambridge	30	14	0	16	613	600	+13	8	8	72
11	Caldy	30	12	0	18	726	743	−17	12	8	68
12	Rosslyn Park	30	10	2	18	766	863	−97	15	7	66
13	Loughborough Students	30	10	3	17	756	894	−138	10	6	62
14	Hull Ionians (R)	30	10	1	19	685	941	−256	14	3	59	Relegated
15	Old Albanian (R)	30	9	1	20	620	941	−321	11	5	54
16	Fylde (R)	30	3	0	27	405	1087	−682	4	4	20

Updated to match(es) played on 12 May 2018. Source: ^[10]
Rules for classification: Points system: 4 points for a win; 2 points for a draw; 1 point if a team loses by seven points or less (losing bonus); 1 point if the team scores four or more tries in a match (try bonus)

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
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
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated

Fixtures

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Round 1

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2 September 2017
15:00

Birmingham Moseley 21 – 21 Ampthill

Club	Home games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Ampthill	15	4,819	321	738	155	11%
Birmingham Moseley	15	12,005	800	2,130	475	16%
Bishop's Stortford	15	9,145	610	1,152	313	38%
Blackheath	15	10,560	704	1,650	293	43%
Caldy	15	6,299	420	784	254	10%
Cambridge	15	6,963	464	912	313	21%
Coventry	15	28,030	1,869	3,758	1,357	47%
Darlington Mowden Park	15	14,428	962	1,879	622	4%
Esher	15	11,364	758	1,203	469	22%
Fylde	15	7,565	504	723	380	6%
Hull Ionians	15	4,037	269	408	127	18%
Loughborough Students	15	3,851	257	512	103	9%
Old Albanian	15	4,963	331	420	270	33%
Old Elthamians	15	6,360	424	1,653	186	24%
Plymouth Albion	15	16,834	1,122	2,898	671	13%
Rosslyn Park	15	9,577	638	862	324	32%

Structure

Participating teams and locations

League table

Fixtures

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Rounds 14, 15 & 18 (rescheduled matches)

Round 24

Round 25

Rounds 17 & 24 (rescheduled matches)

Round 26

Rounds 19 & 24 (rescheduled matches)

Round 27

Round 28

Round 29

Round 30

Round 24 (rescheduled game)

Round 19 (rescheduled game)

Attendances

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Season records

Team

Attendances

Player

Notes

See also

References

External links