2005–06 National Division Three North

2005–06 National Division Three North
Countries	England
Champions	Bradford & Bingley
Runners-up	Nuneaton (also promoted)
Relegated	Kendal, New Brighton
Attendance	38,787 (average 266 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	1,575 Fylde v Preston Grasshoppers 7 January 2006
Lowest attendance	50 Leicester Lions v Cleckheaton 7 January 2006
Top point scorer	Tom Rhodes (Bradford & Bingley) 270 points
Top try scorer	Alan Brown (Darlington) 25 tries

The 2005–06 National Division Three North was the sixth season (eighteenth 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 Nuneaton who were relegated from the 2004–05 National Division Two while Leicester Lions came up as champions of Midlands Division 1 along with Preston Grasshoppers (champions) and Hull Ionians (playoffs) who were promoted 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.

After just missing out on the playoffs last season, Bradford & Bingley went two places better by winning the championship, finishing 13 points clear of runners up Nuneaton to gain promotion to the 2006–07 National Division Two.^[4] Nuneaton would, however, make an instance return to National Division Two after their relegation a season ago, by defeating 2005–06 National Division Three South runners up North Walsham away in the north–south playoff.^[5][6] There were only two relegation spots this year with the two teams to go down being Kendal and New Brighton.^[4] They were easily the weakest in the division with 13th placed New Brighton finishing 41 points behind 12th placed Leicester Lions. Both sides would drop down to North Division 1.^[7]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Blaydon	Crow Trees	2,000 (400 seats)	Swalwell, Tyne and Wear
Bradford & Bingley	Wagon Lane	4,000	Bingley, West Yorkshire
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
Kendal	Mint Bridge	3,000 (300 stand)	Kendal, Cumbria
Leicester Lions	Westleigh Park	2,000	Blaby, Leicestershire
Macclesfield	Priory Park	1,250 (250 seats)	Macclesfield, Cheshire
New Brighton	Hartsfield	2,000	Wirral, Merseyside
Nuneaton	Liberty Way	4,314 (514 seats)	Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	2,000 (400 seats)	Corbridge, Northumberland

2005–06 National Division Three North table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Bradford & Bingley (C)	26	23	1	2	934	465	+469	16	0	110	Promoted
2	Nuneaton[a] (P)	25	20	1	4	705	382	+323	12	3	97	Promotion play-off
3	Blaydon	26	20	0	6	792	386	+406	14	1	95
4	Tynedale	26	16	1	9	650	430	+220	9	5	80
5	Darlington	26	13	1	12	666	562	+104	17	6	77
6	Preston Grasshoppers	26	13	3	10	763	605	+158	13	3	74
7	Hull Ionians	26	12	1	13	565	581	−16	5	7	62
8	Fylde[b]	25	12	2	11	569	542	+27	7	1	60
9	Macclesfield	26	10	2	14	560	520	+40	8	5	57
10	Cleckheaton[c]	25	11	0	14	476	550	−74	7	7	53[d]
11	Darlington Mowden Park	26	10	1	15	472	578	−106	7	3	52
12	Leicester Lions	26	9	2	15	484	732	−248	8	4	52
13	New Brighton[e] (R)	25	2	0	23	358	1035	−677	2	1	11	Relegated
14	Kendal (R)	26	1	1	24	297	923	−626	1	1	8

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• Game brought forward from 26 November 2005.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 February 2006.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 29 April 2006.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 2006.

• Game brought forward to 17 September 2005.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 5 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 5 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 5 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 5 November 2005.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 29 April 2006.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

• Game initially postponed but due to fixture congestion and the fact that the result would not affect the final league table the game would ultimately be cancelled.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 11 March 2006.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 4 March 2006.

• Game rescheduled from 4 March 2006.

• Game rescheduled from 19 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 19 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 4 March 2006.

• Game rescheduled from 17 December 2005.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 May 2006.

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• Game initially postponed but due to fixture congestion and the fact that the result would not affect the final league table the game would ultimately be cancelled.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 26 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 1 April 2006.

• Game rescheduled from 4 March 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 12 November 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 11 February 2006.

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• Game rescheduled from 18 March 2006.

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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. North Walsham were the southern division runners up and as they had a superior league record than northern runners-up, Nuneaton, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Blaydon	9[a 2]	1,985	221	350	180	11%
Bradford & Bingley	11[a 3]	3,341	304	750	210	8%
Cleckheaton	11[a 4]	4,500	409	800	300
Darlington	13	2,625	202	550	125	7%
Darlington Mowden Park	12[a 5]	1,785	149	280	87
Fylde	10[a 6]	4,790	479	1,575	250	5%
Hull Ionians	9[a 7]	3,100	344	500	200	23%
Kendal	12[a 8]	2,650	221	350	150	7%
Leicester Lions	11[a 9]	1,140	104	250	50	5%
Macclesfield	10[a 10]	2,547	255	347	147	20%
New Brighton	7[a 11]	1,857	265	400	150	13%
Nuneaton	10[a 12]	2,260	226	500	100	5%
Preston Grasshoppers	8[a 13]	3,007	376	574	150	8%
Tynedale	13	3,200	246	500	100	12%

• 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