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.[1][2] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[3][6] Aspatria dropped to North Division 1 while Walsall went into Midlands Division 1.[7][8]
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.
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.
Edgeley Park Attendance: 540 Referee: Doug Chapman
10 February 2001
Doncaster
P - P
Sandal
Game brought forward to 23 September 2000.
10 February 2001
Morley
C - C
Aspatria
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.
10 February 2001
Tynedale
C - C
Walsall
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.
Stourton Park Attendance: 400 Referee: Nick Williams
17 March 2001
Aspatria
P - P
Doncaster
Postponed. Game rescheduled to ?.
17 March 2001
Bedford Athletic
P - P
Dudley Kingswinford
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 April 2001.
17 March 2001
New Brighton
C - C
Tynedale
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.
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.
7 April 2001
Bedford Athletic
P - P
New Brighton
Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 but postponed again till 5 May 2001.
Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000, then 3 March 2001.
14 April 2001
Dudley Kingswinford
P - P
Aspatria
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 May 2001.
14 April 2001
Tynedale
C - C
Whitchurch
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.
Putnoe Woods Attendance: 150 Referee: Tony Rossall
Game rescheduled from 17 March 2001.
28 April 2001
Aspatria
C - C
Stourbridge
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.
28 April 2001
Sedgley Park
C - C
Tynedale
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.
Game initially rescheduled from 30 December 2000 and then again from 7 April 2001.
5 May 2001
Dudley Kingswinford
C - C
Aspatria
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.
5 May 2001
Tynedale
C - C
Sandal
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.
5 May 2001
Whitchurch
C - C
Doncaster
Game rescheduled from 24 March 2001 but would ultimately be cancelled due to fixture congestion.
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.
19 May 2001
Tynedale
C - C
Liverpool St Helens
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.
19 May 2001
Whitchurch
C - C
New Brighton
Game initially rescheduled from 10 March 2001 but ultimately cancelled due to fixture congestion.
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.
26 May 2001
Whitchurch
C - C
Aspatria
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.
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.
^Note that 77 home attendances are missing (see below) - so the total attendance will not be 100% accurate. The average attendance has also been taken into account with the missing games not included.
^Missing home attendance v Nuneaton on 28 October 2000, Whitchurch on 16 December 2000, New Brighton on 27 January 2001 and Liverpool St Helens on 24 February 2001.
^Missing home attendance v Whitchurch on 28 October 2000, Sandal on 2 December 2000, Doncaster on 13 January 2001, Nuneaton on 24 February 2001, Stourbridge on 14 April 2001 and New Brighton on 5 May 2001.
^Missing home attendance v Sandal on 23 September 2000, New Brighton on 30 September 2000 and Walsall on 7 April 2000.
^Missing home attendance v Whitchurch on 13 January 2001 and Morley on 24 February 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Aspatria on 30 September 2000, Bedford Athletic on 6 January 2001, Whitchurch on 17 March 2001 and Stourbridge on 21 April 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Tynedale on 13 January 2001, Doncaster on 3 February 2001, Bedford Athletic on 10 March 2001 and New Brighton on 14 April 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Walsall on 6 January 2001, Sandal on 20 January 2001, Doncaster on 24 February 2001 and Nuneaton on 31 March 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Stourbridge on 16 September 2000, Bedford Athletic on 30 September 2000, Aspatria on 20 January 2001, Whitchurch on 3 February 2001, New Brighton 3 March 2001, Walsall on 10 March 2001, Sandal on 24 March 2001 and Liverpool St Helens on 14 April 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Tynedale on 10 September 2000, New Brighton on 28 October 2000, Aspatria on 11 November 2000, Walsall on 25 November 2000, Bedford Athletic on 23 December 2000, Stourbridge on 6 January 2001, Liverpool St Helens on 27 January 2001, Dudley Kingswinford on 17 February 2001 and Morley on 31 March 2001.
^Missing home attendance v Bedford Athletic on 10 February 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Stourbridge on 30 September 2000, Morley on 11 November 2000, Nuneaton on 6 January 2001 and Doncaster on 17 February 2001.
^Missing home attendances v Liverpool St Helens on 13 January 2001, Whitchurch on 27 January 2001, Aspatria on 17 February 2001, Bedford Athletic on 31 March 2001, Sandal on 14 April 2001 and Morley on 21 April 2001.
^Missing home attendance v Morley on 6 January 2001.
England
