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1987–88 Courage Area League North
1987–88 Courage Area League North
Countries	England
Champions	Rugby (1st title)
Runners-up	Durham City (not promoted)
Relegated	Solihull, Derby, Birkenhead Park
Matches played	110
	1988–89 →

The 1987–88 Courage Area League North was the first full season of rugby union within the fourth tier of the English league system, currently known as National League 2 North, and was the counterpart to Courage Area League South (now National League 2 South). Each team played one match against the other teams, playing a total of ten matches each. There was no set date for matches, clubs having to arrange the fixtures among themselves.^[1]^[2] Rugby were the first ever champions, gaining promotion to the 1988–89 National Division Three while Solihull, Derby and Birkenhead Park were the relegated sides.^[3] Solihull and Derby dropped to Midlands 1 while Birkenhead Park fell into North 1.

Structure

Each team played one match against each of the other teams, playing a total of ten matches each. The champions are promoted to National Division 3 and the bottom three teams were relegated to either North 1 or Midlands 1 depending on their locality. The reason that there were three relegated teams (compared to the 1987–88 Courage Area League South) was that both teams relegated from National Division 3 were based in the northern section of the country.

Participating teams and locations

Locations of the 1987–88 Courage Area League North teams

Team	Ground	Capacity	City/Area
Birkenhead Park	Upper Park		Birkenhead, Wirral
Broughton Park	Hough End		Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester
Derby	Haslams Lane		Derby, Derbyshire
Durham City	Hollow Drift		Durham, County Durham
Lichfield	Cooke Fields		Lichfield, Staffordshire
Northern	McCracken Park	1,000	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Roundhay	Chandos Park		Roundhay, Leeds West Yorkshire
Rugby	Webb Ellis Road	1,000	Rugby, Warwickshire
Solihull	Sharmans Cross	2,500	Solihull, West Midlands
Stourbridge	Stourton Park	3,000	Stourbridge, West Midlands

^[1]^[2]

League table

1987–88 Courage Area League North table
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Rugby (C)	10	9	0	1	184	100	+84	18	Promoted
2	Durham City	10	8	0	2	165	100	+65	16
3	Roundhay	10	6	2	2	131	67	+64	14
4	Preston Grasshoppers	10	5	1	4	178	149	+29	11
5	Northern	10	5	1	4	121	137	−16	11
6	Broughton Park	10	5	0	5	152	106	+46	10
7	Stourbridge	10	5	0	5	132	134	−2	10
8	Lichfield	10	4	0	6	150	165	−15	8
9	Birkenhead Park (R)	10	4	0	6	117	179	−62	8	Relegated
10	Derby (R)	10	2	0	8	136	169	−33	4
11	Solihull (R)	10	0	0	10	59	219	−160	0

Source: ^[3]
Rules for classification: Points are awarded as follows:

2 pts for a win
1 pt for a draw
0 pts for a loss

If teams are level at any stage, difference between points for and against applies
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Sponsorship

Area League North is part of the Courage Clubs Championship and was sponsored by Courage Brewery.

References

^ ^a ^b Stephen Jones, ed. (1988). Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1988–89. London: Rothmans Publications Ltd.
^ ^a ^b Tony Williams and Bill Mitchell, ed. (1990). Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91. Windsor: Burlington Publishing Co Ltd.
^ ^a ^b "Area League 1987/88". The Rugby Archive. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.