2004–05 National Division Three North

2004–05 National Division Three North
Countries	England
Champions	Halifax
Runners-up	Macclesfield
Relegated	Bedford Athletic, Dudley Kingswinford, Rugby Lions
Attendance	39,276 (average 269 per match)[a 1]
Highest attendance	700 Cleckheaton v Halifax 22 January 2005 Bradford & Bingley v Halifax 16 April 2005
Lowest attendance	70 Blaydon v Kendal 4 December 2004
Top point scorer	Tom Rhodes (Bradford & Bingley) 275 points
Top try scorer	Anzac Luteru (Halifax) 21 tries
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004–05 National Division Three North was the fifth season (seventeenth 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 Rugby Lions who were relegated from the 2003–04 National Division Two while Bedford Athletic were promoted as champions of Midlands Division 1 along with Bradford & Bingley (champions) and Cleckheaton (playoffs) who both came up from North Division 1.^[1][2][3] The season would also see the introduction of a new points system with 4 points being awarded for a win, 2 points being awarded for a draw (replacing the old system of 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw) with the addition of a bonus point being given for scoring 4 or more tries as well as a bonus point given if you manage to lose a game 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.

Halifax would finish as runaway champions of the league, ending up 14 points clear of nearest rivals Macclesfield (even with a cancelled game against Blaydon) and gaining promotion to the 2005–06 National Division Two.^[4] Runners up Macclesfield would fail to join Halifax as they lost their playoff game away to 2004–05 National Division Three South runners up Redruth in the north-south playoff in front of a huge crowd of 4,000 at the Recreation Ground.^[5] Although Halifax won the league with plenty to spare the rest of the division was fairly closely contested with only 3 wins separating 4th placed Fylde from 12th placed Rugby Lions. In terms of relegation newly promoted Bedford Athletic went down first followed by Dudley Kingswinford. The final spot was taken by Rugby Lions suffering their third successive relegation. Rugby Lions would actually have stayed up had in not been for a five-point penalty given for them fielding too many foreign players in a home game against Bedford Athletic.^[4][6][7] All three relegated teams would drop down to Midlands Division 1 for the following season.^[8] Although Rugby Lions were punished from fielding too many overseas players, other teams benefited immensely from their foreign contingent (particularly Halifax and Bradford & Bingley) with six of the top ten try scorers hailing from outside England.

Participating teams and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Athletic	Putnoe Woods	500	Bedford, Bedfordshire
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
Dudley Kingswinford	Heathbrook		Kingswinford, Dudley, West Midlands
Fylde	Woodlands Memorial Ground	9,000	Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire
Halifax	Ovenden Park		Halifax, West Yorkshire
Kendal	Mint Bridge	3,000 (300 stand)	Kendal, Cumbria
Macclesfield	Priory Park	1,250 (250 seats)	Macclesfield, Cheshire
New Brighton	Hartsfield	2,000	Wirral, Merseyside
Rugby Lions	Webb Ellis Road	1,000	Rugby, Warwickshire
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	2,000 (400 seats)	Corbridge, Northumberland

Final league table

2004-05 National Division Three North Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Halifax (C)	25[b 1]	23	1	1	878	399	479	17	1	112
2	Macclesfield	26	19	1	6	607	402	205	8	2	88
3	Bradford & Bingley	26	17	1	8	680	451	229	10	4	84
4	Fylde	26	13	2	11	599	506	93	7	2	65
5	Tynedale	26	13	1	12	512	598	-86	5	4	63
6	New Brighton	26	11	3	12	530	523	7	6	6	62
7	Darlington Mowden Park	26	12	1	13	505	531	-26	7	4	61
8	Darlington	26	10	2	14	532	642	-110	5	6	55
9	Kendal	26	10	1	15	506	584	-78	6	6	54
10	Blaydon	25[b 2]	11	0	14	439	508	-69	5	4	53
11	Cleckheaton	26	10	0	16	458	646	-188	6	5	51
12	Rugby Lions (R)	26	9	2	15	532	523	9	6	8	49[b 3]
13	Dudley Kingswinford (R)	26	8	3	15	444	690	-246	1	5	44
14	Bedford Athletic (R)	26	6	0	20	468	687	-219	3	3	30
Reference Rugby Statbunker: Updated 30-04-2005

Results

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 12 February 2005.

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 12 February 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 March 2005.

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Round 8

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Round 9

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 12 February 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 March 2005.

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Round 10

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Round 11

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Round 12

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Round 13

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Round 14

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 April 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 April 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 April 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 March 2005.

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Rounds 3, 7 & 9 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 6 November 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 20 November 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 25 September 2004.

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Round 19

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Round 20

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 February 2005.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 February 2005.

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Round 21

• Game would initially be postponed but due to fixture congestion was ultimately cancelled as the result would not have any impact on final league standings.

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Round 22

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Round 23

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Rounds 7, 9 & 14 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 20 November 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 6 November 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 8 January 2005.

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Round 24

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Round 25

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Round 14 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 8 January 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 8 January 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 8 January 2005.

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Round 26

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Round 20 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 26 February 2005.

• Game rescheduled from 26 February 2005.

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Promotion play-off

The league runners up of National Division Three South and North would meet in a playoff game for promotion to National Division Two. Redruth were the southern division runners up and as they had a superior league record than northern runners-up, Macclesfield, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

Total season attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Athletic	10[a 2]	2,050	205	350	100	41%
Blaydon	11[a 3]	1,950	177	350	70	9%
Bradford & Bingley	9[a 4]	2,810	312	700	215	8%
Cleckheaton	12[a 5]	4,210	351	700	200
Darlington	11[a 6]	2,320	211	500	120	5%
Darlington Mowden Park	10[a 7]	1,999	200	512	110
Dudley Kingswinford	10[a 8]	3,260	326	520	200
Fylde	11[a 9]	2,827	257	400	150	3%
Halifax	10[a 10]	4,575	458	600	350
Kendal	8[a 11]	2,100	263	400	200	9%
Macclesfield	12[a 12]	3,526	294	437	183	24%
New Brighton	10[a 13]	2,670	267	350	150	13%
Rugby Lions	11[a 14]	2,910	265	350	150	26%
Tynedale	11[a 15]	2,069	188	294	110	9%

Individual statistics

• Note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Season records

See also

• English Rugby Union Leagues
• English rugby union system
• Rugby union in England

References

External links

• NCA Rugby Archived 2015-07-01 at the Wayback Machine