Location England, United Kingdom Attendance 80,527 Tries scored 1,327 | Start date September 2016 Country England Matches played 182 | |
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Lowest attendance 113 Loughborough Students v Hull Ionians (7 January 2017)113 Loughborough Students v Old Albanian (4 February 2017) People also search for 2015–16 National League 1 | ||
The 2016–17 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the eighth 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 30th season since league rugby began in 1987.
Contents
Structure
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 is 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. Due to the expulsion of the championship team London Welsh in January 2017, only two teams will be relegated.
Participating teams and locations
Twelve of the sixteen teams participated in last season's competition. The 2015–16 champions, Richmond, are promoted to the 2016–17 RFU Championship and are replaced by Birmingham Moseley (who changed their name from Moseley prior to the season) who are relegated from the 2015–16 RFU Championship. The three teams relegated last season, are Henley Hawks and Cinderford (both to the 2016–17 National League 2 South) and Wharfedale (2016–17 National League 2 North) – with Wharfedale dropping from the third tier for the first time in 20 years. The promoted teams are Cambridge and Macclesfield champions of the 2015–16 National League 2 South and 2015–16 National League 2 North respectively, and Old Albanian who won the promotion play-off against Sedgley Park.
Round 11
* Hartpury is the first team (in the top three divisions) to win a bonus point in eleven consecutive matches.