Sport Rugby Union Country England | Number of teams 10 Most titles Stourbridge (7 titles) | |
Instituted 1971; 46 years ago (1971) Holders Birmingham & Solihull (2015–16) | ||
The North Midlands Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out cup club competition organised by the North Midlands Rugby Football Union and was first contested during the 1971-72 season with the inaugural cup being won by the now defunct Birmingham Police, who beat Evesham at the final held at The Reddings in Birmingham (formerly home of Moseley RFC). It is currently open for clubs ranked in tier 5-6 of the English rugby union system that fall under the North Midlands RFU umbrella, including sides based in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. Originally the North Midlands Cup was the sole cup competition in the region but in 2001 and 2005, the North Midlands Shield and North Midlands Vase competitions were introduced for lower ranked clubs. A further change in 2014 saw the introduction of a 'Plate' competition for sides eliminated in the early stages of the cup.
The current format is as a knock-out cup with a preliminary round, quarter-final, semi-final and final which is held at a neutral venue in May (currently Heathbrook, home of Dudley Kingswinford RFC) along with the shield and vase finals. Due to the disjointed numbers of teams several teams have play in the preliminary round. Teams that lose in either the preliminary or quarter final stage then contest the plate while winners go on to contest the cup proper.