2002–03 National Division Three North

2002-03 National Division Three North
Countries	England
Champions	Nuneaton
Runners-up	New Brighton
Relegated	Scunthorpe, Hull Ionians, Broadstreet, Bedford Athletic
Attendance	N/A[a 1]
Top point scorer	Tony Handley Waterloo 293 points
Top try scorer	Jody Peacock Nuneaton 21 tries
← 2001-02 2003-04 →

The 2002–03 National Division Three North was the third season (fifteenth 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 Preston Grasshoppers and Waterloo who were relegated from the 2001–02 National Division Two while promoted teams included Broadstreet who came up as champions of Midlands Division 1 while Halifax (champions) and Hull Ionians (playoffs) came up from North Division 1.^[1][2][3] 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.

By the end of the season Nuneaton would finish as champions, just edging out runners up New Brighton by virtue of an extra win and gaining promotion to the 2003–04 National Division Two.^[4] New Brighton would go into a promotion playoff away at the 2002–03 National Division Three South runners up Lydney but were unable to join Nuneaton as Lydney won 21 - 7 to claim the final promotion slot.^[5] At the other end of the table, Scunthorpe were the first team to be relegated with just one win all season while Hull Ionians, Broadstreet and Bedford Athletic were the other teams to go down at a later date with Bedford Athletic just one point off safety.^[4] Hull Ionians would drop to North Division 1 while Scunthorpe, Broadstreet and Bedford Athletic would drop to Midlands Division 1.^[6][7]

Participating teams and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bedford Athletic	Putnoe Woods	500	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Blaydon	Crow Trees		Swalwell, Tyne and Wear
Broadstreet	Ivor Preece Field	250 (seated)	Coventry, West Midlands
Darlington Mowden Park	Yiewsley Drive		Darlington, County Durham
Dudley Kingswinford	Heathbrook		Kingswinford, Dudley, West Midlands
Halifax	Ovenden Park		Halifax, West Yorkshire
Hull Ionians	Brantingham Park	300 (seats)	Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Liverpool St Helens	Moss Lane		St Helens, Merseyside
New Brighton	Hartsfield	2,000	Wirral, Merseyside
Nuneaton	Liberty Way	4,314 (514 seats)	Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Scunthorpe	Heslam Park		Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	400 seats	Corbridge, Northumberland
Waterloo	St Anthony's Road	9,000 (200 seats)	Blundellsands, Merseyside

Final league table

2002–03 National Division Three North Table
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points
1	Nuneaton (C)	26	23	0	3	802	406	396	46
2	New Brighton	26	22	0	4	812	441	371	44
3	Waterloo	26	21	0	5	888	458	430	42
4	Halifax	26	17	0	9	666	588	78	34
5	Darlington Mowden Park	26	14	0	12	688	491	197	28
6	Liverpool St Helens	26	12	1	13	612	574	38	25
7	Tynedale	26	12	1	13	561	582	-21	25
8	Blaydon	26	12	0	14	568	645	-77	24
9	Preston Grasshoppers	26	11	1	14	617	625	-8	23
10	Dudley Kingswinford	26	10	1	15	502	596	-94	21
11	Bedford Athletic (R)	26	10	0	16	497	625	-128	20
12	Broadstreet (R)	26	8	1	17	477	795	-318	17
13	Hull Ionians (R)	26	6	1	19	515	747	-232	13
14	Scunthorpe (R)	26	1	0	25	343	975	-632	2
Reference Rugby Statbunker: Updated 19-04-2003

Results

Round 1

^[8]

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Round 2

^[9]

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Round 3

^[10]

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Round 4

^[11]

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Round 5

^[12]

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Round 6

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 December 2002.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 December 2002.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 December 2002.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 December 2002.

^[13]

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Round 7

^[14]

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Round 8

^[15]

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Round 9

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 February 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 28 December 2002.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 February 2003.

^[16]

---

Round 10

^[17]

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Round 11

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

^[18]

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Round 12

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

^[19]

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Round 13

^[20]

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Round 14

^[21]

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Round 15

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2003.

^[22]

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Rounds 6 & 9 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 19 October 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 9 November 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 19 October 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 19 October 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 19 October 2002.

^[23]

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Round 16

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 February 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2003.

^[24]

---

Round 17

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 April 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 February 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 March 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 February 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

^[25]

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Round 18

^[26]

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Round 19

^[27]

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Round 20

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 April 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 April 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 5 April 2003.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 19 April 2003.

^[28]

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Round 21

^[29]

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Rounds 9, 16 & 17 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 4 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 9 November 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 9 November 2002.

^[30]

---

Round 22

^[31]

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Round 23

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 March 2003.

^[32]

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Rounds 11, 12, 17 & 23 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 1 March 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 30 November 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 23 November 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

^[33]

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Round 24

^[34]

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Rounds 15, 16 & 17 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 4 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 21 December 2002.

• Game rescheduled from 4 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

^[35]

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Round 25

^[36]

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Rounds 17 & 20 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 11 January 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2003.

^[37]

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Round 26

^[38]

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Round 20 (rescheduled games)

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 1 February 2003.

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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. Lydney were runners-up in the south and because they had a better league record than north runners-up, New Brighton, they hosted the play-off match.

^[5]

Total season attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bedford Athletic	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Blaydon	2	250	125	150	100	N/A
Broadstreet	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Darlington Mowden Park	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Dudley Kingswinford	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Halifax	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Hull Ionians	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Liverpool St Helens	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
New Brighton	1	500	500	500	500	25%
Nuneaton	1	1,200	1,200	1,200	1,200	28%
Preston Grasshoppers	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Scunthorpe	7	2,025	289	450	200	N/A
Tynedale	0	0	0	0	0	N/A
Waterloo	0	0	0	0	0	0%

Individual statistics

• Note if players are tied on tries or points the player with the lowest number of appearances will come first. Also note that points scorers includes tries as well as conversions, penalties and drop goals.

Top points scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Points 1 Tony Handley Waterloo 26 293 2 Mark Bedworth Darlington Mowden Park 23 254 3 Phillip Belgian Tynedale 23 224 4 Simon Worsley Liverpool St Helens 24 211 5 Paul Brett New Brighton 21 204 6 Nick Cooper Hull Ionians 25 195 7 Jody Peacock Nuneaton 25 176 8 Graham Holroyd Halifax 17 172 9 Jamie Elphick Bedford Athletic 21 136 10 Sengili Tuihalamaka Preston Grasshoppers 17 135 [39]

Top try scorers Rank Player Team Appearances Tries 1 Jody Peacock Nuneaton 25 21 2 Gary Marshall Nuneaton 26 21 3 Oliver Viney Preston Grasshoppers 25 19 4 Freeman Payne Waterloo 26 18 5 Rob Hitchmough Waterloo 24 17 6 Jan Van Deventer Waterloo 24 16 7 Gary Monaghan Preston Grasshoppers 25 16 8 Jon Wells Bedford Athletic 19 14 9 Fergus Griffies Waterloo 20 14 10 Thomas McLaren Blaydon 23 14 [40]

Season records

Team Largest home win — 67 pts 67 - 0 Bedford Athletic at home to Scunthorpe on 22 March 2003 Largest away win — 60 pts 60 - 0 Darlington Mowden Park away to Scunthorpe 22 February 2003 Most points scored — 71 pts 71 - 19 Waterloo at home to Broadstreet on 8 February 2003 Most tries in a match — 11 Bedford Athletic at home to Scunthorpe on 22 March 2003 Most conversions in a match — 8 Waterloo at home to Broadstreet on 8 February 2003 Most penalties in a match — 8 Darlington Mowden Park at home to Hull Ionians on 21 December 2002 Most drop goals in a match — 2 Liverpool St Helens at home to Nuneaton on 23 November 2002 [41][42][43][44] Player Most points in a match — 35 Mark Bedworth for Darlington Mowden Park at home to Hull Ionians on 21 December 2002 Most tries in a match — 4 (x3) Oliver Viney for Preston Grasshoppers at home to Scunthorpe on 16 November 2002 Fergus Griffies for Waterloo away to Scunthorpe on 15 February 2003 Rod Penney for Dudley Kingswinford at home to Liverpool St Helens on 22 February 2003 Most conversions in a match — 8 Tony Handley for Waterloo at home to Broadstreet on 8 February 2003 Most penalties in a match — 8 Mark Bedworth for Darlington Mowden Park at home to Hull Ionians on 21 December 2002 Most drop goals in a match — 2 (x2) Simon Worsley for Liverpool St Helens at home to Darlington Mowden Park on 2 November 2002 Simon Worsley for Liverpool St Helens at home to Nuneaton on 23 November 2002 [45][46][47][48][49]

Attendances Highest — 1,200[b 1] Nuneaton at home to Broadstreet on 1 November 2002 Lowest — 150[b 2] Blaydon at home to Nuneaton on 12 October 2002 Highest Average Attendance — N/A[b 3] Lowest Average Attendance — N/A[b 4] ↑ Note that attendance tracking was very poor this season and there may have been higher attendances that were not recorded. ↑ Note that attendance tracking was very poor this season and it is likely that there were lower attendances that were not recorded. ↑ Note that attendance tracking was very poor this season and is impossible to give even a slightly accurate figure for the team with the highest average attendance. ↑ Note that attendance tracking was very poor this season and is impossible to give even a slightly accurate figure for the team with the lowest average attendance. [50]

See also

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

References

External links

• NCA Rugby

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