Contents

2018–19 National League 1

2018–19 National League 1
Countries	England
Date	1 September 2018 – 27 April 2019
Champions	Ampthill (1st title)
Runners-up	Old Elthamians
Relegated	Loughborough Students, Esher, Caldy
Matches played	240
Attendance	131,144 (average 546 per match)
Highest attendance	3,556 Plymouth Albion v Moseley 30 March 2019
Lowest attendance	133 Old Elthamians v Caldy 1 December 2018
Tries scored	1600 (average 6.7 per match)
Top point scorer	Tom White (Old Elthamians) 270 points
Top try scorer	Craig Holland (Chinnor) 25 tries
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1, is the tenth 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 32nd season since league rugby began in 1987.

The league was one of the most competitive for years, with promotion and relegation not decided until the last round. In terms of the championship, at one point it looked like four teams could go on to win it, but in the end it was a two horse race between Ampthill and Old Elthamians. The real decider was when Ampthill won 36-6 at home over Old Elthamians on 3 March 2019, but they still had to keep their head for the remaining five games as Old Elthamians pushed them all the way, eventually claiming the title on 27 April 2019 when they won 52-20 away to Loughborough Students.^[1] Ampthill would be promoted to the 2019–20 RFU Championship - the highest level the club had reached - where they could enjoy derby games at Bedford Blues.

The relegation battle was also hotly contested, with all three sides going down on the last day of the season. Loughborough Students had barely escaped relegation the previous year but after a poor first half of the season, they started to rally and gain some victories, helped by their try bonus record which was one of the best in the league, and looked at one point that they might do it yet again. However, defeats in their last two games against Plymouth Albion and champions, Ampthill, condemned them to the drop as the bottom ranked side in the division.^[1] They were joined by Esher (15th), who went down despite a valiant win away to Blackheath, and Caldy (14th), who were relegated after losing to Birmingham Moseley, finishing just 2 points shy of 13th place Cambridge, who had an excellent away win to Sale FC to thank for keeping them up.^[2][3] Loughborough and Caldy would drop to the 2019–20 National League 2 North while Esher would fall to the 2019–20 National League 2 South. For Esher demotion to level 4 will make it the lowest level they have played at since the 1999-00 season.

Structure[edit]

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 are usually three relegation places with the bottom three teams relegated to either National League 2 NorthorNational League 2 South depending on the geographical location of the team.

The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
• 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
• 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.

Participating teams and locations[edit]

Twelve of the sixteen teams participated in the preceding season's competition. The 2017–18 champions, Coventry, were promoted to the 2018–19 RFU Championship, swapping places with bottom club, Rotherham Titans, who were relegated from the 2017–18 RFU Championship.^[4][5] Sides relegated from the 2017–18 National League 1 included Fylde and Hull Ionians (both National League 2 North) and Old Albanian (National League 2 South).^[6][7][4]

Teams promoted into the division include Cinderford and Sale FC, champions of 2017–18 National League 2 South and 2017–18 National League 2 North respectively, along with south runners up Chinnor who defeated the north's Sedgley Park in the promotion play-off.^[8][9][10] Cinderford are returning to National League 1 after an absence of two seasons, while Sale FC and Chinnor are both playing at the highest league level in their history.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Ampthill Dillingham Park 3,000 Ampthill, Bedfordshire 4th Birmingham Moseley Billesley Common 5,000 (1,300 seated) Birmingham, West Midlands 7th Bishop's Stortford Silver Leys 1,600 Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire 8th Blackheath Well Hall 1,650 (550 seats) Eltham, Greenwich, Greater London 5th Caldy Paton Field 4,000 Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside 11th Cambridge Grantchester Road 2,200 (200 seats) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 10th Chinnor Kingsey Road 2,000 Thame, Oxfordshire Promoted from National 2 South (play-off) Cinderford Dockham Road 2,500 Cinderford, Gloucestershire Promoted from National 2 South (champions) Darlington Mowden Park Northern Echo Arena 25,500 Darlington, County Durham 2nd Esher Molesey Road 3,500 Hersham, Surrey 9th Loughborough Students Loughborough University Stadium 3,000 Loughborough, Leicestershire 13th Old Elthamians College Meadow 1,800 Eltham, Greenwich, London 6th Plymouth Albion The Brickfields 8,500 Plymouth, Devon 3rd Rosslyn Park The Rock 2,000 Roehampton, London 12th Rotherham Titans Clifton Lane 2,500 Rotherham, South Yorkshire Relegated from Championship (12th) Sale FC Heywood Road 3,387 Sale, Greater Manchester Promoted from National 2 North (champions)

Ampthill Birmingham Moseley Bishop's Stortford Blackheath Caldy Cambridge Chinnor Cinderford Darlington MP Esher Loughborough Students Old Elthamians Plymouth Albion Rosslyn P Rotherham Titans Sale FC class=notpageimage| 2018–19 National 1 teams in England

League table[edit]

Fixtures & Results[edit]

Round 1[edit]

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Round 2[edit]

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Round 3[edit]

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Round 4[edit]

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Round 5[edit]

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Round 6[edit]

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Round 7[edit]

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Round 8[edit]

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Round 9[edit]

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Round 10[edit]

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Round 11[edit]

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Round 12[edit]

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Round 13[edit]

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Round 14[edit]

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Round 15[edit]

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Round 16[edit]

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Round 17[edit]

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Round 18[edit]

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Round 19[edit]