2003–04 National Division Three North

2003–04 National Division Three North
Countries	England
Champions	Waterloo
Runners-up	Halifax
Relegated	Longton, Liverpool St Helens, Preston Grasshoppers
Attendance	N/A[a 1]
Top point scorer	Anthony Birley (New Brighton) 316 points
Top try scorer	Neil Kerfoot (Waterloo) 23 tries
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 National Division Three North was the fourth season (sixteenth 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 Fylde and Kendal who were relegated from the 2002–03 National Division Two while promoted teams included Longton who came up as champions of Midlands Division 1 while Darlington (champions) and Macclesfield (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.

After two seasons spent in the division Waterloo would pip Halifax to the title by the narrowest of margins finishing dead level on points but going up to the 2004–05 National Division Two by virtue of a massively better for and against record.^[4] Halifax would suffer a double disappointment by missing out on their second stab at promotion as they lost narrowly at home to 2003–04 National Division Three South runners up Launceston in the promotion playoff.^[5][6] Relegated teams included newly promoted Longton (who gained only 4 points all season), Liverpool St Helens and Preston Grasshoppers.^[4] Longton would drop back down to Midlands Division 1 while Liverpool St Helens and Preston Grasshoppers would fall to North Division 1.^[7][8]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Blaydon	Crow Trees	2,000 (400 seats)	Swalwell, Tyne and Wear
Darlington	Blackwell Meadows	3,000	Darlington, County Durham
Darlington Mowden Park	Yiewsley Drive		Darlington, County Durham
Dudley Kingswinford	Heathbrook	2,260	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
Liverpool St Helens	Moss Lane	3,000[9]	St Helens, Merseyside
Longton	Trentham Fields		Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Macclesfield	Priory Park	1,250 (250 seats)	Macclesfield, Cheshire
New Brighton	Hartsfield	2,000	Wirral, Merseyside
Preston Grasshoppers	Lightfoot Green	5,000	Preston, Lancashire
Tynedale	Tynedale Park	2,000 (400 seats)	Corbridge, Northumberland
Waterloo	St Anthony's Road	9,000 (200 seats)	Blundellsands, Merseyside

2003–04 National Division Three North table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Waterloo (C)	26	25	0	1	979	343	+636	50	Promoted
2	Halifax	26	25	0	1	755	405	+350	50	Promotion play-off
3	Darlington Mowden Park	26	16	0	10	602	439	+163	32
4	Blaydon	26	14	1	11	587	434	+153	29
5	New Brighton	26	14	1	11	583	499	+84	29
6	Fylde	26	14	0	12	529	531	−2	28
7	Tynedale[a]	25	12	0	13	462	407	+55	24
8	Darlington	26	11	1	14	511	569	−58	23
9	Kendal	26	11	1	14	417	681	−264	23
10	Macclesfield	26	10	2	14	507	642	−135	22
11	Dudley Kingswinford	26	10	1	15	482	655	−173	21
12	Preston Grasshoppers (R)	26	7	0	19	443	754	−311	14	Relegated
13	Liverpool St Helens (R)	26	5	3	18	461	612	−151	13
14	Longton[b] (R)	25	1	2	22	300	647	−347	4

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 March 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 24 April 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 1 May 2004.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 21 February 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 31 January 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 18 October 2003.

• Game rescheduled from 31 January 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 24 January 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 18 October 2003.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 6 March 2004.

• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 27 March 2004.

• Game would initially be postponed but due to fixture congestion it would ultimately be cancelled.

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• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2004.

• Game rescheduled from 1 November 2003.

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• Game rescheduled from 28 February 2004.

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• Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 May 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 13 December 2003.

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• Game rescheduled from 31 January 2004.

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• Game rescheduled from 17 April 2004.

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

^[5]

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Blaydon	3	420	140	150	120	7%
Darlington	1	450	450	450	450	15%
Darlington Mowden Park	0	0	0	0	0
Dudley Kingswinford	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Fylde	1	400	400	400	400	4%
Halifax	1	1,500	1,500	1,500	1,500
Kendal	2	630	315	350	280	11%
Liverpool St Helens	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Longton	0	0	0	0	0
Macclesfield	0	0	0	0	0	0%
New Brighton	1	450	450	450	450	23%
Preston Grasshoppers	0	0	0	0	0	0%
Tynedale	1	150	150	150	150	8%
Waterloo	0	0	0	0	0	0%

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

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

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