Northumberland Senior Cup (rugby union)


The Northumberland Senior Cup is an annual rugby union competition held between the clubs of the Northumberland RFU which was first played in 1882. It is the senior county cup for the Northumberland Rugby Union, which includes Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, and Northumberland. The current holders are Morpeth who defeated Alnwick in the 2020 cup final. Most finals were held at the Northumberland County Ground from 1932 up until 1988; before and after the County Ground's existence Senior Cup Finals have been played at various venues in the county.
The Senior Cup is currently the premier county cup competition for club sides affiliated to the Northumberland Rugby Football Union typically based at level 5 and level 6 of the English rugby union system, although the 2nd XV of Tynedale, Berwick and the two university's in Newcastle have taken part in the competition. The format is as a knock-out cup with a quarter-final, semi-final and final, which is to be played at a neutral ground in April on Easter Saturday.

Past winners

Clubs now defunct*

By number of wins (clubs)

TeamWins
Years
Gosforth 30 1928, 1956, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993*, 1994
Tynedale24 1887, 1906, 1911, 1914, 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1948, 1988, 1992, 1993*, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014
Percy Park221886, 1897, 1899, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1913, 1921, 1924, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1958, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018
Northern171882, 1884, 1888, 1891, 1903, 1904, 1912, 1926, 1931, 1937, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1989, 1995
Rockcliff131890, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1920
Morpeth51998, 2002, 2007, 2016, 2020
Medicals41922, 1923, 1952, 1953
Seghill41925, 1929, 1930, 1932
Alnwick31984, 2017, 2019
Tynemouth21883, 1885
Berwick11997
Newcastle University11965
Northumbria University12015

Northumberland Senior Plate

With the advent of professionalism, the gap between some clubs became too great in the county. In 2002 the Northumberland Senior Plate was inaugurated as a competition for clubs outside of the top 8 Northumberland clubs every season.