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PITCH CONDITIONS EARLY SEASON – RFU GUIDANCE

Several clubs have expressed concern that pitch conditions have meant that players are currently unable
to prepare adequately for contact in league matches. This is the fourth time in five seasons that this issue
has occurred, with the added challenge that pitches may be determined as unfit for play on opening
weekend 12th September for the Regional and Counties Leagues. In order that we can manage and
mitigate any impact on the league programme, the following protocol should be followed.

1) Clubs at Regional & Counties levels:

a) Where fixtures are scheduled for Week 2 (Sept 12th), clubs should advise their opposition and
their league secretary of any concerns by Noon on Friday 4th September 2026, one week ahead
of the fixture.

b) The League Secretary will advise clubs of the following options:

• If either club has concern over player welfare (insufficient contact training) then the
match can be postponed to the Next Available Weekend (NAW).

• If both clubs are satisfied their players are ‘contact ready’ and if the home club has
concerns over pitch conditions, which are unlikely to change significantly, they should
approach the away club to determine if switching the fixture is possible. Such request to
be discussed with league secretary by Noon on Friday 4th September.

• If there are no concerns over contact preparedness but neither pitch is fit to play, then
clubs should seek alternative pitch or AGP to fulfil fixture. This is by agreement between
clubs and if no agreement then match is postponed to NAW.

• At all times the league secretary MUST be advised and involved in the discussion.

2) Fixtures that go down on Saturday 12th September will go over to Saturday 10th October which
now reverts from a break weekend to a NAW.

The situation will be reviewed later in August and further guidance for Saturday 19th September
and beyond will be issued if appropriate.

3) Please note clubs can also gain access to the RFU AGPs by contacting Rugby365[at]rfu[dot]com. The map
via the link below shows the locations of the RFU AGPs should anyone require it. It is fully appreciated
not all clubs are local to these sites, but RFU will do their upmost to accommodate any requests.
https://www.englandrugby.com/run/club-management/facilities/booking-agp

4) Please contact your League Secretary in the first instance if you require any further information.

02 Aug 26

League Fixtures - 2026-2027

The fixtures for 2026-2027 have been released for the leagues in London & SE and are available for download below.  

The documents below are static and will not show any changes, please refer to englandrugby.com for updates as they are published there.

Regional 1 Leagues South Central South East    
Regional 2 Leagues Anglia South Central South East Thames
Counties 1 Leagues Eastern Counties Essex Hampshire Hertfordshire
  Kent Middlesex Surrey/Sussex  
Counties 2 Leagues Eastern Counties Essex Hampshire Hertfordshire
  Kent Middlesex Surrey Sussex
Counties 3 Leagues Essex Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent
  Surrey      
Counties 4 Leagues Hampshire Kent Surrey  
Counties 5 League Kent Surrey    

22 Jul 26

2026-2027 Fixtures

The fixtures for next season will be issued during the week commencing Monday 22nd June. The delay has been caused by issues beyond our control but should enable us to optimise pitch availability for ground shares and lower XV arrangements.

12 Jun 26

Regional League 2026-27

The RFU have announced the composition of the Regional 1 and 2 Leagues for next season (2026-27) following the completion of the playoffs.

You can seem the details here.

Work will shortly get underway producing the fixtures and it is anticipated they will be published in the second week of June.

16 May 26

RFU Mid-season Briefing

Please see the RFU Mid-season Briefing Document which contains important information.

Click here

30 Jan 26

League Fixtures - 2025-2026 - Update

The live fixtures for 2025-2026 are now available on englandrugby.com

27 Aug 25

Regional Leagues 2025-26

Following the conclusion of the 24/25 season, the Regional 1 and 2 leagues for Season 25/26 have been configured in line with the process laid down by the RFU Regulations and protocol. It should be remembered that Regional One and Regional Two are effectively National leagues organised into geographical clusters to minimise travel at each level. The impact of promotion and relegation in and out of both levels variously changes the landscape year on year throughout the country. This inevitably can sometimes cause the boundary lines to change for the benefit of a range of clubs across more than one league, but there will always be instances of clubs being on one side of a boundary and a neighbouring club on the other side. You can see the make up of the leagues here.

The majority of placements are very straightforward with the invaluable assistance of a mapping tool which visually provides obvious groupings of clubs. The challenge then is to incorporate all the outlying clubs whereby the travel onus is shared as equitably as possible.
This is where mileages sometimes have to be calculated to aid the process, and determine which clubs are placed in which leagues. This is sense checked with the Regional Organising Committee (ROC) and in some cases, it is necessary to delegate final decisions to the ROC who have the necessary local knowledge of how best to allocate their clubs.

In some instances it is necessary to utilise the ‘exceptional circumstance’ proviso, but any amendment has to fit within that definition and be truly exceptional to merit a change from one league to another. There may be a discussion with impacted clubs to explain the issue and agree the final positioning. One such example on this occasion was leaving a club in the same league as last season, as the alternative being would have seen the club yo-yoed between two leagues for the fourth season in succession.
I very much hope that all 216 clubs will look forward to their 25/26 league programme and the opportunity to play some of their traditional fixtures and make new contacts with clubs in their leagues. Any feedback should be addressed to your Regional Organising Committee but you are now able to publicise your opposition for 25/26 season.

Work will now commence on preparation of fixtures which will be published no later than 14th June.

Terry Burwell
Chair, RFU Adult Competitions Management SC
22 May 25

Promotion/Relegation 2025-26

Please see here the current positions so teams can gauge how they stand. We will be publishing regular updates of this 2-page pdf, one with the National and Regional leagues and the other Counties 1 leagues.

We would like to remind all Clubs of the potential effect of teams being relegated from Regional 2 back into their respective Counties 1 Leagues. This causes the numbers out of Counties 1 and below to vary and includes a worst-case scenario which should be taken in context with current league standings. Information was contained in the RFU Pre-Season Briefing Document that ALL Clubs would have received at the start of the season.

The 19 Counties League 1 winners will all be promoted with 5 runners-up from across the country decided on Best Playing Record (BPR).

Your League Secretary should be able to help with any queries you may have.

19 May 26

League Fixtures 2024-2025

The fixtures for 2024-2025 have been released for the leagues in London & SE and are available for download below.  

The documents below are static and will not show any changes, please refer to englandrugby.com for updates as they are published there.

Regional 1 Leagues South Central South East    
Regional 2 Leagues Anglia South Central South East Thames
Counties 1 Leagues Eastern Counties Essex Hampshire Herts/Middx
  Kent Surrey/Sussex    
Counties 2 Leagues Eastern Counties Essex Hampshire Herts/Middx
  Kent Surrey Sussex  
Counties 3 Leagues Hampshire Herts/Middx Kent Surrey
Counties 4 Leagues Hampshire Kent Surrey  
Counties 5 League Kent Surrey    

You can download the complete region's fixtures here

11 Jun 24

End of season issues - 2023-24

Jersey Reds Reprieve
Their unfortunate demise means there will be a reprieve from relegation at each league level. This will be determined by the Best Playing Record (RFU definition in Regulation 1). The spreadsheet here provides the current situation and how this will be determined at the end of the season. The reprieve at Regional 2 will follow down the Counties Leagues of that reprieved club.

Counties One Promotion
This will be the top placed 1st XV from each Counties One League and a further SIX clubs who finish in 2nd place with the Best Playing Record. The spreadsheet here provides the current situation and how this will be determined at the end of the season.

Updated 28 Apr 24