1987–88 Courage League National Division One
Countries	England
Champions	Leicester Tigers (1st title)
Runners-up	Wasps
Relegated	Coventry Sale
Matches played	64
1988–89 →

The 1987–88 Courage League National Division One was the first season of the first tier of the English rugby union league system. It was the first season of a truly national rugby union league, which is currently known as the Gallagher Premiership.

There was no fixture list; the teams arranged fixtures amongst themselves. One match would count between each of the twelve teams involved and the points scheme was such that a team received four points for a win, two for a draw and one point for a loss. Most teams played eleven games, although some played ten due to cancellations. There was also unequal home and away fixtures, with some sides (Coventry, Harlequins) playing up to seven games at home, while others (Waterloo) as little as four.

Leicester Tigers finished first in the league table and were crowned champions. Coventry and Sale were relegated to the 1988–89 Courage League National Division Two for next season, the latter side having lost all of its eleven matches. Rosslyn Park and Liverpool St Helens were promoted from the 1987–88 Courage League National Division Two for the following season. ^[1]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	The Recreation Ground	8,200	Bath, Somerset
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol, Avon
Coventry	Coundon Road	9,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Gloucester	Kingsholm	11,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins	The Stoop	8,500	Twickenham, London
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,000	Leicester, Leicestershire
Moseley	The Reddings	10,000	Birmingham, West Midlands
Nottingham	Ireland Avenue	4,950	Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	5,500	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Sale	Heywood Road	5,400	Sale, Greater Manchester
Wasps	Repton Avenue	3,000 [2]	Sudbury, London
Waterloo	St Anthony's Road	9,000	Blundellsands, Merseyside

League table

1987–88 Courage League National Division One Table [3]
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Points
1	Leicester Tigers (C)	10	9	0	1	225	133	92	37
2	Wasps	11	8	1	2	218	136	82	36
3	Harlequins	11	6	1	4	261	128	133	30
4	Bath	11	6	1	4	197	156	41	30
5	Gloucester	10	6	1	3	206	121	85	29
6	Orrell	11	5	1	5	192	153	39	27
7	Moseley	11	5	0	6	167	170	–3	26
8	Nottingham	11	4	1	6	146	170	–24	24
9	Bristol	10	4	1	5	171	145	26	23
10	Waterloo	10	4	0	6	123	208	–85	22
11	Coventry (R)	11	3	1	7	139	246	–107	21
12	Sale (R)	11	0	0	11	95	374	–279	11
Points are awarded as follows: 4 pts for a win 2 pt for a draw 1 pt for a loss
Red background are teams relegated.

Results Table

The home team is listed in the left column.

Table of Results

Clubs	BAT	BRI	COV	GLO	HAR	LEI	MOS	NOT	ORR	SAL	WAS	WAT
Bath Rugby		15–9			21–9		14–0		23–18			10–17
Bristol Rugby				16–21			21–10			37–3	12–12
Coventry	9–9	25–3			12–15			15–20	11–24	24–19		15–10
Gloucester RFC	9–16		39–3				18–12	17–9		61–7	13–24
Harlequins		28–22 [4]		9–9		9–12		34–8	6–12	66–0		37–4
Leicester Tigers	24–13	15–10	32–16							42–15	12–9	39–15
Moseley			26–3		11–32	3–21			28–10		19–12	27–3
Nottingham	25–15	3–16				13–22	21-12		12–12
Orrell		13–25		9–13		30–6				19–0		30–6
Sale	17–46						15–19	0–17			6–14
Wasps	19–15		49–6		17–16			17–9	23–15
Waterloo				16–6				10–9		29–13	13–22

Home Win

Draw

Away Win

Fixtures & results

Clubs had to organise their own fixtures so there was no organised round by round fixture lists and also no equal allocation of home and away matches. Dates of games and results are given below in date order. ^[5]

September 1987

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October 1987

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November 1987

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December 1987

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January 1988

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February 1988

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March 1988

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April 1988

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• League and cup double header. The 1988 John Player Cup final would also count as Harlequins v Bristol Courage League game. ^[4]

Cancelled games

Sponsorship

National Division One is part of the Courage Clubs Championship and is sponsored by Courage Brewery

See also

• 1987–88 Courage League National Division Two
• 1987–88 Courage League National Division Three
• 1987–88 Courage Area League North
• 1987–88 Courage Area League South

References