North 1 West

The teams competing in 2021-22 achieved their places in the league based on performances in 2019–20, the 'previous season' column in the table below refers to that season not 2020–21.

Team Ground Capacity City/Area Previous season Altrincham Kersal Stelfox Avenue Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 3rd Birkenhead Park Upper Park 2,000 Birkenhead, Wirral 6th Bowdon Clay Lane Timperley, Altrincham, Greater Manchester 12th Broughton Park Hough End Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester 11th Carlisle Rugby Ground, Warwick Road 1,500 (250 seats) Carlisle, Cumbria Relegated from North Premier (12th) Douglas Port-E-Chee Douglas, Isle of Man 8th Glossop Hargate Hill Lane Charlesworth, Glossop, Derbyshire Promoted from North 2 West (runners-up) Firwood Waterloo St Anthony's Road 9,950 (950 seats)[1] Blundellsands, Merseyside 4th Kendal Mint Bridge Stadium 3,500 (258 seats) Kendal, Cumbria Level transfer from North 1 East (5th) Manchester Grove Park 4,000 (250 seats) Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Greater Manchester Promoted from North 2 West (champions) Penrith Winters Park Penrith, Cumbria 10th Stockport The Memorial Ground 500 Stockport, Greater Manchester 7th Vale of Lune Powder House Lane 4,000 (50 seats) Lancaster, Lancashire 9th Wilmslow Memorial Ground Wilmslow, Cheshire 5th

Birkenhead Carlisle Douglas Glossop Waterloo Kendal Greater Manchester Penrith Vale of Lune Wilmslow class=notpageimage| Locations of the 2021–22 North 1 West teams in NW England Altrincham Bowdon Broughton Park Manchester Stockport class=notpageimage| Locations of the 2021–22 North 1 West teams in Greater Manchester

On 30 October 2020 the RFU announced ^[2] that due to the coronavirus pandemic a decision had been taken to cancel Adult Competitive Leagues (National League 1 and below) for the 2020/21 season meaning North 1 West was not contested.

When league rugby began in 1987 this was a single division containing the following teams from the north of England:

• Alnwick
• Aspatria
• Bradford & Bingley
• Davenport^[a]
• Halifax
• Huddersfield
• Lymm
• Manchester
• New Brighton
• Sandal
• Wilmslow

The original North Division 2 was a tier 6 league with promotion up to North Division 1 and relegation down to either North East 1 or North West 1.

The creation of National 5 North for the 1993–94 season, meant that North Division 2 dropped from being a tier 6 league to a tier 7 league for the years that National 5 North was active.

The cancellation of National 5 North at the end of the 1995–96 season meant that North Division 2 reverted to being a tier 6 league.

For the 2000–01 season, North Division 2 was split into two regional divisions - North 2 East and North 2 West. While promotion continued up into North Division 1, the cancellation of the North West 1, North West 2 and North West 3 meant that relegation was to either North Lancashire/Cumbria or South Lancs/Cheshire 1.

For the 2009–10 season the division would be renamed North 1 West as part of wholesale national restructure of the league system by the RFU leading to mass changes at all levels including in the north.

Since the 2000–01 season there has been a play-off between the runners-up of North 1 East and North 1 West for the third and final promotion place to North Premier. The team with the superior league record has home advantage in the tie. At the end of the 2019–20 season the North 1 East have been the most successful with thirteen wins to the North 1 West teams six; and the home team has won promotion on fifteen occasions compared to the away teams five.