Dear All,
This email is in relation to entering the Boys North Midlands Youth Cups (U14, U15 & U16) for 2025/26 and is being sent out to all existing club contacts from the 2024/25 season. If your age group contacts or fixture secretaries have changed and you are no longer a relevant person in post please forward this email to the relevant person/s at your club. Two further reminders will be sent out to this existing mailing list before this list will be deleted and contacts included on the Google Docs entry form (link below) will be used instead.
Entries are invited for the 2025/26 North Midlands Boys Youth Cup competitions.
There will be Cup and Plate competitions at Under-14, Under-15 and Under-16 level with ages relating to players at midnight on August 31st 2025. Teams that lose in either the Preliminary Round or 1st Round of the Cup competitions will move automatically into the Plate Competition (providing the losses were not walkovers), meaning all sides will play a minimum of two fixtures.
Rules for the competitions are attached and are obviously in line with RFU Age Grade Regulations. Please note under no circumstances are players allowed to play down an age grade in cup competitions, regardless of whether they have safeguarding permission to do so for the rest of the season – this is not allowed for competition integrity reasons and there is no flexibility around this.
If clubs are aiming to enter a joined-up side with another club, due to not having enough numbers to enter an age grade side of their own then this is possible but not guaranteed and will be judged on a case-by-case basis dependent on circumstances. Please email directly if this is your intention.
A change this year to previous seasons is that all rounds will be played on specific weekends, with no flexibility given to teams to arrange or move. The dates of the competition are below, with a further Reserve Weekend included for when the game should be played if bad weather intervenes. If you cannot commit to Cup/Plate fixtures on these weekends then you should not enter the competition. Whilst not perfectly spaced, the dates picked are there to ensure no clash with state school holidays, Mothers Day or Remembrance Sunday, representative or Academy windows or Schools 7s windows, as well as ensuring we have enough referees to cover the number of games scheduled. The U16s Finals Day is currently scheduled in March as the period from 29/03/26 to 03/05/26 is blocked out as Easter Holidays or an Academy window at this age.
U14s Dates
12/10/25 – Cup Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 19/10/25)
23/11/25 – Cup Round 1 (Reserve Week – 30/11/25)
07/12/25 – Plate Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 14/12/25)
14/12/25 – Plate Round 1 (Reserve Week – 11/01/26)
25/01/26 – Plate Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 01/02/26)
08/02/26 – Cup Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 15/02/26)
01/03/26 – Cup & Plate Semi Finals (Reserve Week – 08/03/26)
26/04/26 – Cup & Plate Finals
U15s Dates
28/09/25 – Cup Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 05/09/25)
19/10/25 – Cup Round 1 (Reserve Week – 09/11/25)
16/11/25 – Plate Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 23/11/25)
30/11/25 – Plate Round 1 (Reserve Week – 07/12/25)
07/12/25 – Cup Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 14/12/25)
18/01/26 – Plate Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 01/02/26)
15/02/26 – Cup & Plate Semi Finals (Reserve Week – 22/03/26)
26/04/26 – Cup & Plate Finals
U16s Dates
05/10/25 – Cup Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 12/10/25)
16/11/25 – Cup Round 1 (Reserve Week – 23/11/25)
07/12/25 – Plate Preliminary Round (Reserve Week – 14/12/25)
14/12/25 – Cup Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 11/01/26)
11/01/26 – Plate Round 1 (Reserve Week – 18/01/26)
01/02/26 – Plate Quarter Finals (Reserve Week – 08/02/26)
15/02/26 – Cup & Plate Semi Finals (Reserve Week – 01/03/26)
22/03/26 – Cup & Plate Finals (Reserve Week – 10/05/26)
The entry fee for each team is £20. Payment can be made only via BACS online at:
Account Name: North Midlands RFU Limited
Account Number: 31436279
Sort Code: 40–20–27.
Please state on the online payment which team and club you are paying for.
Alongside payment, an entry form (link here – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1q1_rINaMH88WjEAW2vFBCx8l4qG-2uz24bwVAneHUVB9Sg/viewform?usp=dialog) must be completed by all sides being entered.
By completing this form clubs are agreeing to let the Competition Organisers use your data for communications within these competitions unless they state here that they wish otherwise. This is to improve the ease of communication between clubs. Until both actions are completed your side will not be entered.
All entries must be completed by 12 noon on Monday 8th September 2025.
The draw will be completed shortly after that same week in September, where fixtures will be announced.
All six finals will be held in March or April 2026 (dates above), with venue/s to be decided at a later date.
All the best for the season to come.
Kind Regards
Alex
Alex Smith
North Midlands Youth Cup Secretary (U14-U16)
