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Stoke-on-Trent RUFC

English rugby union club

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ65048052 ↗
Source-derived summary

Stoke-on-Trent Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club located to the east of Barlaston near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The first XV currently play in Regional 2 Midlands North, a sixth tier league in the English rugby union system, following their relegation from Regional 1 North West at the end of season 2024–25.

Early league history

When league rugby was introduced in 1987, Stoke-on-Trent was placed in Midlands Division 1 and won promotion to Area 4 North in their first season. However, after two seasons they were relegated back to tier 5, having narrowly escaped relegation the previous season and in their relegation season of 1989–90 they lost every league game. They won immediate promotion back to Area 4 North and stayed there until they were placed in a new fifth tier – Courage League Division 5 – following a league structure by the RFU. They remained in the North Division until another restructure in 1996 saw them move back to the fourth tier - National 4 North - but after just a single season they were relegated to Midlands Division 1.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Stoke-on-Trent RUFC” as english rugby union club. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stoke-on-Trent, RUFC and English.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2024, 1987, 1989, 1996—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Stoke-on-Trent, RUFC and English providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Stoke-on-Trent RUFC”, the useful work is to connect “english rugby union club” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65048052. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1987, 1989 and 1996.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Stoke-on-Trent RUFC primary sources, Stoke-on-Trent RUFC archive and Stoke-on-Trent research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Stoke-on-Trent RUFC” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.