Counties 5 Surrey
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 1989 |
| Ceased | 1992 |
| Re-formed | 2022 |
| Number of teams | 9 |
| Country |  England |
| Holders | Kew Occasionals RFC (1st title) (1991–92) |
Counties 5 Surrey is a rugby union competition covering the English county of Surrey and parts of south-west London. It sits at the bottom of English Rugby union system, at level 11, making it the lowest level competition still controlled by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The winner of the league is promoted for the following season to Counties 4 Surrey. There is no relegation from the league, and no promotion into it, however new teams can apply to join.
The league was first formed in the 1989–90 season and ran for three years before its closure at the end of the 1991–1992 season. When the league was disbanded, teams were either automatically promoted to Surrey 4, moved to other leagues, or folded.
As part of a larger restructuring of the entire English rugby union pyramid, undertaken by the RFU, the league was re-formed. Beginning with the 2022–23 season, nine teams from Surrey and south-west London compete in the division.
Teams for 2024–25
[edit]Leaving the league are Reigate and London French (promoted to Counties 4 Surrey), replaced by Guilfordians and Staines both relegated from the same league. Feltham joined for the first time having previously competed in Surrey Conference League 2023-2024.
With two leaving and three joining the league was made up of 10 sides for the first time having had 9 since its inaugural year.
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Locations of the 2024-25 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Greater London Locations of the 2024-25 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Surrey
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Teams for 2023–24
[edit]Leaving the league were Old Hamptonians and Haslemere, both promoted to Counties 4 Surrey replaced by Croydon, relegated from Counties 4 Surrey and London French who had most recently competed in Herts & Middlesex 2 in 2021-22.
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Locations of the 2023-24 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Greater London Locations of the 2023-24 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Surrey
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Teams for 2022–23
[edit]This was the first season following the RFU Adult Competition Review. The league was substantially similar to Surrey 4 but while that league had been at level 12 of the English rugby pyramid the new league was at level 11.
Six of the teams had previously competed in Surrey 2 and they were joined by three sides from Surrey 3 - Egham Hollowegians, Merton and Raynes Park - who remained in a level 11 league.
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Locations of the 2022-23 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Greater London Locations of the 2022-23 Counties 5 Surrey teams in Surrey
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Original teams
[edit]When the competition began in 1989, the following teams played in the division:
- Economicals - relegated from Surrey 4
- Gibraltar Engineers - new to league
- Haslemere - relegated from Surrey 3
- Lightwater - relegated from Surrey 3
- Oxted - relegated from Surrey 3
- Racal-Decca - relegated from Surrey 3
- Woking - new to league
Surrey 5 honours
[edit]| Season | No of
Teams |
Champions | Runners–up | Relegated Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–90[1] | 7 | Gibraltar Engineers | Racal-Decca | No relegation | |||
| 1990–91[2] | 7 | Woking | Shene Old Grammarians | No relegation | |||
| 1991–92[3] | 10 | Kew Occasionals | London Media | No relegation | |||
| 2022-23[4] | 9 | Old Hamptonians | Haslemere | No relegation | |||
| Green backgrounds are promotion places. | |||||||
Number of league titles
[edit]- Gibraltar Engineers (1)
- Woking (1)
- Kew Occasionals (1)