County Championship While this was going on, representatives of the eight leading county clubs held a private meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. The new competition began in the 1890 season and at first involved just the eight leading clubs: Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. Subsequently, the championship has been expanded to 18 clubs by the additions at various times of Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It is difficult to know when the concept of a county championship originated. While early matches were
County Championship (rugby union) Westmorland, and the Furness part of Lancashire, is shown separately from Cumberland and Lancashire. "Eastern Counties" and "Notts, Lincs & Derby" have reached the final but have never won the championship. Gloucestershire are the only county to have completed a "hat-trick of tat-trick" of county titles: 1920,1921 & 1922; 1930,1931 & 1932; 1974,1975 & 1976. John Fidler, former Gloucester, Gloucestershire and England lock forward, still holds the record for the most County Championship Final appearances, nine in all, from 1971 to 1984. County Championship (rugby union) The County Championship is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing