The Northumberland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the historic county of Northumberland, England and one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1880.

In 1912 they began using the land of the Northumberland County Ground and later built a stadium.

After moving from Scotland where he played for Royal HSFP and Edinburgh, James Robertson then played for Northumberland, a local club - but not the County team.

Robertson was the first known black rugby union player.

[2] There are currently 24 clubs [3] affiliated with the Northumberland RFU, making it one of the smaller unions in England.