It became better known as the Burgess Report after its lead creator, John Burgess, the former Lancashire, North and England coach, and (later) RFU president. The report identified the lack of serious competition as the cause of the England team's underachievement. One of its key recommendations was to re-introduce the concept of a Divisional Championship, but with each division playing each other in a round-robin system to decide the winner. So, after a break of four seasons, the Divisional Championship returned in December of the 1985/86 season and was won for the first time by the Midlands, who claimed victories in all three of their matches. In late 1995, chairman of the RFU's competitions committee, John Jeavons-Fellows, helped create an RFU report that called for the abolition of the Divisional Championship, and on 18 December 1995 the RFU formally announced the end of the tournament with divisional rugby to continue in the form of matches against international touring teams, as it had done prior to the championship's inauguration. Structure The original structure of the competition that covered the 1977/78 and 1980/81 seasons had the four divisions first meet in semi-finals, then a final and a play-off for third and fourth place. During the first season of the competition in 1977, sub-divisional trial matches within the four divisions were also held, and preceded the semi-final stage. During its second inception, beginning in the 1985/86 season, the competition adopted a round-robin format where each divisional team played the other three over successive weekends in November/December, with the team achieving the best record named champion. Past winners 1977-1980 1985-1995 References Rugby union competitions in England Recurring sporting events established in 1977 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1995 1977 establishments in England 1995 disestablishments in England