North West Men's League

North West Men's League
Sport Rugby league
Instituted 2011
Country  England
Related competition Rugby League Conference, North West Counties

The North West Men's League is a rugby league competition for clubs in the North West of England. It is a successor league for the Rugby League Conference also comprising clubs from the North West Counties League following most of the latter switching to summer to follow the National Conference League.

History

The North West Men's League comes from the merger of elements from two strands of rugby league: the British Amateur Rugby League Association and Rugby League Conference.

The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) was created in 1973 by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. BARLA merged the Leigh, Manchester, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan districts into a new North West Counties league and created an elite National Conference League, this saw a revitalisation of the game in heartland areas of the North West of England.

In contrast, the Rugby League Conference (RLC) was born in 1997 as the Southern Conference, a 10-team pilot league for teams in the South of England and English Midlands taking place in the summer time rather than the traditional winter season. It led to the creation of many new teams in non-traditional areas; the first North West team to join the new league were the Chester Wolves; more teams from the North West joined the following season and a Northern Division was set up with teams from the North West and the North Midlands. Following a big expansion to the Rugby League Conference in 2003, the North West got its own regional division.

By 2008, there were enough sides for a higher level North West Premier division to be created and in 2010, a North West Merit League was created out of existing merit leagues.

With the RLC growing rapidly, some BARLA sides chose to leave traditional winter leagues and join the summer-based RLC. However, in 2011, the National Conference League, voted to switch to a summer season and most of the reserve teams followed. There was a short season from September to November in 2011 with teams from British Amateur Rugby League Association league North West Counties league playing in two divisions under the name North West Men's League.

The Rugby League Conference was replaced in 2012 by a series of locally administered leagues. This saw the North West Men's League merge with the RLC North West Premier and regional divisions as well as the North West merit league to create a six division structure.

2015 Divisions

Premier Division

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Merit League

Entrance Division

2014 Divisions

Premier Division

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Entrance Division

entered other divisions and entry league:

entered but did not play:

2013 Divisions

Premier Division

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Division 5

Entrance Division

2012 Divisions

Premier Division

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Division 5

Entrance Division

2011 structure

Division 1

Division 2

NB:

Past winners

Premier Division

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Division 5

Entrance Division

See also

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