Student RL structure confirmed

The Student Rugby League competition structure for 2012-2013 has been confirmed and features over 70 teams from Higher Education institutes across the country.

A new six-team Premier Division replaces the old Super 8 competition at the top of the pyramid with three National Conferences below, split geographically into North, South and Midlands.

Eight Regional Conferences sit below this; North West 1 and 2, North East, Yorkshire, Midlands, South, Wales and West and finally West.

RFL Director of Participation David Gent said: “We have worked closely with BUCS on the re-development of the leagues to create a structure which allows every team and every player to play at the appropriate level.

“Some players are experiencing Rugby League for the first time at University and the RFL and SRL board are committed to ensuring that their first experience is a positive one.

“We wanted to ensure that the top league is as strong as possible and improve the standards of those teams as we continue to deliver a successful university programme that provides competitive fixtures across each of the leagues.

“The introduction of another national conference has also provided the opportunity for more new teams to compete successfully at a national standard.

“Some of the teams that have made the step up to national level such as UWE and Bath have only been running a few years and Rugby League has just been made a performance focus sport at Exeter so there is some great progress being made.”

Bolton make their competitive Rugby League debut in North West 2 Regional Conference whilst Cumbria return to the competition structure for the first time in two years.

Reading University have moved up to the South Regional Conference in only their second year of playing Rugby League after completing their first season last year in the SRL Merit League.

Oxford Brookes have also expanded from one to three teams over the last year, their first team have moved into the National South, the second team up from the Merit League to West Regional Conference and their third team will play in the Merit League.

 

2012-2013 Student Rugby League

 

Premier

Gloucestershire

Hull

Leeds Met

Loughborough

Northumbria

St Mary's

 

National Conferences

 

National South

Bath

UWIC

Exeter

Oxford

Oxford Brookes

UWE

 

National Midlands

 

Birmingham

Coventry

Loughborough A

Northampton

Nottingham

Nottingham Trent

 

National North

Edge Hill

Leeds Met A

Liverpool

LJMU

Newcastle

Sheffield Hallam

 

Regional Conferences

 

North West 1

Cumbria

Manchester

Manchester Met

MMU Cheshire

Salford

UCLan

 

North West 2

Bangor

Bolton

Chester

Lancaster

Manchester A

 

North East

Durham

Newcastle A

Northumbria A

Teeside

York St Johns

 

Yorkshire

Bradford

Huddersfield

Hull A

Leeds

Leeds Trinity

Sheffield

 

Midlands

Birmingham A

Coventry A

Derby

Leicester

Lincoln

Loughborough B

Nottingham A

Nottingham Trent A

Warwick

 

South

Brunel

Cambridge

Essex

Middlesex

Reading

St Marys A

 

Wales & West

Aberystwyth

Cardiff Met A

Glamorgan

Gloucester A

Swansea

 

West

Bristol

Exeter A

Glamorgan A

Oxford A

Oxford Brookes A

South Gloucester & Stroud