Rugby League National Leagues

The Rugby League National Leagues (currently known as the LHF Healthplans National Leagues as a result of sponsorship) form the basis for rugby league competition in Great Britain below Super League. There are three leagues: Leagues One and Two are semi-professional, whilst League Three is "open"; professionalism is allowed, though most teams are in fact amateur.

Structure

A play-off structure is used to determine the winners of League One, who are then eligible for promotion to Super League, being replaced by the team being relegated from that competition. One team is relegated from League One, being replaced by the team finishing top of League Two. There is also a play-off structure involving the second bottom team of League One and the team finishing behind the league leaders in League Two; this allows for a potential second promotion/relegation spot.

The play-offs for League One and League Two are a top-six format, whilst the National League Three play-offs involve 8 teams, and utilise the McIntyre System. In National League Two the position of "first place" in the play-off structure is taken by the team attempting to avoid relegation from NL1, as the top team is promoted automatically.

There is no promotion or relegation between Leagues Two and Three at the moment; current RFL policy is to expand the top two leagues gradually over time. When the 'gap' in playing standards between League Two and League Three is narrowed in 2007 or so, promotion and relegation will occur between these two divisions.

A cup competition, the National League Cup, is played for by all clubs in Leagues one and Two; in 2005 four League Three clubs were also admitted. The teams are organised into regional conferences, with knock-out stages following from the group stage.

History and future development

Most of the clubs in Leagues One and Two had previously played in a single division containing all professional clubs below the Super League. This was known as the Northern Ford Premiership.

Many of the teams in League Three, as well as London Skolars of League Two, came from the Rugby League Conference, an organisation of regional amateur teams throughout England and Wales including areas that have not traditionally been rugby league strongholds. Of the other League Three clubs four (Bradford Dudley Hill, Huddersfield Underbank Rangers, Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks and Warrington Wizards) came from the National Conference League. The NCL is an amateur division largely confined to the traditional areas of the game, though London Skolars had played in the competition prior to the formation of the Rugby League Conference.

One League Three club, Bramley Buffaloes, was admitted directly to the league as a new club, though they can also be considered as an incarnation of the previous Bramley club, which had long played in the professional leagues.

At the end of the 2005 an extra team will be relegated from Super League in order to accommodate Union Treiziste Catalane. In turn an additional team will be relegated from National League One; thus the number of teams in this division will remain at ten. In order to "even up" the numbers a new team will be admitted into the League Two, increasing this division to twelve team. This side may come up from League Three (Coventry Bears are known to have expressed interest), though this is not certain. Another suggestion is that a Welsh team (possibly called Welsh Warriors) based on the old rugby union team Celtic Warriors may join National League Two.

Results

See Rugby League Championship Second Division and Rugby League Championship Third Division for full lists of lower league championship winners (1895-date).

Footnote

1. Denotes that championship was not decided using a play-off; league position alone determined the title-holder.

Teams

There are ten teams each in Leagues One and Two and twelve in League Three.

For 2005 season

At the end of the 2004 season Blackpool West Coast Panthers were created out of Chorley Lynx, while Warrington Woolston Rovers renamed themselves Warrington Wizards but continued to field a reserve side called Woolston Rovers in the BARLA National Conference. South London Storm and Manchester Knights dropped out of NL3 to join the newly created Rugby League Conference Premier, reducing the league to a 12 team competition.

See also

• Super League
• Rugby League Conference
• Northern Ford Premiership
• National League Cup

External links

• results and tables from totalrl.com

<British_Rugby_League_links> <Rugby_league_NL1>