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 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