The Midlands Rugby League is a series of summer

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

competition for amateur teams in the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

. The competition was formed in 2006 as the RLC Midlands Premier. Its name changed following the 2012 restructure of amateur rugby league in Great Britain At current the league operates the Midlands Rugby League Premier Division and Midlands Rugby League Championship, in addition to a Midlands Cup and Plate.

History

The

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference, also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Sco ...

(RLC) was born in 1997, then known as the Southern Conference. The RLC Midlands Division (now Midlands Rugby League Championship) was first created in 2001 and lasted until 2003 as the league was split in two parallel divisions due to it being oversubscribed. The RLC Premier Divisions were set up in 2005 for teams who had achieved a certain playing standard and were able to travel further afield to find stronger opposition. The new Premier Divisions included the North Premier, the South Premier, the Central Premier and the Welsh Premier. The Central Premier had two Midlands clubs Telford Raiders and Nottingham Outlaws and the rest of the clubs were from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. The Midlands Premier was created one season later in 2006, and placed between the existing RLC Midlands Division and the RLC National Division. The founder members were Coventry Bears, Telford Raiders, Nottingham Outlaws, Derby City, Birmingham Bulldogs,

Leicester Phoenix Leicester Storm was an amateur community rugby league football club based in Leicester, England. They competed in the Conference League South and their Academy Team competed in the Midlands Rugby League. The club's home was Phoenix Park which ...

and Wolverhampton Wizards. A Midlands Merit League (now defunct) was founded in late 2005 as a feeder league for the RLC Midlands Division, this later Midlands Rugby League Division Two before folding. In 2012 the

was disbanded and all divisions adopting the name Midlands Rugby League.

Position in Pyramid

* 1:

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

* 2:

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

* 3: League 1 * 4:

National Conference League The National Conference League (NCL) comprises the five levels of the British rugby league system at the top end of the amateur pyramid below the professional RFL League 1, League One. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Rugby Football League ...

Conference League South The Southern Conference League is the fourth tier of the British rugby league system. It is the highest level of amateur rugby league outside of the heartlands in Northern England, operating in The Midlands, Southern England, and Wales. It was ...

* 5: Midlands Rugby League Premier Division * 6: Midlands Rugby League Championship

Clubs

''As of 2024'':

Birmingham Bulldogs Birmingham RLFC are a rugby league team based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. They play in the Midlands Premier division of the Rugby League Conference. History ''Birmingham Bulldogs'' were founded in 1989. The club's first season was in 1989 ...

Coventry Bears The Midlands Hurricanes are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. They were founded in 2021 and took over the professional franchise owned by Coventry Bears previously entering the third tier of th ...

, Leamington Royals,

Oxford Cavaliers Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League Football Club is the first amateur rugby league club formed in Oxford in the summer era. For almost thirty years, the Cavaliers have coached and developed several players who have gone on to play the game both pro ...

, Nottingham Outlaws, Sherwood Wolf Hunt,

Swindon St George Swindon St George are a rugby league team playing in the West of England Rugby League. The kit consists of black and red shirts with black shorts and socks. History ''Swindon Bulldogs'' rugby league club existed from the 1980s until 1995. Th ...

, Telford Raiders.

League standings

Premier Division

Key

Titles

Premier Division

RLC Midlands Premier era

* 2006 Nottingham Outlaws * 2007

* 2008 Nottingham Outlaws * 2009

48 Derby City 16 * 2010

* 2011

Bristol Sonics Bristol Sonics are a rugby league club based in Bristol in the South West of England. The Sonics' first team plays in the Conference League South competition, having previously played in the now defunct Rugby League Conference Midlands Premi ...

Midlands Rugby League Premier Division era

* 2012 Northampton Demons * 2013 Telford Raiders * 2014 Northampton Demons * 2015 Northampton Demons * 2016 Coventry Dragons * 2017 Northampton Demons * 2018 Telford Raiders * 2019 Sherwood Wolf Hunt * 2020 Cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

* 2021 Cancelled due to the

* 2022

* 2023 Telford Raiders * 2024 Telford Raiders

Championship

RLC Midlands Division era

* 2001 RLC Midlands Division:

* 2002 RLC Midlands Division:

* 2003 RLC Midlands Division:

* 2004 RLC North Midlands Division: Nottingham Outlaws, RLC South Midlands Division:

* 2005 RLC North Midlands Division: Thorne Moor Marauders (now Moorends-Thorne Marauders RLFC), RLC West Midlands Division: Wolverhampton Wizards (now Wolverhampton RLFC)

RLC Midlands Regional era

* 2006 RLC North Midlands & South Yorkshire Division: Moorends-Thorne Marauders RLFC, RLC West Midlands and South West Division: Gloucestershire Warriors * 2007 RLC West Midlands Division:

* 2008 RLC West Midlands Division:

* 2009 RLC North Midlands Division: Parkside Hawks * 2010 RLC Midlands Division: Leamington Royals * 2011 RLC Midlands Division: Telford Raiders

Midlands Rugby League Division One era

* 2012 Telford Raiders * 2013

A * 2014 Unknown * 2015 Sherwood Wolf Hunt * 2016 Sherwood Wolf Hunt

Midlands Rugby League Championship era

* 2017 Unknown * 2018 Unknown * 2019 Lemington Royals * 2020 Cancelled due to the

* 2021 Cancelled due to the

* 2022 Unknown * 2023 Unknown

Merit League

RLC Midlands Merit League era

* 2006 South Humber Rabbitohs * 2007 St Helens Wild Boars * 2008 Moorends-Thorne Marauders ML * 2009 Birmingham Bulldogs A * 2010 Leicester Storm A * 2011 Hope Valley Hawks

Midlands Rugby League Division Two era

* 2012 Hope Valley Hawks * 2013 Leamington Royals * 2014 Unknown * 2015 Unknown * 2016 Unknown

Junior League

The 2007 season saw the introduction of an informal under-15 league ''Midlands Junior League'' based on Merit League principles. In 2008 the junior competition featured under-14 and under-16 divisions. Midlands clubs voted against clubs outside the Midlands being included for the 2010 season. In 2010 the Under-12s took a tournament based format and Under-11s and Girls Under-12s started on a similar basis. 2011 saw the addition of an Under-18s league and saw the Under-14s take on a tournament based format, with the Under-12s replaced by an Under-13s. From 2018, the league system was replaced by friendly matches and festivals, returning the region to the Midlands Junior Development League. Clubs were encouraged to arrange their own fixtures and to also attend centralised festivals throughout the summer months. Bassetlaw Bulldogs and Immmingham Wasps played the first game in the RFL's new flagship Player Development League on 12th May 2018. Following a number of years of steady growth, in 2023, the Midlands Junior League continued its development, following the formation of a new Midlands Junior League Steering group. 4 regional festivals at U7-U16 age groups were played during the summer of 2023, with a host of friendly fixtures arranged between clubs also. Festivals were held at Bassetlaw Bulldogs, Shrewsbury Lions, Sherwood Wolfhunt and NEW Ravens RLFC.

Current clubs

The following teams participated in 2023, across a range of age groups from U7s to U15s:

Past winners

* 2007 Under-15s: Telford Raiders * 2008 Under-14s: Derby Dragons, Under-16s: Northampton Knights * 2009 Under-12s: Northampton Knights, Under-14s: Redditch Ravens, Under-16s: Nottingham Outlaws * 2010 Under-12s: Northampton Knights, Under-14s: Telford Raiders, Under-16s:

* 2011 Under-16s:

, Under-18s: Northampton Demons * 2012 Under-16s:

Gloucestershire All Golds Bristol All Golds is a rugby league team based at North Bristol RFC Bristol All Golds, formerly the University of Gloucestershire All Golds, consist of six different teams, with the first team entering Kingstone Press Championship 1 for the ...

, Under-18s:

Leicester Storm Leicester Storm was an amateur community rugby league football club based in Leicester, England. They competed in the Conference League South and their Academy Team competed in the Midlands Rugby League. The club's home was Phoenix Park which ...

References

External links

Official website

Unofficial RLC website

Midlands rugby league site

Gloucestershire Rugby League
{{British_Rugby_League_links Rugby League Conference Rugby league in England 2006 establishments in England Sports leagues established in 2006