The South Wales Men's League is a 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

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. The competition was formed in 2003 as the RLC Welsh Premier. Following the 2012 restructure of amateur rugby league in Great Britain, it was renamed the South Wales Premiership.

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 founded in 1997 as the ''Southern Conference'', a 10-team pilot league for teams in the

South of England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...

and

English 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, Herefordshi ...

. The RLC first expanded into Wales in 2001 when Cardiff Demons joined the South West division. In 2003, the RLC expanded with the creation of the Welsh Premier division. This division had 6 teams in the inaugural season and was the first all-Welsh rugby league division. The Welsh Premier division was split into two divisions, East Wales and West Wales, in 2006, though this split was reversed for the following season. The Welsh Conference Junior League began in 2009. In 2010, due to the growth of the sport, a Championship division was formed which would function at one tier lower than the present Premier division. This Championship division featured teams from South Wales. The RLC Welsh Championship division was restructured after four West Wales clubs failed to fulfil their fixtures. Amman Valley Rhinos, Dinefwr Sharks, Swansea/Llanelli Dragons and West Wales Wild Boars were omitted and replaced with newly formed Dyffryn Devils. In 2012 the league became the South Wales Premiership, with the lower Championship division being abolished. 2012 also saw the creation of the North Wales Conference. This was part of large restructure of the RLC as the Conference League South (CLS) was created. In 2017, the competition was renamed as the South Wales Premier League, and saw three Conference League South teams return to the competition with the CLS not running that year. From 2023, the winners of the competition will play the winners of the North Wales Conference for a place in the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

. Due to logistical issues 2023 Champions (in their debut season), South Wales Jets were allocated the Welsh League place in the Challenge Cup. Source: For the 2024 season, JES Group was announced as the competition's principal sponsor.

Position in Pyramid

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 ...

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 ...

# League 1 #

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 # South Wales Men's League

Teams

Eight teams will contest the 2024 season: * Aberavon Fighting Irish * Bridgend Blue Bulls * Cynon Valley Cavaliers * Rhondda Outlaws * South Wales Jets * South Wales Saints * Swansea Rams * Torfaen Tigers

Format

The competition is played as a single round robin with one loop fixture, the top four teams qualify for the playoffs.

Winners

Source: ; RLC Welsh Premier era * 2003: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2004: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2005: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2006: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2007: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2008: Valley Cougars * 2009: Blackwood Bulldogs * 2010: Valley Cougars * 2011: Bridgend Blue Bulls ;South Wales Premiership era * 2012: Bonymaen Broncos * 2013: Torfaen Tigers * 2014: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2015: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2016: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2017:

Valley Cougars Valley Cougars are a rugby league team based in Treharris. They play in the Wales Premier League, which they won in 2017 after defeating the Torfaen Tigers in the league's Grand Final. History They were founded in 2001 as Cynon Valley Cougars an ...

* 2018:

* 2019: Rhondda Outlaws * 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: Bridgend Blue Bulls * 2022: Rhondda Outlaws * 2023: South Wales Jets * 2024: Aberavon Fighting Irish

Shield/Plate winners

The South Wales Premiership has, on occasion, held a shield/plate competition for clubs who failed to reach the playoffs: * 2004: Cardiff Demons * 2005: Newport Titans * 2009: Newport Titans * 2010: NPT Steelers * 2011: Bonymaen Broncos * 2014: Valley Cougars

Second Tier

During the RLC era, a second tier competition was held for a brief period called the "RLC Wales Regional". Winner were: *2010: Neath Port Talbot Steelers *2011: Bonymaen Broncos

Junior league

The South Wales Premiership also operates at under-17, under-15, and under-13 age groups.

References

External links

Official Wales Rugby League website
{{British Rugby League links Rugby league in Wales Rugby League Conference Sports leagues established in 2003 Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom