The

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

Division One West (also called the SWALEC Division One West for sponsorship reasons) is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

league in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

first implemented for the 1995/96 season. The league was formed in 2006 when the WRU divided the old Division One into two leagues, West and

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Competition format and sponsorship

Competition

There are 12 clubs in the WRU Division One West. During the course of a season (which lasts from September to April) each club plays the others twice, once at their home ground and once at that of their opponents for a total of 22 games for each club, with a total of 132 games in each season. Teams receive four points for a win and two point for a draw, an additional bonus point is awarded to either team if they score four tries or more in a single match. No points are awarded for a loss though the losing team can gain a bonus point for finishing the match within seven points of the winning team. Teams are ranked by total points, then by the number of wins, then by the number of tries scored and then by their points ratio (points for, divided by points against). At the end of each season, the club which finishes top (as determined by the above criteria) is crowned as champion.

Promotion

For the 2011/12 season five clubs will be promoted to the new National Championship. Unlike past seasons, for 2011/12 the criteria for promotion is not based on the current season's results, but instead takes into account the past five seasons results. Each club is awarded a meritocracy score depending on their league placings over the past five seasons and the five clubs with the highest meritocracy scores are promoted.

Relegation

For the 2011/12 season there will be no relegation. Instead the seven clubs who are not promoted into the new National Championship via the meritocracy criteria detailed above will remain in Division One West for the 2012/13 season.

Sponsorship

In 2008 the Welsh Rugby Union announced a new sponsorship deal for the club rugby leagues with

SWALEC SWALEC was an electricity supply and distribution company in South Wales, established in 1989 following the de-regulation of the electricity supply industry in the United Kingdom. The business has seen several changes of ownership from 1996, and ...

. The sponsorship is a three-year deal that will continue until the 2010/11 season at a cost of £1 million (GBP). The leagues sponsored are the WRU Divisions one through to six. * (2002–2005)

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Established in Birmingham in 1765, Lloyds Bank e ...

* (2005–2008)

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

* (2008–2011)

Winners

References

{{Rugby union club leagues in Wales 3