Introduction
The Student Rugby League is becoming increasingly more competitive year by year
but also teams are coming under more pressure of time year by year. The average
number of games played in a season by each team in the competition is 12. That
includes all cup and league games and in most cases does not represent even
fulfilling their league obligations.
The National League is a big success in terms of both playing standards and
also of fulfilling fixtures. It does however put great pressure on teams for
travelling and also in terms of time and money. There are teams in the Regional
Leagues who are ready to enter a National League but there is no space. The
following is a proposal for a re-structure of the leagues into leagues of 6
(with a maximum of 10 fixtures) and an expanded National League, which reduces
travel.
National League
There will be two conferences of 5 teams and each team plays every body in their
own Conference at home and away they also play every one in the other Conference
EITHER home OR away.
| Northern Conference | Southern Conference |
| Leeds Met | UWIC |
| John Moores | Loughborough |
| Chester | St Mary's, Twickenham |
| Warrington | (Luton) |
| Durham | (Coventry) |
Regional Leagues
| North East | Yorkshire | Yorkshire Alliance |
| Newcastle | Bradford | Barnsley |
| Teesside | Leeds | Sheffield "A" |
| Northumbria | Hull | Leeds "A" |
| Sunderland | Huddersfield | Leeds Met "A" |
| New College, Durham | TASC | Bradford "A" |
| Durham "A" | York | Hull "A" |
| Northwest | Northwest (2) | Northwest Alliance |
| Edge Hill | Liverpool | John Moores "A" |
| Hope | Lancaster | Warrington "A" |
| St Helens | Man Met | Manchester "A" |
| Salford | St Martin's | Salford "A" |
| Winstanley | UCL | |
| Manchester |
| Midlands | Midlands Alliance | Wales & The West |
| Birmingham | UCE "A" | Cheltenham |
| UCE | Birmingham "A" | Glamorgan |
| Leicester | Coventry "A" | UWIC "A" |
| Staffs | Loughborough "A" | Bristol |
| Crewe | Luton "A" | Swansea |
| Warwick | Exeter |
| South | East Midlands | Southern Alliance |
| Greenwich | Hallam | Portsmouth |
| Herts | Sheffield | Oxford "A" |
| Cambridge | Lincoln | St Mary's "A" |
| Bedford | Trent | |
| Oxford | Nottingham | |
| Brunel |
This gives us 14 Divisions of a Domestic League each League will have 30 games
to decide the Championship giving a league programme of 420 games. This represents
a 10 per cent increase in the number of games scheduled but seems achievable
with rationalisation.
There are some gaps in the Leagues and also some "A" teams entered where none
currently exist. It will be our job to expand our competition to fill these
gaps and also to expand our clubs to create these teams. I believe that if a
Club sets out to have two teams then it can achieve two teams.
Niel Wood
SRL Director