The Rugby League Conference (RLC), 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, Scotland and Wales.
It was founded in 1997 as the Southern Conference League.
History
Background
In 1895, several clubs in the North of England broke away from the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the governing body of rugby football in England, over the issue of player expenses.
This led to the great schism which resulted in rugby becoming two separate sports: rugby union administered by the RFU and rugby league administered by the Rugby Football League as the two games evolved different sets of rules.
Although rugby league spread overseas, sanctions by the RFU made it more difficult for the sport to expand beyond its "heartlands" in the traditional counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumberland.
Earlier non-heartland competitions
Prior to the Rugby League Conference, there were several non-heartland leagues throughout England run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA); the most recent ones being the London Amateur Rugby League, the Midlands and South West Amateur Rugby League Association (MASWARLA), the East Midlands Amateur Rugby League Association (EMARLA), the Eastern Counties Amateur Rugby League and the North Eastern Amateur Rugby League Association (NEARLA).
The Eastern Counties and the MASWARLA competitions folded in 1995 (as did the Welsh Amateur League of the time) The few remaining teams were absorbed by the London ARL and the EMARLA. The London League initially regionalised its division 2 to cope with the increased travel pressures this caused, but they were unable to keep up numbers for this. While their leagues at the time survived (albeit at a low level) teams in the North East of England and the East Midlands were looking at playing in Yorkshire-based heartland leagues. However teams in the South of England had no such option, London Skolars were even rejected from BARLA's National Conference League for the 1996–97 season.
A further major factor leading to the creation of the Southern Conference League was that the professional clubs had switched to a summer season the previous year and thus interest in the sport in the winter was decreased. The abandonment of amateurism by the rival sport of rugby union in 1995 meant that it was now possible for rugby union players to play rugby league during their off-season without risking a ban from rugby union whilst adding an element of competition for players in the winter. This gave non-heartland clubs a larger player pool but only if they switched to summer.
1997
The Southern Conference League began as a 10-team pilot league in 1997. The teams selected were not necessarily those with the highest playing standard, as off-field factors were initially considered very important. Furthermore, teams were selected to represent medium to large-sized towns and thus some clubs were considered undesirable, either due to being pub teams or due to being in small towns based too near a large town with a club (the latter being one of the reasons St Ives Roosters were outside the league until 2003).
The initial line-up was as follows: Central Division: Birmingham, Leicester Phoenix, Oxford Cavaliers, Reading Raiders, Worcester Royals Eastern Division: Bedford Swifts, Ipswich Rhinos, Kingston, North London Skolars, West London
Birmingham and Leicester Phoenix had been playing in the EMARLA (the former since the demise of the MASWARLA). Among the newly formed clubs were Bedford Swifts, the first ever cross-code club (i.e. playing both rugby union and rugby league), West London (formed from a merger of two of the more successful London ARL teams Brent-Ealing and London Colonials), Oxford Cavaliers and Worcester Royals (though the latter 2 had played friendlies the preceding summer). The other clubs joined from the London ARL including North London Skolars who were based on the student old boys network.
However, before the season started Reading Raiders announced that they would remain in the London ARL, the tenth place being offered to fellow London ARL club Cambridge Eagles, a club that missed out at the first stage of applications. As a result of Cambridge Eagles being more geographically suited to the Eastern Division, Bedford Swifts were switched to the Central Division.
Kingston were to resign from the league after only playing one game, but besides this and a forfeited semi-final this pilot season was generally successful, resulting in an increase of RFL funding to allow further expansion. North London Skolars were the winners of the first and only Southern Conference defeating Leicester Phoenix in the final.
The Scottish Conference was also founded in 1997 with five teams and had its first season. However, it would remain outside the Rugby League Conference structure until 2006.
1998 The newly renamed Rugby League Conference was founded in 1998 with 14 teams (initially planned to be 15, but the proposed Northampton club failed to materialise) with several new clubs resulting in a reorganisation of the divisional line-ups to three divisions (West, East and South). Of these new clubs St Albans Centurions had previously been playing in the London ARL and Cheltenham had had two clubs in the MASWARLA when that existed. Another new twist was the addition of the monikers of Super League clubs by many clubs, with Worcester becoming the Saints, Birmingham the Bulls and West London the Sharks; some Super League clubs also gave support to the new clubs.
North London Skolars joined the National Conference League after the first season, while retaining a team in the Rugby League Conference.
Initial line-ups as follows (new clubs in italics): Western Division: Birmingham Bulls, Cheltenham Warriors, Chester Wolves, Leicester Phoenix, Worcester Saints Eastern Division: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Ipswich Rhinos, Northampton (failed to start season), South Norfolk Saints Southern Division: Crawley Jets, North London Skolars, Oxford Cavaliers, St Albans Centurions, West London Sharks
In an all new team final Crawley Jets beat South Norfolk Saints at the Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham.
1999 The 1999 season saw further expansion to 20 teams, resulting in another change in the divisional system. Initially only 15 clubs were to be funded by the RFL and Hemel Stags were admitted to the East division to fill the gap originally intended for Northampton the previous season after their Northern Ford Premiership application was rejected and the Alliance (reserve grade) was scrapped. However, a change of decision and the collapse of the EMARLA saw this changed. Derby City were welcomed as the final champions of the EMARLA and the other 4 new sides were formed from the ashes of defunct winter clubs. Worcester Saints became Worcestershire Saints after moving to Redditch in the first relocation. For the first time all starting teams finished the season.
Team line-ups as follows (new clubs in italics): Northern Division: Chester Wolves, Crewe Wolves, Derby City, Manchester Knights, Nottingham Outlaws Western Division: Birmingham Bulls, Cheltenham Warriors, Leicester Phoenix, Worcestershire Saints, Wolverhampton Wizards Eastern Division: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Hemel Stags, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints Southern Division: Crawley Jets, North London Skolars, Oxford Cavaliers, St Albans Centurions, West London Sharks
The title was won by Chester Wolves who defeated Crawley Jets in the final.
2000 This season saw a relatively modest further expansion to 24 teams, including the return of founder members Kingston. Leicester Phoenix's Chairman Julian Harrison was appointed the new Conference Administrator. This also coincided with the demise of the London ARL as a winter British Amateur Rugby League Association league but saw it reform as a summer based merit league with a combination of reserve teams and new clubs (though South London Storm and Kingston Warriors joined the Rugby League Conference). In a second relocation Cheltenham Warriors moved to Gloucester and became Gloucestershire Warriors. Another rebranding was by Birmingham Bulls, who became Birmingham Bulldogs to avoid a legal challenge by the Birmingham Bulls American football team.
This season also saw a test of summer rugby league in the North East of England, with a Northern Rugby League Summer Conference with teams from various BARLA leagues won by Teesside Steelers, also featuring Gateshead Panthers, Bridlington Bulls, West Craven Warriors and Wetherby Bulldogs.
Team line-ups as follows (new clubs in italics): Northern Division: Chester Wolves, Crewe Wolves, Derby City, Manchester Knights, Nottingham Outlaws, Rotherham Giants Western Division: Birmingham Bulldogs, Coventry Bears, Gloucestershire Warriors, Leicester Phoenix, Wolverhampton Wizards, Worcestershire Saints Eastern Division: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Hemel Stags, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints, St Albans Centurions Southern Division: Crawley Jets, Kingston Warriors, North London Skolars, Oxford Cavaliers, South London Storm, West London Sharks
The league was won by Crawley Jets who defeated Rotherham Giants in the final.
2001 The Conference expanded into Wales for the first time in 2001 when Cardiff Demons, who had formerly run a young team in the Academy competition, joined the league. Along with the new North East Division this left the Rugby League Conference with 30 teams in the 2001 season.
Initial line-ups as follows (new clubs in italics): North East Division: Bridlington Bulls, Gateshead Panthers, Newcastle Knights, Sunderland City, Teesside Steelers Northern Division: Chester Wolves, Crewe Wolves, Derby City, Manchester Knights, Rotherham Giants Midlands Division: Birmingham Bulldogs, Coventry Bears, Leicester Phoenix, Nottingham Outlaws, Wolverhampton Wizards South Central Division: Cardiff Demons, Gloucestershire Warriors, Hemel Stags, Oxford Cavaliers, Worcestershire Saints Eastern Division: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints, St Albans Centurions London & South Division: Crawley Jets, Kingston Warriors, North London Skolars, South London Storm, West London Sharks
However, Gateshead Panthers merged into Newcastle Knights before the season started leaving a gap in the North East Division which was filled by Durham Phoenix, who after this one season returned to their former name of Durham Tigers.
Teesside beat Coventry Bears by a narrow margin in the grand final at Webb Ellis Road, Rugby.
2002 The competition for the first time remained at the same number of teams in the 2002 season, the only change being the addition of Luton Vipers from the London League to replace South Norfolk Saints who took a year out into that same competition. Plans to expand to Scotland with a Glasgow team in 2002 on the Cardiff model failed to materialise, and the Conference had to wait until 2007 to have Scottish full members for the first time. Another plan to expand to 32 teams with the addition of teams based in Bolton and Telford also fell through with Telford withdrawing their application.
This season saw a controversial format change, with two sets of three second round groups, both for the top three teams in each group but also for the bottom teams. These provided four extra fixtures, giving 14 guaranteed games, but the extra fixtures were poorly scheduled, seeing Manchester Knights eliminated despite winning all four extra games. This format was ditched after this season, though the idea of tiered competition was to return with the advent of premier divisions.
Team line-ups as follows (new club in italics): North East Division: Bridlington Bulls, Durham Tigers, Newcastle Knights, Sunderland City, Teesside Steelers