The East Rugby League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams from the East of England. The competition was formed in 1997 as one of the two founding divisions of the Rugby League Conference. It ended its time in the conference as the RLC East Regional before being known by its current name from 2012 with restructure of amateur rugby league in Great Britain.
History
The Rugby League Conference was founded in 1997 as the Southern Conference, a 10-team pilot league for teams in the South of England and the English Midlands. The initial line-up of divisions included an Eastern Division and this has been a feature of the Conference ever since.
The 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 Eastern Division became the East Division in 2009.
The RFL restructured the amateur rugby league in 2012 and the Eastern region became rebranded as East Rugby League.
The East Premier was set up for the 2013 season with an East Entry League below this for emerging clubs and second teams. 2013 was also the inaugural year for the East Cup. The competition operates for all tier four clubs in the Eastern Counties of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk).
In 2014, a new division between the Premier and Entry level was formed and named East Division 1. It provides a more structured level for teams who cannot compete with the standard of the established East Premier. Promotion and relegation between the two competitions began in 2015.
Position in pyramid
1: Super League 2: Championship 3–5: National Community Rugby League East Premier League East Division 1 East Entry League East Merit League
Participating teams by season
Premier Division (1997–present) RLC era (1997–2011)
1997: Bedford Swifts, Ipswich Rhinos, Kingston, North London Skolars, West London 1998: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Ipswich Rhinos, Northampton (failed to start season), South Norfolk Saints 1999: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Hemel Stags, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints 2000: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Hemel Stags, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints, St Albans Centurions 2001: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Ipswich Rhinos, South Norfolk Saints, St Albans Centurions 2002: Bedford Swifts, Cambridge Eagles, Ipswich Rhinos, Luton Vipers, St Albans Centurions 2003: Cambridge Eagles, Essex Eels, Ipswich Rhinos, Luton Vipers, South Norfolk Saints, St Ives Roosters 2004: Cambridge Eagles, Hemel Stags 'A', Ipswich Rhinos, Luton Vipers, Middlesex Lions, North London Skolars 'A', South Norfolk Saints, St Ives Roosters 2005: Bedford Tigers, Cambridge Eagles, Luton Vipers 'A', South Norfolk Saints, St Albans Centurions 'A', St Ives Roosters (Luton Vipers A failed to complete the season) 2006: Bedford Tigers, Cambridge Eagles, Colchester Romans, South Norfolk Saints, St Ives Roosters (Northampton failed to start the season) 2007: Bedford Tigers, Cambridge Eagles, Colchester Romans, Greenwich Admirals, St Ives Roosters, Thetford Titans 2008: Cambridge Eagles, Colchester Romans, Greenwich Admirals, Hainault Bulldogs, Northampton Casuals, St Ives Roosters, Thetford Titans 2009: Bury Titans, Cambridge Eagles, Colchester Romans, Hainault Bulldogs A, St Ives Roosters, Northampton Casuals, Norwich City Saxons (Cambridge Eagles and Hainault Bulldogs A failed to complete the season) 2010: Bedford Tigers, Bury Titans, Northampton Casuals, Norwich City Saxons, St Albans Centurions A, St Ives Roosters (St Albans Centurions A failed to complete the season) 2011: Bedford Tigers, Bury Titans, Northampton Demons A, Norwich City Saxons, St Ives Roosters, Sudbury Gladiators (Northampton Demons A and Norwich City Saxons failed to complete the season)
East RL era (2012–) 2012: Bedford Tigers, Bury Titans, King's Lynn Black Knights, Milton Keynes Wolves, North Herts Crusaders, St Ives Roosters 2013: Bedford Tigers, King's Lynn Black Knights, Milton Keynes Wolves, North Herts Crusaders, St Ives Roosters (Stowmarket Titans failed to complete the season) 2014: Bedford Tigers, King's Lynn Black Knights, Milton Keynes Wolves, North Herts Crusaders, Southend Spartans, St Ives Roosters 2015: Bedford Tigers, King's Lynn Black Knights, Milton Keynes Wolves, North Herts Crusaders, St Albans Centurions, St Ives Roosters 2016: Bedford Tigers, Brentwood Eels, Hemel Stags (community), NH Crusaders, St Albans Centurions, St Ives Roosters
East Division 1 (2014–2018) 2014: Bedford Tigers 'A', Brentwood Eels, Cambridge Lions, North Herts Crusaders 'A' NB: Bovingdon Bulldogs failed to start the season and were replaced by North Herts Crusaders 'A' 2015: Brentwood Eels, Cambridge Lions, North Herts Knights, Southend Spartans 2016: Breckland Spartans, Cambridge Lions, King's Lynn Black Knights, MK Wolves, Southend Spartans
East Entry League (2013–2016) 2012: Bedford Tigers 'A', Hemel Stags 'A', North Herts Crusaders 'A', St Albans Centurions 'A' 2013: Bedford Tigers 'A', Cambridge Lions, North Herts Crusaders 'A', St Ives Roosters 'A', Wymondham Trojans 2014: Did not run (Bedford Tigers 'B', North Herts Crusaders 'A' and St Ives Roosters 'A' were scheduled to participate but North Herts Crusaders 'A' joined division 1 and the other 2 teams folded) 2015: Bedford Tigers 'A', Cambridge Lions 'A', Milton Keynes Wolves (after dropping out of premier division), St Albans Centurions 'A'
Winners
Year Premier Division Division One Entry League Community Challenge Cup Community Challenge Shield Community Challenge Vase 9s Women's Championship1997 North London Skolars (now London Skolars)rowspan="17"rowspan="16"rowspan="16"rowspan="16"rowspan="18"rowspan="16"rowspan="26"1998 South Norfolk Saints (now Bury Titans)1999 Ipswich Rhinos (now Eastern Rhinos)2000 Hemel Stags2001 Ipswich Rhinos (now Eastern Rhinos) 2002 Luton Vipers2003 South Norfolk Saints (now Bury Titans)2004 Ipswich Rhinos (now Eastern Rhinos)2005 St Albans Centurions A2006 Bedford Tigers (beat St Ives Roosters)2007 Bedford Tigers (beat St Ives Roosters)2008 Hainault Bulldogs2009 Northampton Casuals (beat Bury Titans)2010 Northampton Demons2011 Sudbury Gladiators (beat Bury Titans)2012 North Herts Crusaders (beat St Ives Roosters)2013 North Herts Crusaders (beat St Ives Roosters)Bedford Tigers ANorth Herts Crusaders (beat Bedford Tigers)St Ives Roosers (beat MK Wolves)King's Lynn Black Knights2014 St Ives Roosters (beat Bedford Tigers)Brentwood EelsNorth Herts Crusaders (beat Bedford Tigers)King's Lynn Black Knights (beat Brentwood Eels)MK Wolves2015 Bedford Tigers (beat St Ives Roosters)Brentwood EelsHemel Stags ABedford Tigers (beat King's Lynn Black Knights 46–4) - MOM Paul RyderSt Ives Roosters (beat NH Crusaders)Southend Spartans (beat NH Knights)Bedford Tigers2016 Hemel Stags (beat Bedford Tigers)MK WolvesBedford Tigers ABedford Tigers (beat Hemel Stags 22–16)Brentwood Eels (beat NH Crusaders 32–26)King's Lynn Black Knights (beat Eastern Rhinos A 36–16)Bedford Tigers2017 Hemel Stags (beat Bedford Tigers)Luton Vipersrowspan="3"Bedford Tigers (St Albans Centurions 38–12)NH Crusaders (beat Hemel Stags)Luton Vipers (beat Hemel Stags A)St Albans Centurions2018 North Herts Crusaders (beat Bedford Tigers)North Herts KnightsBedford Tigers (NH Crusaders 24–14) - MOM Ollie PetersSt Ives Roosters (Southend Sharks unable to attend match)rowspan="6"NH Crusaders2019 Brentwood Eels (beat St Ives Roosters 18–16)St Albans Centurions (Brentwood Eels 30–28) - MOM Kristian NaylorBedford Tigers2020 colspan="3"colspan="2"rowspan="4"2021 Brentwood Eels (beat Bedford Tigers A 40–18)rowspan="3"rowspan="3"rowspan="2"2022 St Albans Centurions (beat Bedford Tigers A)Canvey Knights (beat NH Knights) 22-18 (Player of the Match Brett Smith 'Canvey Knights')2023 Bedford Tigers A (beat Anglian Vipers 38–28) MOM Scott AspinallBedford Tigers (beat Hemel Stags 54–20) - MOM Ryan LitchfieldBedford Tigers A (beat Anglian Vipers 20–18) MVP Zoe Booth
References
External links Official RLC website