South West Rugby League

South West Rugby League
Founded	2003
Country	England
Number of teams	5
Level on pyramid	5
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup

The South West Rugby League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams in South West England. The competition was formed in 2003 as the RLC South West Regional.^[1] Its name changed following the 2012 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 conference made the leap from 30 to 52 teams in 2003 and a South West Division appeared for the first time. It disappeared in 2004 as South West teams took part in the Western Division and Cardiff Demons joined the newly created Welsh Division.

The Premier divisions saw a change in boundaries leaving the North Premier division covering a larger area to give the English Midlands clubs their own premier division without having to face heartland teams, this left the West Midlands division with too few teams to run, resulting in a merged West Midlands and South West Division.

After a campaign by the RFL to form new clubs in the South West, a new South West division was created in 2007 for teams from the West Country. By 2010, there were enough teams to have a South West conference split into two pools.

For the 2011 season, there was a new RLC West of England alongside the RLC South West. The initial idea was that the two leagues would compete side by side with play-offs at the end of the season to decide an overall South West champion. In 2011, Gloucestershire Warriors defeated Somerset Vikings in the Championship play-off. In 2012, the intended play-off match was cancelled as the majority of the Devon Sharks team, the South West Champions, were unable to break off from the start of the rugby union season to fulfil the fixture.

The South Western Rugby League was formed in February 2013 to organise and administer the South West Men's League following the switch of the majority of community clubs in England to a summer season and the ending of the Rugby League Conference in 2011.

Position in Pyramid

1: Super League
2: Championship
3: League 1
4: National Conference League/Conference League South
5: South West Rugby League

Participating teams by season

South West League

2003: Bristol Sonics, Cardiff Demons, Gloucestershire Warriors, Oxford Cavaliers, Somerset Vikings, Worcestershire Saints
2005: Bristol Sonics, Gloucestershire Warriors, Oxford Cavaliers, Plymouth, Somerset Vikings, Thames Valley
2007: Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings 'A'
2008: Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings
2009: Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings, South Dorset Giants
2010: Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions, North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings, South Dorset Giants, South Somerset Warriors
2011: Devon Sharks, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions, North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings, South Dorset Giants, (South Somerset Warriors withdrew mid-season)
2012: Devon Sharks, Exeter Centurions, Exmouth Saints (replacements for East Devon Eagles; failed to complete the season), North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans
2013: Cornish Rebels, Devon Sharks, Exeter Centurions, North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans, Somerset Vikings A
2014: Cornish Rebels, Devon Sharks, Exeter Centurions, North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans
2015: Cornish Rebels, Devon Sharks, Exeter Centurions, North Devon Raiders, Plymouth Titans

West of England League

2011: Bristol Sonics 'A', Gloucestershire Warriors, Oxford Cavaliers, Swindon St George, Wiltshire Wyverns
2012: Bristol Sonics 'A', Gloucestershire Warriors 'A', Oxford Cavaliers, Somerset Vikings, Swindon St George (Wiltshire Wyverns failed to start the season)
2013: Bristol Sonics 'A', Cheltenham Old Patesians, Gloucestershire Warriors, Oxford Cavaliers, Somerset Vikings, Swindon St George
2014: Bristol Sonics 'A', Cheltenham Old Patesians, Gloucestershire Warriors, Oxford Cavaliers 'A', Somerset Vikings, Swindon St George (Oxford Cavaliers 'A' failed to complete the season)

Winners

South West League

West of England League

2011 Gloucestershire Warriors
2012 Oxford Cavaliers
2013 Cheltenham Old Patesians
2014 Gloucestershire Warriors
2015 Bath and Wiltshire Romans
2016 Portsmouth Seahawks
2017 Swindon St George

South West Cup

The South West cup is a knock-out competition played for by members of the South West Division. It was originally known as the Devon Cup.

2006: East Devon Eagles (as Devon Cup)
2007: East Devon Eagles (as Devon Cup)
2008: Plymouth Titans (as Devon Cup)
2009: East Devon Eagles
2010: Devon Sharks
2011: Plymouth Titans
2012: Exeter Centurions
2013: Cornish Rebels
2014: Cornish Rebels
2015: Exeter Centurions

South West Nines

The South West Nines is a rugby league nines competition. It is competed for by RLC South West and RLC West of England teams and local student rugby league sides.

2007 Plymouth Titans
2008 Exeter University
2009 Exeter University
2010 Exeter University
2011 Exeter University
2012 Plymouth Titans
2013 Exeter University
2014 Cornish Rebels
2015 Cornish Rebels

County Challenge

In 2010, an intended one–off County of Origin style match was played between Devon and Cornwall with Devon winning 44–20.^[2] The match was featured on the BBC national news and was widely covered by the rugby league press. It has since been competed for on several occasions as the Martin Roddy MBE Trophy. Winners are:

2010: Devon
2011: Devon
2012: Cornwall
2013: Cornwall
2015: Devon

South West County Championship Festival

The first South West County Championship took place on the May Bank Holiday weekend in 2011 at Aretians RFC in Bristol. The 2012 Event took place at Bridgwater RFC in Somerset. Winners are:

2011: Hampshire
2012: Hampshire

References

^ "RL Conference breaks 100 team barrier". Love Rugby League. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
^ "Devon face rivals Cornwall in historic match". BBC. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2013.

External links

[1] "RL Conference breaks 100 team barrier". Love Rugby League. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2023.

[2] "Devon face rivals Cornwall in historic match". BBC. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2013.

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