The University and College Rugby League (UCRL), formerly known as ''the Student Rugby League'', is the organisation which administrates university and college

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football in the

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, on behalf of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisat ...

and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS). Rugby league in universities has been an important vehicle for expansion of the game as players from outside the heartlands often first began to play at university level. Many continue to play after leaving university and this has led to the creation of teams in non-traditional areas such as London Skolars and the University of Gloucestershire All Golds. Yorkshire Universities and Colleges played against Lancashire at Halifax's then ground The Shay, Halifax in 1976. The Yorkshire side was selected by Fred Lindop, coach and professional referee and included a number of players from Airedale & Wharfedale College. 22 - 0 down at half time the Yorkshire side fought back to tie the match at 22 - 22.

History

Founded in 1967 when a team was created at Leeds University by Andrew Cudbertson, Jack Abernathy and Cec Thompson, other teams soon joined in areas of the

which lay outside of the games traditional heartlands. The first university game was between Leeds and Liverpool in 1968. A year later the Universities and Colleges Rugby League was formed after student pioneers fought hard to get the sport recognised in higher education. Portsmouth and Swansea were early non-traditional areas to accept the game. Rugby League reached

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1976 and the first Varsity fixture against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

took place in 1981. The

varsity match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

has ' discretionary full blue' status. Student Rugby League reached Scotland in 1989 when a group of students at

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established a team and formed the first Scotland Students squad The Pioneers were formed in 2005 and made their inaugural tour that year to Estonia. In the following years, development tours visited the Czech Republic, Latvia, Ukraine, Norway, Kazakhstan, Greece, Poland, Morocco and in 2014, to Ghana. By 2006, the Student Rugby League had over 70 member clubs playing in 9 leagues, club locations ranging from Napier in Scotland to

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

in the South West of England. The elite Premier North & South competition was formed as the Super 6 in 2008. In 2014, the Student Rugby League was renamed the University and College Rugby League (UCRL).

Student Rugby League Pyramid

* Premier North & Premier South * Northern 1, 2A & 2B; Midlands 1 & 2; South East 1; Western 1 & 2 * HE Merit League The Premier North & South competition is the elite student league. Five matches from the 2011 Super 8 including the inaugural Grand Final were televised live and

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on Premier Sports. The BUCS Competition is split into nine playing leagues with the Premier North and the Premier South being supported by seven regional leagues. The fixtures run from October until March leading up to the Championship play-off series. The U19's College Competition is split into three leagues, the North West, Yorkshire and the Premier Division. The College leagues play from September until March culminating in a top four play-off series. The Carnegie

Champion Colleges The Champion Colleges is a rugby league football competition administered by the University and College Rugby League (formerly the ''Student Rugby League''). It is open to teams in the 12-13 year groups at Sixth Forms and Further Education (FE) ...

is the knock-out competition for the Further Education sector. Alongside SRL competitions, the top university sides can qualify for the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involve ...

Past Winners

Representative teams

In England, a series of regional games take place which lead to a North and South team being selected to play the University Rugby League Origin Game, from which the England team is selected. Wales, Scotland and Ireland run national teams. All four teams take part in the 4 Nations Championships that take place annually and the Tertiary Student Rugby League World Cup every four years. England also take part in the

RFL President's Cup The RFL President's Cup is an annual competition for men's and women's representative teams drawn from the British Rugby league structure and is run by the Rugby Football League (RFL). It was previously known as the ''RFL Association's Cup.'' ...

. Previoualy a Great Britain and Ireland Academic Lions squad has been selected but this has been mothballed since 2014. The 'GB Pioneers' are a representative team that undertake rugby league development tours to emerging nations.

External links

Student Rugby League

Great Britain Student Rugby League 'The Pioneers'

Brunel University Barbarians RLFC

References