The Women's Premiership, also called the RFUW Premiership was the top level of women's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

in England until 2017. It was formed in 1990 and was run by the Rugby Football Union for Women. It was superseded in the 2017/18 season by

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

History

Women's rugby in England was initially run by the Women's Rugby Football Union on a

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

-wide basis. The Women's Premiership was formed in 1990 as the top tier of women's rugby in the British Isles. In 1994, the Rugby Football Union for Women was formed and took over the management of women's rugby in England, including the Women's Premiership, after

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

left the Women's Rugby Football Union. At the start, most of the teams in the league were University teams. Since the RFUW took over and

Professionalism A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

was permitted in 1996, the university teams were gradually replaced by women's clubs associated with professional and semi-professional men's clubs as they were able to give the women's team the funding to be able to compete. Promotion and

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in the Women's Premiership is determined by the lowest placed team playing against the winner of the Championship 1 North-South playoff. If the Premiership team wins, there is no promotion and relegation that year. It is noted that promoted teams often fail to win during the regular league season during their first season in the Women's Premiership, including Old Albanians Ladies and

Thurrock T-Birds Thurrock T-Birds, also called Thurrock Rugby Football Club Ladies, is a women's rugby club in Grays, Essex, England. The club began as a union side in 1988, however have also operated a league side since 2023. The union side plays in Championship ...

, who were relegated in 2013 after losing to

Aylesford Bulls Ladies Aylesford Bulls Ladies Rugby Football Club were a women's rugby union club based in Aylesford, Kent, England. They played in the Women's Premiership. They were founded in 1998 and were the ladies team of Aylesford Bulls. Following an agreement wi ...

in the 2013 playoff. During seasons that precede the Women's Rugby World Cup, promotion and relegation is suspended for that season. In 2014, Thurrock appealed against this ruling to the RFUW, claiming that some Women's Premiership clubs were actively attempting to block promotion and relegation in Women's Rugby World Cup years.

Premier 15s

For the 2017–18 season the RFU Council proposed to create a ''Super League'', the

with up to ten teams. The new system to be considered new and distinct from the existing Premiership. It was expected that all 8 teams from the Premiership would apply for the new league, together with several top Championship teams. Seven of the eight Premiership teams were accepted into the Super Rugby competition (Lichfield being excluded), together with

Gloucester-Hartpury Women Gloucester-Hartpury Women's Rugby Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England. They are the unified women's team of Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury University R.F.C. They were founded in 2014 and as of ...

, Firwood Waterloo and

Loughborough Students (Lightning) Loughborough Lightning are a women's rugby union club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. They are the women's team of Loughborough Students RUFC and Loughborough University. Together with the netball team and the women's cricket t ...

2013-14 Teams and Locations

Below is listed the locations of the teams that participate in the 2013-14 Women's Premiership.

Clubs Since 2003

Dates are the year the season ended. * Bristol Ladies was called Clifton Ladies RFC until 2008.

Champions

References

{{Rugby union in England

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Rugby union leagues in Europe Rugby union leagues in England Women's rugby union competitions in England