The North West Men's League is a summer

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

competition for amateur teams in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. The competition was formed in 2009 as the RLC North West Premier by splitting the RLC North Premier into two competitions - this and the RLC Yorkshire Premier. The league was renamed to its current name following the 2012 restructure of amateur rugby league in Great Britain.

History

The North West Men's League comes from the merger of elements from two strands of rugby league: the

British Amateur Rugby League Association The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) is an association for social and recreational rugby league. It works jointly with the Rugby Football League through the RFL Community Board. History BARLA was created on 3 March 1973 at t ...

and

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference, 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, Sco ...

. The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) was created in 1973 by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. BARLA merged the Leigh, Manchester, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes and Wigan districts into a new North West Counties league and created an elite

National Conference League The National Conference League (NCL) comprises the five levels of the British rugby league system at the top end of the amateur pyramid below the professional RFL League 1, League One. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Rugby Football League ...

, this saw a revitalisation of the game in heartland areas of the North West of England. In contrast, the Rugby League Conference (RLC) was born in 1997 as the Southern Conference, a 10-team pilot league for teams in the South of England and

English Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshi ...

taking place in the summer time rather than the traditional winter season. It led to the creation of many new teams in non-traditional areas; the first North West team to join the new league were the Chester Wolves; more teams from the North West joined the following season and a Northern Division was set up with teams from the North West and the North Midlands. Following a big expansion to the Rugby League Conference in 2003, the North West got its own regional division. By 2008, there were enough sides for a higher level North West Premier division to be created and in 2010, a North West Merit League was created out of existing merit leagues. With the RLC growing rapidly, some BARLA sides chose to leave traditional winter leagues and join the summer-based RLC. However, in 2011, the

, voted to switch to a summer season and most of the reserve teams followed. There was a short season from September to November in 2011 with teams from

league North West Counties league playing in two divisions under the name ''North West Men's League''. The Rugby League Conference was replaced in 2012 by a series of locally administered leagues. This saw the North West Men's League merge with the RLC North West Premier and regional divisions as well as the North West merit league to create a six division structure.

Position in Pyramid

* 1:

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

* 2:

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

* 3: League 1 * 4:

/ Conference League South * 5: North West Men's League

Past winners

Source:

RLC era

*2009 Widnes West Bank Bears *2010 Lymn *2011 ????

North West Men's League era

*2012 Pilkington Recs *2013 Haltons Simms Cross 26-19 Widnes St Maries *2014 Widnes West Bank *2015 Widnes West Bank *2016 Haydock *2017 Thatto Heath Crusaders A *2018 West Bank Bears *2019 West Bank Bears *2022 Orrell St James *2023 Orrell St James

Cup competitions

The North West Men's League also runs three tiers of cup competitions; the NWML Cup, Shield, and Trophy. Winners are:

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom Sports leagues established in 2011 2011 establishments in England