Southern Conference League

Not to be confused with Conference South, Big South Conference, or Southern Conference.

The Southern Conference League is the fourth tier of the British rugby league system. It is the highest level of amateur rugby league outside of the heartlands in Northern England, operating in The Midlands, Southern England, and Wales. It was one of the many leagues that replaced the Rugby League Conference. The competition was first played between 2012 and 2016, and was relaunched in 2019 after a two-year hiatus.

Southern Conference League

Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Southern Conference League
Sport	Rugby league
Founded	2012
No. of teams	8
Country	England  Wales
Most recent champion(s)	Hammersmith Hills Hoists (2024)
Promotion to	League 1 (via RFL application)
Relegation to	Midlands League South West League East League London and South East League North Wales Conference South Wales Premiership (all via RFL application)
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup
Official website	RFL SCL Page

History

The Southern Conference League was founded in 2013 as the Conference League South following the restructuring of amateur rugby league in Great Britain. Teams that had competed in the Rugby League Conference National Division in 2011 were moved to the newly formed and BARLA administered NCL Division Three with clubs drawn from all across England. However at the end of the inaugural season many southern and midlands clubs opted to leave the National Conference League structure and join the newly formed Conference League South for the 2013 season.

The Conference League South was created for sides outside the rugby league heartlands of the North of England that wanted a higher standard of rugby league than the Midlands Rugby League Premier Division or the South Premier but were not yet ready for the NCL. In 2013, the six teams to compete in the Conference League South were,^[1] Bristol Sonics, Nottingham Outlaws and St Albans Centurions from National Conference League Division 3; Leicester Storm and Northampton Demons were elevated from the premier division of Midlands Rugby League and Sheffield Hallam Eagles joined as a new side after the collapse of the Championship reserve under-23 division.

Northampton Demons and St Albans Centurions were replaced with Oxford Cavaliers and Valley Cougars in 2014 however Oxford Cavaliers failed to complete the season. Bristol Sonics dropped down to the West of England Rugby League in 2015 which allowed four new clubs to join; Gloucestershire Warriors, Coventry Bears Reserves, Torfaen Tigers and Raiders RL alongside the return of Oxford Cavaliers.

London Chargers were promoted to compete in 2016 alongside a new reserve side from University of Gloucestershire All Golds with Gloucestershire Warriors, Leicester Storm, Oxford Cavaliers and Sheffield Hallam Eagles dropping out.

At the end of the 2016 season, it was announced that the Conference League South season would not take place in 2017, and teams would return to their respective regional leagues.^[2] In May 2017, the RFL announced plans to introduce a new Southern League competition from 2018 onwards.^[3]

The Conference League South was reintroduced for the 2019 season as the Southern Conference League, split into geographic Eastern and Western divisions, with the Hammersmith Hills Hoists winning the first title under the tournament's new name. The 2020 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the competition resumed in 2021, with a maiden title for Wests Warriors beating local rivals London Chargers 20 points to 10.

For the 2023 season, the geographic split of the league has been removed with all teams in the divisions below being able to apply to enter the competition if they so wish. When the fixture list was released, only 8 teams have entered the division - All Golds, Bedford Tigers, Brentwood Eels, Eastern Rhinos, Hammersmith Hills Hoists, London Chargers, North Herts Crusaders, Wests Warriors.

Clubs

Team City Ground Bristol All Golds Bristol North Bristol RFC[4] Bedford Tigers Bedford Great Ouse Way[5] Brentwood Eels Brentwood, Essex Old Brentwoods RFC Eastern Rhinos Colchester Mill Road Playing Fields[6] Hammersmith Hills Hoists Chiswick, London Chiswick RFC[7] London Chargers Chiswick, London Chiswick RFC[8] London Skolars Tottenham, London New River Stadium North Herts Crusaders Hitchin King George V Playing Fields[9] Wests Warriors Acton, London Twyford Avenue[10]

Bedford Tigers Brentwood Eels Eastern Rhinos Bristol All Golds London N. Herts Crusaders Locations of Conference League South teams in England H'smith Hills Hoists London Chargers London Skolars Wests Warriors Locations of Conference League South teams in London

Results

The 2012 results refer to National Conference League 3.

Season	Grand Final Information
	Champions	Score	Runners-up
2012	Hemel Stags	17–10	Huddersfield Underbank Rangers
2013	Sheffield Hallam Eagles	32–24	Nottingham Outlaws
2014	Valley Cougars	19–10	Sheffield Hallam Eagles
2015	Nottingham Outlaws	39–12	Valley Cougars
2016	London Chargers	42–0	Valley Cougars
2017	Hiatus
2018
2019	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	16–10	London Chargers
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Wests Warriors	20–10	London Chargers
2022	Wests Warriors	20–12[11]	London Chargers
2023	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	14–0	Wests Warriors
2024	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	12-6	Wests Warriors

Winners

Club	Wins	Winning years
Hammersmith Hills Hoists	3	2019, 2023, 2024
Wests Warriors	2	2021, 2022
Hemel Stags	1	2012
Sheffield Hallam Eagles	1	2013
Valley Cougars	1	2014
Nottingham Outlaws	1	2015
London Chargers	1	2016

Tables

2021

Western Conference											Eastern Conference
POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS		POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS
1	Swindon St George	6	4	2	0	162	150	12	8		1	Wests Warriors	12	12	0	0	538	146	392	24
2	Valley Cougars	6	3	3	0	156	115	41	5		2	London Chargers	12	10	2	0	396	207	189	20
3	Devon Sharks	6	2	3	1	144	125	19	5		3	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	12	8	4	0	351	308	43	16
4	All Golds	6	2	3	1	114	186	-72	3		4	North Herts Crusaders	12	5	7	0	366	326	40	10
Deductions Valley Cougars: 1 points for forfeit All Golds: 2 point for two forfeits Hemel Stags: 1 point for forfeit South London Silverbacks: 1 point for forfeit											5	Bedford Tigers	11	5	6	0	274	298	-24	10
											6	Eastern Rhinos	12	5	7	0	250	344	-94	10
											7	Hemel Stags	11	1	10	0	139	423	-284	1
											8	South London Silverbacks	10	0	10	0	132	394	-262	-1

Playoffs

• Preliminary Round

London Chargers 56–18 North Herts Crusaders

Devon Sharks 22–36 Hammersmith Hills Hoists

Swindon St George 24–22 Bedford Tigers

• Semi Finals

Wests Warriors 36–10 Hammersmith Hills Hoists

Swindon St George 14–52 London Chargers

• Final

Wests Warriors 20–10 London Chargers

2022

Western Conference											Eastern Conference
POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS		POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS
1	All Golds	5	4	1	0	138	54	84	8		1	London Chargers	12	12	0	0	482	164	318	24
2	Torfaen Tigers	6	4	2	0	228	152	76	8		2	Wests Warriors	12	10	2	0	460	228	232	20
3	Swindon St George	6	2	4	0	146	188	-42	3		3	Brentwood Eels	12	5	7	0	210	316	-106	10
4	Devon Sharks	5	1	4	0	54	172	-118	2		4	Eastern Rhinos	12	4	8	0	238	290	-52	8
Deductions Swindon St George: 1 point for forfeit Hammersmith Hills Hoists: 1 point for forfeit											5	Bedford Tigers	12	4	8	0	220	314	-94	8
											6	North Herts Crusaders	12	4	8	0	226	392	-166	8
											7	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	12	3	9	0	228	360	-132	5

Playoffs

• Preliminary Rounds

Torfaen Tigers 0–24 Brentwood Eels

All Golds 46–6 Eastern Rhinos

• Semi Finals

All Golds 12–46 Wests Warriors

Brentwood Eels 8–38 London Chargers

• Final

Wests Warriors 20–12 London Chargers^[11]

2023

POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS
1	Wests Warriors	14	13	1	0	690	126	564	26
2	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	14	13	1	0	470	150	320	26
3	London Chargers	14	10	4	0	466	184	282	20
4	Brentwood Eels	14	7	7	0	380	346	34	14
5	Bristol All Golds	14	6	8	0	280	424	-184	12
6	Eastern Rhinos	14	4	10	0	230	458	-228	8
7	North Herts Crusaders	14	2	12	0	146	502	-356	3
8	Bedford Tigers	14	1	13	0	154	586	-432	-1
Deductions Bedford Tigers: 3 points for three forfeits North Herts Crusaders: 1 point for forfeit

Play Off

	Semi-final					Grand final
	1	Wests Warriors	38
	4	Brentwood Eels	6
						Wests Warriors		0
						Hammersmith Hills Hoists		14
	2	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	28
	3	London Chargers	12

2024

POS	CLUB	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	PTS
1	Hammersmith Hills Hoists	12	11	0	1	460	104	356	23
2	Wests Warriors	12	10	2	0	582	150	432	20
3	London Chargers	12	8	3	1	308	226	82	17
4	Bristol All Golds	12	6	4	2	322	278	44	14
5	Eastern Rhinos	12	7	5	0	270	254	16	14
6	North Herts Crusaders	12	4	7	1	202	338	-136	9
7	Bedford Tigers	12	3	9	0	238	490	-252	6
8	Brentwood Eels	12	2	9	1	180	320	-140	5
9	London Skolars	12	0	12	0	74	476	-402	0

Deductions

• London Skolars: Withdrew partway into season. All remaining fixtures rewarded 24-0 to opponents.

See also

• Sports portal
• United Kingdom portal

• National Conference League
• Conference Challenge Trophy