London Premier League

[groundhopper]

7 team league according to Surrey Sharks

Medway Dragons

London Chargers

West Warriors

London Skolars

Hammersmith Hill Hoists

Eastern Rhinos

Surrey Sharks

[bowes]

Incidentally that's London Chargers A.

 

Surrey Sharks seem to have come on well given a couple of years ago they really struggled

[groundhopper]

This only leaves 4 in the south division unless the teams out of Tunbridge Wellsnor the one based near Maidstone step up but with 2 trips to Hampshire seems

unlikely.

I'm led to believe Swindon remain in West and Oxford have joined this

There will be small leagues around as North Devon seem to have problems and thatonly leaves four in west with Cornish Rebels potentially a long way ahead of the others

[groundhopper]

Also found East Premier on St Ives website

St Ives

St Albans

Hemel

Bedford

North Herts

Brentwood

Hopefully Breckland and Kings Lynn are playing in East 1 and not folded

[bowes]

This only leaves 4 in the south division unless the teams out of Tunbridge Wellsnor the one based near Maidstone step up but with 2 trips to Hampshire seems

unlikely.

I'm led to believe Swindon remain in West and Oxford have joined this

There will be small leagues around as North Devon seem to have problems and thatonly leaves four in west with Cornish Rebels potentially a long way ahead of the others

Who's in the South is it Southampton, Portsmouth, Sussex and South London Silverbacks?

[GeordieSaint]

Breckland and Kings Lynn are playing in East 1 and not folded

Kings Lynn haven't folded and are playing in East 1 after struggling towards the back end of the season; if the club attracts its player base back, it'll be way to strong for the division. No idea about Breckland.

[bowes]

Also found East Premier on St Ives website

St Ives

St Albans

Hemel

Bedford

North Herts

Brentwood

Hopefully Breckland and Kings Lynn are playing in East 1 and not folded

Division 1

 

Breckland

Kings Lynn

Southend

Cambridge

Milton Keynes

 

Entry

North Herts Knights

Bedford A

St Albans A

Eastern Rhinos A

Hemel B

[groundhopper]

Who's in the South is it Southampton, Portsmouth, Sussex and South London Silverbacks?

just took the five from last year and removed Surrey ie Elmbridge as no 4

assumed South London would play in a London based league against say Newham but

with Chargers A having moved up not many names left for such a league especially

if Hemel in East

[henage]

Enjoy reading about leagues in different parts of the country . Lets hope everyone gets regular games , score a few points , put some strong defence together , have a few beers and enjoy the season .

[bowes]

just took the five from last year and removed Surrey ie Elmbridge as no 4

assumed South London would play in a London based league against say Newham but

with Chargers A having moved up not many names left for such a league especially

if Hemel in East

There were 4 teams last year and Surrey have stepped up.

[groundhopper]

I have south for 2015 as below

Did one not finish the season

Southampton

Portsmouth

Elmbridge

Surrey

Sussex

[bowes]

I have south for 2015 as below

Did one not finish the season

Southampton

Portsmouth

Elmbridge

Surrey

Sussex

Elmbridge never started the season and don't exist at open age level anymore

[groundhopper]

I cant work this out

Oxford and Swindon are I assume with Bristol Bath Somerset and whoever is running in Cheltenham and Gloucester in a 6 or 7 team league.

South London, if running as website and twitter not updated since initial

enthusiasm, could be in south and I suppose Weald but who do Newham play. Cant see there being many A teams from London league and East has organised structure

[bowes]

I cant work this out

Oxford and Swindon are I assume with Bristol Bath Somerset and whoever is running in Cheltenham and Gloucester in a 6 or 7 team league.

South London, if running as website and twitter not updated since initial

enthusiasm, could be in south and I suppose Weald but who do Newham play. Cant see there being many A teams from London league and East has organised structure

West of England should be 8 teams if everyone gets a team out.

London won't have its own league. There was talk of a joint London/South East league split into conferences but expect it's unlikely to get off the ground. A small joint division or everyone in the merit league seems more likely

[Jasper]

Also found East Premier on St Ives website

St Ives

St Albans

Hemel

Bedford

North Herts

Brentwood

 

I've been 'told' (so not sure if it's true or not) that that the Hemel 'A' team will be made up of the remaining Hemel squad that are not playing in their League 1 first team that weekend.  Can't see the benefits that a 'A' team with a hard core of semi pro players would bring to the East League.

Wouldn't it make more sense for them to play in the Conf League South like Coventry 'A' and All Golds 'A' are doing?

[bowes]

I've been 'told' (so not sure if it's true or not) that that the Hemel 'A' team will be made up of the remaining Hemel squad that are not playing in their League 1 first team that weekend. Can't see the benefits that a 'A' team with a hard core of semi pro players would bring to the East League.

Wouldn't it make more sense for them to play in the Conf League South like Coventry 'A' and All Golds 'A' are doing?

I would guess they don't want the travel costs

[groundhopper]

Looking at more websites you seem correct

Invicta are arranging fixtures on a club basis and have already agreed dates

with Southampton, Sussex and Weald so merit table it is

[bowes]

The names I've heard as likely to be in a merit league are:

 

Sussex

Southampton

Portsmouth

South London

Weald

Invicta

Newham

Richmond

Croydon

Brixton

 

I can't 100% confirm every name and I can't rule out any other clubs or reserve teams

[Hemel Rugby League]

The Hemel Stags team that is playing in the East Premier is basically the same team that played in the Merit League last season and is largely made up of players who have come through the Hemel domestic production line at some time. Few of these players are candidates for Hemel's League 1 side.

 

Quite separately there is a Hemel Stags 'A' team which is comprised of players from the Hemel Stags League 1 squad (about 40-45 players in all)  which will be playing a series of friendly fixtures during the season. First up is the Navy on March 3 followed by Oxford 'A' (not Cavaliers) on March 19. 

 

In April Hemel Stags 'A' play the Hemel Stags East Premier side in a fixture that is likely to pack Pennine Way!

[Jasper]

I've been 'told' (so not sure if it's true or not) that that the Hemel 'A' team will be made up of the remaining Hemel squad that are not playing in their League 1 first team that weekend.  Can't see the benefits that a 'A' team with a hard core of semi pro players would bring to the East League.

Wouldn't it make more sense for them to play in the Conf League South like Coventry 'A' and All Golds 'A' are doing?

 

 

The Hemel Stags team that is playing in the East Premier is basically the same team that played in the Merit League last season and is largely made up of players who have come through the Hemel domestic production line at some time. Few of these players are candidates for Hemel's League 1 side.

 

Quite separately there is a Hemel Stags 'A' team which is comprised of players from the Hemel Stags League 1 squad (about 40-45 players in all)  which will be playing a series of friendly fixtures during the season. First up is the Navy on March 3 followed by Oxford 'A' (not Cavaliers) on March 19. 

 

In April Hemel Stags 'A' play the Hemel Stags East Premier side in a fixture that is likely to pack Pennine Way!

 

Thanks for clearing that up HRL, as I said, I couldn't see what would be gained by a team of semi pro's playing in a league against fully amateur teams.  Maybe some confusion over Hemel having an A team and an East League side.  Maybe the East League side could call themselves The Bucks or the Antlers or something else Stag related.

[Bleep1673]

Does anybody know if there is still a team designated Ealing, or Brent-Ealing, or the remains of one, or what happened to it. I used to play for them circa 1989-1994.

 

It Would be a shame if there wasn't one now that the Broncos have moved to Ealing

[bowes]

I've just seen that Southampton and Portsmouth are now listed as members of South West Rugby League, though I don't know which of the leagues they play in there just yet.

 

Invicta Panthers seem to be playing home and away against Weald Warriors, Sussex Merlins, Brixton Bulls, Richmond and Newham Dockers which looks like a new league

[tango602]

I've just seen that Southampton and Portsmouth are now listed as members of South West Rugby League, though I don't know which of the leagues they play in there just yet.

 

I would imagine both Southampton and Portsmouth would play in the West Of England League due to having less travel to games, I can't really see them going to Barnstaple to play North Devon Raiders or teams such as Plymouth Titans and Cornish Rebels travelling up there.

[bowes]

I would imagine both Southampton and Portsmouth would play in the West Of England League due to having less travel to games, I can't really see them going to Barnstaple to play North Devon Raiders or teams such as Plymouth Titans and Cornish Rebels travelling up there.

Yeah that makes sense, I just wonder if they'll regionalise the West of England or go with a 10 team league.

[bbfaz]

Original plan was for a six-team Premier, eight team Championship which would split into two division with crossover games; last year’s SERL in the West – Weald, Newham, Invicta and South London in the East.  Surrey wanted to go into the Premier, they got their way (rightly IMO) but that screwed the eight team Championship.

 

Southampton said that if they didn’t have regular fixtures they’d have to consider going back to the South West and Portsmouth were going to go with them.  I assume this is what happened.  Meanwhile, everybody else was just keen to get fixtures.  Sussex have been driving this because their season fell apart last year due to a lack of games.  They can handle either a Kent/Surrey/Sussex/London league or a Surrey/Sussex/Hampshire league but to cover that whole area is probably beyond anybody.

 

The real issue is that we don’t have enough teams to go around.  The RFL wants to focus on consolidating the teams they have but IMO there aren’t enough clubs to consolidate.  If Elmbridge (or somebody in that areas) could get their together, there’s probably 18-20 towns or cities that could support a team in Hampshire, Dorset, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex and Wiltshire.  That would allow Southampton to stay in “their area”.  Southampton have been trying to do some club development through their Hampshire Youth RL tournaments and I think they have kids teams down as far as Weymouth IIRC but that will take probably 20 years to bear open age fruit, as you need several age groups “graduating” from your system before you’ll reach any kind of critical mass.  As always, it comes down to the strong tripod upon which any club stands; solid committee, steady ground, sponsorship to get going.  This is somewhere the RFL need to be proactive but they’re not interested.  Too many fires to fight.

 

The league that has been left over to form this London & SE Championship, from what I understand, these are the teams that have committed for this season and it’s worked out at six.  From what I’ve heard out of the Merlins and Panthers, they’re pleased as punch.  Good footprint, decent number of games, it’s worked out for the best.  It will still be a merit league, it will hopefully do well.  I assume some reserve teams will come out of the woodwork too, as is their right.

 

As for the speculation on other teams, I am still involved with South London.  We worked for months, negotiating with a number of RU clubs.  We put together an aggressive plan for a mutually-beneficial relationship.  TBH, it’s beneath us to have to sell ourselves in this manner but we know what these Union clubs want – money and improved/new players – and we had a great plan.  However, internal politics in these clubs and dreadful short-sightedness dragged the process to a point where we wouldn’t be ready for 2016.  After our deadline, we were approached by a private sports club and we are going to take this year to get everything in place for 2017.  We don’t want to do damage to ourselves or other clubs by running it half-cock this year.