West Hull may be riding high in the National Conference League Premier Division, but below them, all is not quite as rosy for amateur rugby league in the city.
A CURSORY glance at the National Conference League table would suggest that all is well regarding amateur open age rugby league in the city of Hull and its immediate environs.
West Hull went into the Whitsuntide Holiday break at the head of the Premier Division, despite suffering a surprise defeat at reigning champions Hunslet ARLFC, who are currently rebuilding.
Wests have suffered only two reverses to date – a 28-26 defeat at West Bowling in mid-May was the other – while, impressively for the connoisseur, all but wins over Mayfield and Leigh Miners have been by relatively narrow margins. That suggests that West Hull have the capacity to grind out results, a prerequisite for genuine title contenders.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that you have to scroll a fair way down through the NCL’s divisions before coming across another Hull-based side.
There are no other teams from the region in the Premier Division, or the second tier. And the two clubs in Division Two – Hull Dockers and Skirlaugh – are both battling against relegation, although Skirlaugh gave themselves a boost by notching a first win of the campaign by beating Drighlington on the third Saturday of May.
It is, sadly for folk on the east coast, a similar story in Division Three. Beverley are propping up the bottom tier, while Myton Warriors are too close to the relegation zone for comfort, although the victory at Milford suggests that the Warriors could be more likely to feature in the promotion play-offs than finishing in the bottom two.
What is startling about those apparently struggling outfits is that all have been at the very top of the grassroots tree. Hull Dockers, for example, were for many decades as strong a side as any in the country.
Skirlaugh don’t go back quite so far but were, in the mid-1990s and later, as powerful as any amateur outfit in the land and, on joining the Conference from the Hull & District League, rose inexorably through the ranks to the very pinnacle of the competition. But they have, in recent years, seemed to be in something approaching freefall.
Myton, similarly, made a big impact on joining the NCL but, likewise, have been struggling during the past few seasons.
Beverley are another outfit that was once riding high, but are without a win so far this season.
What, meanwhile, of life for those sides outside the National Conference League? Well, the once celebrated Hull & District League – not to mention the much-vaunted Hull Works League – doesn’t exist. To clarify, the District League does exist, but not in playing terms, while the equally thriving Works League fell by the wayside long ago.
League competition is provided by the Rugby Football League’s Yorkshire Men’s League, which has no Hull teams in its Premier or First Divisions. East Hull (one-time NCL champions and BARLA National Cup winners in a memorable double-winning season) are in Division Two and are credited with two wins in two games – and we’re now in mid-May.
It’s a general scenario that would once have been unthinkable, although the Hull & District League hopes to offer clubs that are still officially in membership midweek rugby league through a revamped Council Cup.
Alan Parker, who has been centrally involved on the Hull & District League’s committee for some six decades, said: “For a lot of that time I have been their fixture secretary, but now with no teams to give fixtures to.
“The League peaked at 68 teams, with three divisions on Saturdays and three on Sundays. We now only have five NCL sides and, apart from West Hull, they are struggling and could all be in the bottom division next season – if they all survive. Although Conference teams are supposed to run an ‘A’ team only West Hull regularly turn a side out while in the Yorkshire Men’s League only East Hull have a game each week.
“The surprising thing about the current low Hull Open Age numbers is the fact that for many years we have had a strong Youth & Junior League and many Hull teams have won BARLA National and Yorkshire Cups at all age groups.”
Skirlaugh’s Rob Gill said: “Our coaching staff cite summer rugby as one reason for our fall down the tables as it presents too many distractions, with players not fully committed like they use to be. In addition, both our professional clubs are successful and the players like to support them.
“The vast majority of our players are employed at Siemens (offshore wind farms) and have to work shifts or lose their employment. Many others work in the caravan industry and have set holidays, like three weeks in the summer, when they all seem to go away. At the back of their minds is the constant thought of injury disrupting their lives, but the ‘big one’ is that we have a very successful youth system and are heavily penalised for that by professional clubs such as Hull KR, Hull, Wakefield and Castleford, who start watching them at 12 years old and begin taking them in large numbers at 15 on their scholarships. Only a small percentage actually make it; there has to be a far better pathway back to the amateur game because the sad fact is that they get lost to the game as a whole.”
Stan Pickering of Hull Dockers, speaking in a purely personal capacity, said: “It is endemic of the way that rugby league in general, especially at amateur level, is going around the country. I believe that playing summer rugby has been one factor although not the only problem. We do have a very good junior section that may help in the future but we’ll have to see.”
Beverley stalwart Nick Robinson told RLW: “We won the NCL’s Division Three title in 2018, consolidated in Division Two in 2019 and made a good start in 2020 but that was dashed by Covid.
“There was a rather messy makeshift regional league in 2021, with constant postponements due to Covid cases, and when we got our first ‘proper’ season in 2022 our momentum as a club had been entirely lost. “Instead we had retirements and injuries, and were relegated at the end of the campaign. This leads me on to what I believe is our fundamental problem. The players replacing those retiring have not been sufficient in quality and quantity for us to maintain our previous position in Division Two.
“Our juniors (Braves) acquired their own pitches and clubhouse just prior to the Covid lockdown but because of a number of issues we have been unable to move in with them. We are therefore a club ‘on hold’, unable to tap into the vibrancy of the juniors section which has recently received a lot of recognition, with selections for England Under 16s, plus an award from the East Riding council for the outstanding sports club of the year. In short, it’s a bit frustrating because we can’t move on.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 509 (June 2025)