The Pennine Amateur Rugby League, or Pennine League is a rugby league competition for amateur open-age clubs that runs from September to April for clubs around the Pennines area. The competition is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA).
History
The Pennines League was one of the first league formed under the British Amateur Rugby League Association, who formed the year prior in 1973 following a dispute with the Rugby Football League (RFL) regarding resources given to the amateur game.[1][2] Local district leagues in the heartlands of Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Oldham, and Rochdale were merged to create the competition.[3]
In 2004, BARLA realigned itself with the RFL,[1] but the Pennine League continued to operate outside of the RFL's amateur structure, the Rugby League Conference, founded in 1997.
In 2012, the RFL reformed the amateur structure of rugby league in Great Britain. BARLA's premire amateur competition, the National Conference League, switched to a summer season in line with this change, and became jointly administered by BARLA and the RFL. The Pennine League, again, was unaffected decided to remain a winter competition.[4] Since then, the number of teams have declined.[5][6]
To date, it is one of the few competitions still to be played in the winter and remains outside the RFL purview, not being listed as one of their community leagues.[7]
