The National Conference League is the top league in the pyramid of amateur rugby leagues. It was formerly run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) in winter but now forms tier 3 of the RFL's pyramid in summer .
Background
While in the early days rugby league had an established structure outside of the professional leagues with county-wide competitions and the like, this soon decayed into local district leagues usually only featuring teams from one or two towns with no input from the professional game. This eventually saw the number of amateur rugby league clubs reduce to a mere 150 in the early 1970s.
Against this background British Amateur Rugby League Association were formed in 1973. One of their first acts was to merge the vast majority of the district leagues into three regional leagues: the Yorkshire League, the Pennine League and the North Western Counties League. For geographical reasons the Hull League, the Cumberland League, the Barrow League and the London League were left as they were.
This allowed clubs to play at more appropriate standards as there were more divisions, and this factor along with the improved governance of BARLA saw the standard and numbers of clubs rise quickly. However, while there was a National Cup, the best amateur clubs were still divided between six leagues and thus the desire for an amateur National League arose.
One division era
Against this background the BARLA National League was formed. The inaugural season was held in 1986–1987. The league received twenty-seven applications including five from the Barrow area alone, and more unusually, one from a London club- South London Warriors.
In the end the league settled on ten members, all from the northern strongholds of the game. These were four clubs from Yorkshire: Dudley Hill, Milford Marlins, Heworth and West Hull; four clubs from Lancashire: Pilkington Recs, Wigan St Patrick's, Woolston Rovers and Leigh Miners' Welfare; and two clubs from Cumbria: Egremont Rangers and Millom. These ten clubs were to be the members for each of the first three seasons.
1986/87
Champions: Heworth
1987/88
Champions: Milford Marlins
1988/89
Champions: West Hull
Two division era
The National League soon proved popular and for the 1989/90 season extended the top flight to twelve teams to include Lock Lane and Mayfield. However, this modest expansion wasn't enough and the 1989/90 season also saw the addition of a 10-team second division (to expand to 12 teams after one season).
The ten inaugural members of the second division were as follows: Saddleworth Rangers, Leigh East, British Aerospace, Barrow Island, Askam, Knottingley, Redhill, Dewsbury Celtic, Shaw Cross Sharks and East Leeds. This expansion was to prove successful with Leigh East becoming the first non-founder members to win the league in the 1990/91 season.
1989/90
Division 1
Champions: Dudley Hill
Relegated: Milford Marlins and Lock Lane
Division 2
Champions:Saddleworth Rangers
Also promoted: Leigh East
Elected to league for next season: Greetland Allrounders and Beverley
1990/91
Division 1
Champions: Leigh East
Relegated: West Hull
Resign from league: Pilkington Recs
Division 2
Champions: Barrow Island
Also promoted: Askam
Resign from league: Knottingley and British Aerospace
Elected to league for next season: Moldgreen, Walney Central and Oulton Raiders
1991/92
Division 1
Champions: Wigan St Patrick's
Relegated: Barrow Island and Mayfield
Division 2
Champions: West Hull
Also promoted: Dewsbury Celtic
1992/93
Division 1
Champions: Saddleworth Rangers
Division 2
Champions: Mayfield
Three division era
In 1993 the RFL wanted to contract the professional ranks from 35 to 32 teams. However, their initial plan to place the excluded teams in the Alliance (reserve grade) faced a legal challenge so they needed an alternative competition to place them in. The RFL thus proposed a league to bridge the gap between the professional and amateur leagues to feature the three demoted semi-pro clubs plus Hemel Hempstead (who already played in the Alliance as a semi-pro club) and eight BARLA clubs.