The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) is an association for social and recreational rugby league. It works jointly with the Rugby Football League through the RFL Community Board.
BARLA was created in 1973 in Huddersfield at the George Hotel by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. Fewer than 150 amateur teams remained with a mere thirty youth rugby league teams. The 'breakaway' from the RFL was acrimonious and was strongly contested with a vote 29–1 against recognising BARLA. Thanks to Tom Mitchell, this changed to a unanimous vote of approval for BARLA within twelve months.
One of BARLA's first acts was to merge the vast majority of the district leagues into five regional leagues: the Yorkshire League (initially still called the Leeds & District League), the short-lived Cumbria League, the West Yorkshire Sunday League, the Pennine League and the North Western Counties League. For geographical reasons the Hull & District League (renamed Humberside League) and the Southern League were left unmerged. 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.
In 1977 BARLA toured Australia and New Zealand for the first time. In that year the BARLA Young Lions made their first inaugural tour setting a lasting trend by giving future stars of the game such as David Hobbs their first taste of international rugby league.
The best amateur clubs were still divided between six leagues and thus the desire for an amateur National League arose. The BARLA National League first took place in the 1986/1987 season with 10 teams.
The association has always been a champion of the amateur ethos and in 1987 BARLA played a major role in the establishment of the 'free gangway' between the two codes at amateur level. The agreement allowed players to inter-change between rugby league and rugby union without fear of discrimination.
The BARLA National League soon proved popular and the 1989/90 season also saw the addition of a second division.
On 30 November 1990, BARLA's new headquarters at West Yorkshire House, Huddersfield was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1993, BARLA provided the first Great Britain team to tour South Africa. The BARLA National League was rebranded the National Conference League and expanded to three divisions (now named premier, first and second) in 1993.
By 1999, there were more than 1,400 teams and 900 youth and junior teams. On an average weekend in the season, almost 23,000 players will be in action.
BARLA's work in the international expansion of the game was recognised by their inclusion as affiliate members of the International Federation (equivalent to the International Board at the time) in 1999 and by BARLA's inclusion in the Emerging Nations World Championship in 2000.
BARLA won the Emerging Nations World Championship beating Italy 20–14 in the final.
There is an InterTown Series played over the summer between sides representing different districts.
It also runs youth leagues such as the Yorkshire Combination Youth League and Hull Youth and Junior. There are county cups at age group level, known as the Yorkshire Youth Cup, Lancashire Youth Cup and the Cumbria Youth Cup.
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BARLA redirects here For other uses see Barla disambiguation This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources British Amateur Rugby League Association news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations November 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message The British Amateur Rugby League Association BARLA is an association for social and recreational rugby league It works jointly with the Rugby Football League through the RFL Community Board British Amateur Rugby League AssociationFounded1973RFL affiliation2004ResponsibilityUnited Kingdom social and recreationalHeadquartersWest Yorkshire House New North Parade Huddersfield UKKey peoplePhil Woolas MP President Spen Allison Chair Websitebarla org ukAs of 1 July 2009 Contents 1 History 2 Competitions 3 Representative rugby league 3 1 Cumbria 3 2 North West 3 3 Yorkshire 3 4 Non heartlands 4 See also 5 External linksHistory EditSee also History of the National Conference League BARLA was created in 1973 in Huddersfield at the George Hotel by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs Fewer than 150 amateur teams remained with a mere thirty youth rugby league teams The breakaway from the RFL was acrimonious and was strongly contested with a vote 29 1 against recognising BARLA Thanks to Tom Mitchell this changed to a unanimous vote of approval for BARLA within twelve months One of BARLA s first acts was to merge the vast majority of the district leagues into five regional leagues the Yorkshire League initially still called the Leeds amp District League the short lived Cumbria League the West Yorkshire Sunday League the Pennine League and the North Western Counties League For geographical reasons the Hull amp District League renamed Humberside League and the Southern League were left unmerged 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 The Yorkshire County Cup and Lancashire County Cup knock out competitions were started in 1973 as well as the BARLA National Cup In 1977 BARLA toured Australia and New Zealand for the first time In that year the BARLA Young Lions made their first inaugural tour setting a lasting trend by giving future stars of the game such as David Hobbs their first taste of international rugby league A Cumbria County Cup was started in 1982 The best amateur clubs were still divided between six leagues and thus the desire for an amateur National League arose The BARLA National League first took place in the 1986 1987 season with 10 teams The association has always been a champion of the amateur ethos and in 1987 BARLA played a major role in the establishment of the free gangway between the two codes at amateur level The agreement allowed players to inter change between rugby league and rugby union without fear of discrimination The BARLA National League soon proved popular and the 1989 90 season also saw the addition of a second division On 30 November 1990 BARLA s new headquarters at West Yorkshire House Huddersfield was opened by Queen Elizabeth II In 1993 BARLA provided the first Great Britain team to tour South Africa The BARLA National League was rebranded the National Conference League and expanded to three divisions now named premier first and second in 1993 By 1999 there were more than 1 400 teams and 900 youth and junior teams On an average weekend in the season almost 23 000 players will be in action BARLA s work in the international expansion of the game was recognised by their inclusion as affiliate members of the International Federation equivalent to the International Board at the time in 1999 and by BARLA s inclusion in the Emerging Nations World Championship in 2000 BARLA won the Emerging Nations World Championship beating Italy 20 14 in the final Competitions EditBARLA runs many leagues mainly based in the heartland areas of the sport Yorkshire Lancashire and Cumbria The top division under their control is the National Conference League with regional leagues including the North West Counties Yorkshire Cumberland Pennine Hull amp District and Barrow amp District leagues Its top knock out competition is the BARLA National Cup and there are county cups for Yorkshire Lancashire and Cumbria There is an InterTown Series played over the summer between sides representing different districts It also runs youth leagues such as the Yorkshire Combination Youth League and Hull Youth and Junior There are county cups at age group level known as the Yorkshire Youth Cup Lancashire Youth Cup and the Cumbria Youth Cup Representative rugby league EditBARLA selects an international team consisting of community players the BARLA Lions This team tours many parts of the rugby league world and have competed in the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament The association has made 31 tours to and from the Southern Hemisphere These include pioneer visits with matches against Fiji Samoa Tonga the Cook Islands and South Africa In the Northern Hemisphere games have been played against Moldova Russia Morocco Pakistan and the US Cumbria Edit North West Allerdale Barrow amp South Lakes Copeland and Eden North West Edit Halton Lancashire Rochdale Oldham Salford St Helens Warrington amp Cheshire Wigan amp Leigh Fylde Yorkshire Edit Bradford Calderdale Hull Kirklees Leeds North Yorkshire South Yorkshire Wakefield Non heartlands Edit London amp South East North East Scotland WalesSee also Edit Sports portalRugby Football League Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament Victory Cup Rugby league in EnglandExternal links EditBARLA official website Lancashire Service Area Hull amp District Youth amp Junior Yorkshire Combination Youth League Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title British Amateur Rugby League Association amp oldid 1121327795, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
