Midlands RL Merit League
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The Midlands RL Merit League is a summer rugby league tournament in England. It is a feeder league to the Rugby League Conference and has a season that runs from April to August.
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[edit] Foundation
The league was founded in late 2005 to support the growth of rugby league in non-heartland areas. Originally intended as a stand alone league, support from the Rugby Football League meant that it could be administered as part of the Rugby League Conference set-up. Interest quickly gathered with 13 teams confirming participation in the inaugural season. The league is based on the successful London League which also operates a merit system.
The first ever game took place on April 8th 2006 at All Saints Sports College, Sheffield, where the Sheffield Forgers beat the Chesterfield Spires by 58 points to 8.
[edit] Format
The 2006 competition operated on a merit table basis with teams organizing fixtures amongst themselves. The first fixtures were in April, with the final date for games to be included in the league table being Sunday 13th August.
The scoring system for matches is as follows:
Away Win: 3 points
Away Draw: 2 points
Home Win: 2 points
Home Draw: 1 point
80+ KM trip to away game: 1 point
Completion of Home and Away games with opponent: 1 point
Default on game within three days of fixture: -1 point, with 24-0 score-line awarded to opposition
The average number of points scored per game, rather than the total, determines positions in the league table. Teams who have played 4 or more games will be placed higher in the table than those who haven't. If Average is the same, total games played followed by points difference will determine the placings.
Note that in the case of a team defaulting in a "pair" fixture, the non-offending team will receive the point for the pair but the defaulting team will not. Also defaulted games will be shown the games played column but will not count towards the 4 game rule.
For the 2006 season, inter-league games between members of the MML and the London League can be counted as competitive matches, whilst both leagues are in season. These fixtures will need to be confirmed a week in advance to be guaranteed inclusion as regular season games.
[edit] Participating clubs
The Inaugural 2006 season saw the following clubs participating:
- East Riding Rangers
- Lincoln City Knights A
- Scunthorpe Braves
- South Humber Rabbitohs
- Telford Trojans
The following teams are committed to the concept but have been unable to arrange fixtures in 2006:
- Birmingham Bulldogs A
- Redditch Ravens A
[edit] Season 2006
The Grand Final for 2006 was held between the top two teams in the table on Sunday 13th August and took place a week later at Hillsborough Arena, home of the Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks. The final table (August 13th) was as follows:
| Position | Club | Played | H-Win | H-Draw | A-Win | A-Draw | Lost | Def. | Pts For | Pts Agst | Pair | Long | Points | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Humber Rabbitohs | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 386 | 100 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 3.28571 |
| 2 | Nottingham Outlaws 'A' | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 320 | 103 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 2.7143 |
| 3 | East Riding RLC | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 320 | 164 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 2.4 |
| 4 | Scunthorpe Braves | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 274 | 238 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 2.0 |
| 5 | Telford Trojans | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 149 | 232 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1.0 |
| 6 | Sheffield Forgers | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 158 | 432 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0.75 |
| 7 | Chesterfield Spires | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 150 | 496 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0.7 |
| 8 | Lincoln City Knights 'A' | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 94 | 86 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1.0 |
In the Grand Final South Humber Rabbitohs beat the Nottingham Outlaws by 42 points to 18 and became the inaugural champions.
[edit] External links
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