Chapter 17. A National League

Amateur Rugby League had featured County-wide competitions before, but had traditionally been based on local town leagues. BARLA had helped expand that with its regional leagues – the Yorkshire League, Pennine League and North-West Counties leagues among them. In 1986 BARLA went a step further when it launched a long-awaited national league, later renamed The National Conference. It was designed for the country’s leading teams, not just from a success point of view, but clubs with a solid set-up including a reserve team and a strong youth and junior structure. A clubhouse beside the pitch was not essential, but would clearly help prospective applicants.

Not all clubs necessarily wanted to join. There would be considerable travelling and expense, and players would have to be committed not least in terms of time. A total of 29 clubs applied for the ten available places, including Pennine League champions Elland who met all the criteria except an enclosed ground that could charge admission. To overcome that, they reached an agreement with Halifax Town to play home fixtures at The Shay, only for the new league authorities to rule that using grounds of professional clubs was prohibited. With only Greetland Community Centre to offer, they missed out. Some players had been against the move anyway.

The National League was extended to twelve teams in 1989, with a new ten-team second division, but this time Elland did not apply. Instead it was Greetland All-Rounders who became the first Halifax club to be admitted when they were added to this second division in 1990. Greetland would be the first to admit they were not the town’s leading side, not helped by being situated on exposed ground on the edge of the moors near Norland with little in the way of an immediate catchment area, but they were well-run, had high-quality facilities, had the ability to attract grants, and fulfilled all the league’s requirements. They also won the Halifax Cup in 1992-3, beating Siddal in the Final with Mick Blacker as player-coach. They remained members as it expanded to a three-division National Conference in 1993, but hit problems in 1994.

Struggling in a playing sense they approached Maurice Bamford to become coach. He brought with him new players, including several from overseas. Around ten Australian and New Zealand players appeared within a few weeks, there being no restrictions on them at the time – Hemel Hempstead had used several. Greetland became a fit, fast and skilful side, but the expenses bill became significant. Now winning matches as never before, they continued down that line, even using some in their second team in a local cup semi-final against Brighouse Rangers when they were not eligible. Maurice Bamford resigned over the matter, Greetland “A” were kicked out of the cup, and the premiers soon expelled from the Conference too. Undaunted, they returned to the Pennine League, where they continued to develop their on and off-field facilities to rival any club in the land.

Ovenden were admitted in 1995, elected ahead of contenders including Park Amateurs. They competed well to start with, but were to lose their place too, in mid-season 1998-9. They were found to have fielded one of their own junior products, county hooker Lee Midgley, twelve times under the assumed name of a former player. Lee, son of the Ovenden chairman, was registered with Halifax Blue Sox, where he was a reserve hooker, which made him ineligible. “Ovenden officials freely admitted they had blatantly flaunted the rules,” said League Chairman Terry Parle. “We had no option but to boot them out with immediate effect.” They were next to the bottom of the second division at the time, their record expunged from the table. Ovenden were devastated. “We expected something other than expulsion,” commented secretary Tony McElroy. All was forgiven when they were re-elected in 2004, but they made their own decision to withdraw before the 2015 season though financial difficulties and a lack of players. They had enjoyed some success, winning a promotion along the way.

Pennine League champions Siddal were elected in 1997, immediately winning promotion from the third tier, then into the top division in 2001. Siddal developed into not only the best Halifax side, but also one of the best in the whole country. They were to become Conference Champions in both 2003 and 2004, then again in 2009 and 2016, having been runners-up in 2010 and 2011. The junior teams, meanwhile, won heaps of honours too numerous to list, a vast number of players progressing to the professional ranks with Super League clubs. A full list can be found on the Siddal RL Heritage Project Facebook page.

Elland also had a spell in the Conference, being elected in 2010, but were to resign in mid-season 2017 after failing to fulfil a home Division 3 fixture against Woolston Rovers when only six players turned up. And Brighouse Rangers were members for two years after moving to their new home at Russell Way; they were accepted in 2006 having finished fifth in the Pennine League Premier Division.

By 2024 there were 46 teams competing in four divisions, Siddal being Halifax’s only remaining representatives.