South West Rugby League
| Country |
 England
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Number of teams | 5 |
| Level on pyramid | 5 |
| Promotion to | Conference League South |
| Domestic cup(s) | Harry Jepson Trophy |
| Current champions | Cornish Rebels |
 2015 South West Rugby League season
|
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The South West Rugby League (SWRL) also known as the South West Men's League is a rugby league competition for teams in the South West of England. It was formerly part of the Rugby League Conference.
The SWRL is a semi-autonomous league with a five-member committee under an RFL appointed chairman. The SWRL has five member clubs from Devon and Cornwall.
The Rugby League Conference was founded in 1997 as the Southern Conference, a 10-team pilot league for teams in the South of England and the English Midlands.
The conference made the leap from 30 to 52 teams in 2003 and a South West Division appeared for the first time. It disappeared in 2004 as South West teams took part in the Western Division and Cardiff Demons joined the newly created Welsh Division.
The Premier divisions saw a change in boundaries leaving the North Premier division covering a larger area to give the English Midlands clubs their own premier division without having to face heartland teams, this left the West Midlands division with too few teams to run, resulting in a merged West Midlands and South West Division.
After a campaign by the RFL to form new clubs in the South West, a new South West division was created in 2007 for teams from the West Country. By 2010, there were enough teams to have a South West conference split into two pools.
For the 2011 season, there was a new RLC West of England alongside the RLC South West. The initial idea was that the two leagues would compete side by side with play-offs at the end of the season to decide an overall South West champion. In 2011, Gloucestershire Warriors defeated Somerset Vikings in the Championship play-off. In 2012, the intended play-off match was cancelled as the majority of the Devon Sharks team, the South West Champions, were unable to break off from the start of the rugby union season to fulfill the fixture.
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