Cumbria Rugby League[1] is a series of summer rugby league competitions for amateur teams in Cumbria.
Cumbria Rugby League is part of the Rugby Football League and incorporates what is now called the "Iggesund Cumberland ARL" which has existed since 1899 and one of the few competitions that predates any attempt to organise the amateur game. Along with the Cumberland ARL, Cumbria Rugby League also runs the Barrow and District Leagues (open age and youth) along with the West Cumbria Youth League.[2] The leagues are jointly administered with the British Amateur Rugby League Association.[3]
Cumbria Rugby League itself was formed during the Rugby Football League's 2012 restructuring of amateur rugby league in Great Britain.
The Cumberland League has been in existence, in one form or another, since 1899. Millom, in 1897, was the first club in the county to defect from rugby union to Northern Union, they were followed a year later by Workington, Maryport, Whitehaven, Seaton, Brookland Rovers and Wath Brow. The first three named joined with Lancaster and the Furness clubs Barrow, Dalton and Askam to form the North Western League in 1898/99. The first champions were Millom who finished just ahead of Barrow.
On 10 May 1899 the Cumberland clubs met at the Grapes Hotel in Workington and agreed to form a Cumberland Senior League for the following season. They voted W.E. Mason (Whitehaven) to chair the new competition and R. Nixon (Maryport) was elected Hon. Secretary.
The participants in that first season, 1899/1900, were Brookland Rovers, Maryport, Seaton, Whitehaven, Whitehaven Rec and Workington.
In 2024, suggestions were made that the league could return to winter due to a number of fixtures cancellations caused by clubs being unable to field teams in the summer months.[4]
| Year | League Leaders | Play Off Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=25% | Winner | width=8% | Result | width=25% | Runner-up |
| 1899/1900 | Maryport | ||||
| 1900/01 | Maryport | ||||
| 1901/02 | Seaton | Seaton | 5-3 | Whitehaven Rec | |
| 1902/03 | Maryport | Maryport | 18-0 | Seaton | |
| 1903/04 | Maryport | Not played | |||
| 1904/05 | Parton | Parton | 0-05-2 | Brookland Rovers | |
| 1905/06 | Whitehaven Rec | ||||
| 1906/07 | Millom | Workington | 25-3 | Millom | |
| 1907/08 | Workington | Workington | WO | Whitehaven Rec | |
| 1908/09 | Workington | Workington | 6-5 | Egremont | |
| 1909/10 | Broughton Moor | Broughton Moor | 8-0 | Brookland Rovers | |
| 1910/11 | Broughton Moor | Brookland Rovers | 2-0 | Broughton Moor | |
| 1911/12 | Seaton | Seaton | 10-5 | Brookland Rovers | |
| 1912/13 | Seaton | Seaton | 29-0 | Fothergill United | |
| 1913/14 | Seaton | Seaton | 23-3 | Broughton Moor | |
| 1914/15 | colspan=4 rowspan=5 | ||||
| 1915/16 | |||||
| 1916/17 | |||||
| 1917/18 | |||||
| 1918/19 | |||||
| 1919/20 | Brookland Rovers | Brookland Rovers | 7-5 | Broughton Moor | |
| 1920/21 | Dearham Wanderers | 14-4 | Seaton | ||
| 1921/22 | Broughton Moor | Broughton Moor | 7-5 | Wath Brow Hornets | |
| 1922/23 | Brookland Rovers | Brookland Rovers | 2-0 | Aspatria Hornets | |
| 1923/24 | Glasson Rangers | 5-3 | Flimby & Fothergill Utd | ||
| 1924/25 | Brookland Rovers | 3-0 | Flimby & Fothergill Utd | ||
| 1925/26 | Hensingham | Hensingham | vs. | Dearham/Brookland | |
| 1926/27 | Dearham Wanderers | Dearham Wanderers | 11-0 | Brookland Rovers | |
| 1927/28 | Dearham Wanderers | Dearham Wanderers | 20-0 | Whitehaven Rec | |
| 1928/29 | Whitehaven Rec | Glasson Rangers | 2-0 | Whitehaven Rec | |
| 1929/30 | Great Clifton | Glasson Rangers | 12-5 | Great Clifton | |
| 1930/31 | Great Clifton | Egremont Rangers | 5-2 | Great Clifton | |
| 1931/32 | Glasson Rangers | Glasson Rangers | 2-0 | Flimby | |
| 1932/33 | Flimby | Flimby | 4-0 | Great Clifton | |
| 1933/34 | Dearham Wanderers | Dearham Wanderers | 5-2 | Kells | |
| 1934/35 | Kells | Flimby | 6-0 | Kells | |
| 1935/36 | Glasson Rangers | Glasson Rangers | 11-3 | Maryport | |
| 1936/37 | Netherton | 6-0 | Broughton | ||
| 1937/38 | Glasson Rangers | 21-0 | Maryport | ||
| 1938/39 | Glasson Rangers | Glasson Rangers | |||
| 1939/40 | colspan=4 rowspan=6 | ||||
| 1940/41 | |||||
| 1941/42 | |||||
| 1942/43 | |||||
| 1943/44 | |||||
| 1944/45 | |||||
| 1945/46 | |||||
| 1946/47 | |||||
| 1947/48 | |||||
| 1948/49 | |||||
| 1949/50 | |||||
| 1950/51 | |||||
| 1951/52 | |||||
| 1952/53 | |||||
| 1953/54 | |||||
| 1954/55 | |||||
| 1955/56 | |||||
| 1956/57 | |||||
| 1957/58 | |||||
| 1958/59 | |||||
| 1959/60 | |||||
| 1960/61 | |||||
| 1961/62 | |||||
| 1962/63 | |||||
| 1963/64 | |||||
| 1964/65 | |||||
| 1965/66 | |||||
| 1966/67 | |||||
| 1967/68 | |||||
| 1968/69 | |||||
| 1969/70 | |||||
| 1970/71 | |||||
| 1971/72 | |||||
| 1972/73 | |||||
| 1973/74 | Seaton Rangers | ||||
| 1974/75 | Maryport | Maryport | |||
| 1975/76 | Wath Brow Hornets | ||||
| 1976/77 | Wath Brow Hornets | ||||
| 1977/78 | |||||
| 1978/79 | Lowca | Ellenborough Rangers | 14-0 | Lowca | |
| 1979/80 | Lowca | ||||
| 1980/81 | |||||
| 1981/82 | Kells | Glasson Rangers | |||
| 1982/83 | Kells | 12-8 | Lowca | ||
| 1983/84 | Great Clifton Lions | Egremont Rangers | def. | Great Clifton Lions | |
| 1984/85 | Egremont Rangers | ||||
| 1985/86 | |||||
| 1986/87 | |||||
| 1987/88 | |||||
| 1988/89 | Hensingham | ||||
| 1989/90 | Kells | ||||
| 1990/91 | Ellenborough Rangers | ||||
| 1991/92 | Ellenborough Rangers | ||||
| 1992/93 | Ellenborough Rangers | ||||
| 1993/94 | Hensingham | ||||
| 1994/95 | Hensingham | Ellenborough Rangers | def. | Hensingham | |
| 1995/96 | Hensingham | Wath Brow Hornets | |||
| 1996/97 | Westfield | Ellenborough Rangers | def. | Westfield | |
| 1997/98 | Wath Brow Hornets | Ellenborough Rangers | 22-6 | Wath Brow Hornets | |
| 1998/99 | Ellenborough Rangers | Ellenborough Rangers | 28-12 | Wath Brow Hornets | |
| 1999/2000 | Wath Brow Hornets | Hensingham | 29-16 | Wath Brow Hornets | |
| 2000/01 | Wath Brow Hornets | Wath Brow Hornets | 28-18 | Ellenborough Rangers | |
| 2001/02 | Wath Brow Hornets | Wath Brow Hornets | |||
| 2002/03 | Hensingham | Hensingham | |||
| 2003/04 | Hensingham | Seaton Rangers | def. | Hensingham | |
| 2004/05 | Seaton Rangers | Kells | 52-10 | Egremont Rangers | |
| 2005/06 | Seaton Rangers | Seaton Rangers | def. | ||
| 2006/07 | Seaton Rangers | ||||
| 2007/08 | Ellenborough Rangers | ||||
| 2008/09 | Kells | ||||
| 2009/10 | |||||
| 2010/11 | |||||
| 2012 | Kells | ||||
| 2013 | |||||
| 2014 | |||||
| 2015 | |||||
| 2016 | |||||
| 2017 | |||||
| 2018 | |||||
| 2019 | Distington[5] [6] | ||||
| 2020 | colspan=4 rowspan=2 | ||||
| 2021 | |||||
| 2022 | |||||
| 2023 | |||||
| 2024 | |||||
In 2013, a short lived "Cumbria Men's League" was created for the higher performing teams of the Cumberland ARL competition. Winners are:
The competition ceased following the 2017 season.[8]