Sport Rugby league Inaugural season 2012 | Instituted 2011 Number of teams 6 | |
Country British Columbia, Canada (Canada Rugby League) Premiers Capilano Cougars (2015) | ||
The British Columbia Rugby League Competition (or the BCRL or BC Rugby League) is a domestic rugby league football competition in British Columbia, Canada operated by the Canada Rugby League. It currently features six teams. The first season had the Surrey Beavers winning the title in 2012.
Contents
Teams
The BCRL competition started in May 2012 with 5 teams, Bayside Sharks, Burnaby Lake Rugby Club, Kelowna Crows, Sea to Sky Eagles and Surrey Beavers, making it the largest rugby league competition in Canada but the only stable clubs in existence are rugby union clubs. In fact The competition was contested over 6 weeks followed by the final series and a Premier’s challenge. Surrey Beavers played against Kelowna Crows in the grand final winning 20 to 4 to then go on to the Premier’s Challenge to take on the BC Selects (reserve grade team of the BC Bulldogs). The BC Selects defeated Surrey Beavers 28 to 6. Following the conclusion of the 2012 season, Burnaby Lake Rugby Club withdrew from the competition.
In 2013, the BCRL announced the expansion of the competition to include a further 2 teams, Richmond Bears Rugby League Club and the Vancouver Dragons Rugby League Football Club.
Structure and Finance
Under the current structure, rugby league teams are partnered with local Rugby Union Teams and typically adopt the union teams existing mascot with the exception of Sea to Sky Eagles & Vancouver Dragons Rugby League FC who are unaffiliated with local rugby union teams.
Currently the BCRL is a self-funded entity with little contribution from local, national or international sponsorship. Due to this the league’s expansion relies heavily on the contributions made by players to help pay for the cost to tour teams.