Sport Rugby league Inaugural season 2002 Country Serbia | Instituted 2001 Number of teams 17 Champions Dorćol (2015) | |
The Serbian Rugby League Championship (Serbian: Првенство Србије у рагбију 13 / Prvenstvo Srbije u ragbiju 13) is a domestic competition of rugby league played in Serbia. The competition started in 2002 when 4 teams played each other twice, once at home and once away, from April through to August. It was deemed a success and so the league continued in 2003. Since then new teams have been added and some have disappeared. Seasons 2007 and 2008 saw stabilizaton of rugby league scene in the country. Clubs like Podbara Novi Sad and Palilulac Hammers (Serbian: Палилулац Чекићар / Palilulac Čekićar) from the city of Niš entered the competition. Very soon, Faculty of Political Sciences (FPN XIII) from Belgrade formed their own rugby league team, which is the first student's rugby team of any code in the country and the region. Their place in competition was taken by Belgrade University XIII, while FPN XIII and other students' teams form University League of Serbia - UniLeague. In 2009, it was formed lower grade competition for the first time, for emerging clubs.
Contents
As new clubs are establishing and joining Serbian Rugby League Federation, further development and quality raise is expected in the following years.
Teams
In total, 28 teams have played in the league, with Dorćol being the only team who have played every year. Beside each club name, in brackets, is what years the club has taken part in the league.
Format
2012 competition sees ten teams divided in two quality groups (A and B), with the bottom group additionally divided in two parts on geographical basis (North and South). They play home and away round robin format league. In group A, top group teams play-off with qualifying semifinal (2nd v 3rd) game in week 1. Regular season top team is the first grand finalist, while the winner of qualifying semi-final is the other. Grand final is played in week 2 at the home ground of qualifying play-off winner. In group B, top two teams from each part qualify to semi-final (North 1 v South 2, South 2 v North 1). Semifinal winners play in Group B final to decide the champion and the team who should be promoted to Group A next season. Semifinal losers play 7th/8th place playoff (in aggregate Group A+Group B), while bottom teams from each group play for 9th place.
During regular season, team earns 2 pts for win, 1 pt for tie game and no pts for loss. The team is deducted 3 pts for forfeit game.