The National Conference League (known as the Impact Performance National Conference League for sponsorship reasons and often abbreviated to simply NCL) is the fourth tier of the male British rugby league structure, currently consisting of top-level amateur clubs based wholly within Northern England.

Since 2012, the National Conference League operates over a summer season in line with the professional game.

History

The league was founded as the BARLA National League for the 1986–87 season with 10 teams: Dudley Hill, Egremont Rangers, Heworth, Leigh Miners Welfare (now Leigh Miners Rangers), Milford Marlins, Millom, Pilkington Recs, West Hull, Wigan St Patrick's and Woolston Rovers. The original NCL concept was one team per town.

The league added a second division in 1989, and expanded to three divisions (now named premier, first and second as opposed to first and second) along with a rebrand to the current name of National Conference League in 1993.

Somewhat confusingly, in the late 1990s and 2000s another major amateur competition was also titled conference: the Rugby League Conference (RLC), which operated a summer season as opposed to the traditional winter season retained by the NCL. The move to a summer season by the NCL in 2012 and a reorganisation by the RFL resulted in a merger of the leagues and the creation of a new NCL 3rd division out of the old RLC National Division, which was replaced by the Conference League South in 2013.

**Nationale Conference League**

De Nationale Conference League is het derde niveau van rugby league in Engeland, na de Super League en de Championship. De competitie werd opgericht in 2009 als de Co-operative Conference. In 2012 werd de competitie omgedoopt tot de National Conference League.

De Nationale Conference League bestaat uit 12 teams die in twee divisies zijn verdeeld, de Premier Division en de Division One. De top vier teams van de Premier Division spelen aan het einde van het seizoen een play-off om te promoveren naar het Championship. De onderste twee teams van de Premier Division degraderen naar Division One. De top twee teams van Division One promoveren naar de Premier Division. De onderste twee teams van Division One degraderen naar de regionale competities.

De Nationale Conference League is een belangrijke competitie voor rugby league in Engeland. Het biedt een opstapje naar het Championship en de Super League en helpt om nieuwe spelers te ontwikkelen.