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.

National Conference League (NCL) er en rugby league-konkurranse i Storbritannia som består av lag fra England og Wales. Ligaen ble grunnlagt i 2009 og er den tredje høyeste divisjonen i britisk rugby league, etter Super League og Championship. NCL er delt inn i to divisjoner, Premier Division og Division One, med 10 lag i hver divisjon. Premier Division-lagene spiller mot hverandre to ganger i løpet av en sesong, mens Division One-lagene spiller mot hverandre tre ganger. De to beste lagene i Premier Division rykker opp til Championship, mens de to nederste lagene rykker ned til Division One. De to beste lagene i Division One rykker opp til Premier Division, mens de to nederste lagene rykker ned til Regional Leagues. NCL-finalen spilles på Halliwell Jones Stadium i Warrington, og vinneren av finalen blir kåret til NCL-mestre.