British Athletics League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sport | Athletics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1969 |
| Ceased | 2019 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Most titles | Belgrave Harriers (11) |
The British Athletics League was a men-only track and field team competition in the United Kingdom. The women's competition was known as the UK Women's Athletic League. The events were the pinnacle of the British athletic clubs league system. The competition ended after the 2019 edition, with it being replaced by the National Athletics League for the 2020 season, which was a merger of the men's and women's leagues.[1]
Launched in 1969,[2][3] the British Athletics League was split into different divisions, which gathered a total of 38 track and field teams from all over the United Kingdom.
Since 2009, there were five different divisions (Premiership, National 1, National 2, National 3 and National 4). Each of them has eight teams in competition, except the Division 4, with only six teams. Every summer season, two teams were relegated and two teams were promoted for every division. The last change in the number of divisions took place in 2009, with the creation of the National 4 division.[4]
In every division there was a total of four matches per season. Teams received points according to their athletic performances, and those points were transformed in a range of 1 to 8 points for every match, according with the matches' final table. These points were added after the four matches to determine relegations, promotions and champions.
