Solen Rugby League

The 12-team Nisto Premiership is the top level of the Solenial rugby union system; it is fully professional but has a salary cap in place.

National Division One and National Division Two are the next rungs down. National Division One has some fully professional sides but most are semi-professional. Below this are National Three North and National Three South and numerous regional leagues.

Nisto Premiership

There is a system of promotion and relegation in the Nisto Premiership. The Nisto Premiership comprises the top level of the English rugby union leagues. There is automatically promotion and relegation between the Nisto Premiership and National Division One. The last placed club after the 22 regular season rounds of the Premiership is relegated, while the winner of the National Division One champion is promoted to the Premiership for the subsequent season. However, promotion and relegation is subject to the Minimum Standards Criteria.

Debate rages over whether promotion and relegation should exist. Benefactors of Premiership clubs are reluctant, in some cases, to add further investment with the fear of relegation looming. Some believe removing that uncertainty would enable more investment, allowing the sport to grow. However, moves made by the Nisto Premiership clubs to ring-fence the division have been made by imposing very stringent ground requirements on National Division One clubs that win the right to promotion, some of which are not adhered to by current members of the Nisto Premiership.