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The National League Cup is a Rugby League competition for clubs in Great Britain 's National Leagues . For the period 2005-7 it will be sponsored by Train Operating Company Northern Rail , and will be known the '''Northern Rail Cup'''. In 2003 and 2004 the competition was known the Arriva Trains Cup (named for sponsors Arriva Trains Northern ), whilst in 2002 (the first year of the competition) it was titled the '''Buddies Cup''', after a Soft Drink s manufacturer. STRUCTURE The National League cup was first held in 2002 as was part of the redevelopment of the Northern Ford Premiership competition - 18 teams took part. The 2003 and 2004 competitions were for the 20 clubs in the new National Leagues One and Two. The 2005 competition saw four teams from National League enter the competition. Each competition has featured an initial group stage, with groups based upon regions; In 2002 there were 3 groups of six (East, West and Central), in 2003 there were four groups (North, East, West and Central) of five teams each, while in 2004 there were five groups (North, East, West, Pennine, Yorkshire) of four teams each. Each club plays each other home and away, plus some cross group games to make a total of ten games (eight in 2005) before the top club from each group progresses to the knockout stages, plus lucky losers (this has been decided differently in different years). There were no cross-group games in the 2005 Competition ; each team therefore played only six games in the group stages, with the top team from each of the first five groups progressing to the quarter-final directly. The second-placed team in each of these groups, plus the top team from group six (the group of teams from National League 3) played an additional round to determine the remaining three spots in the quarter-finals. For 2006 there will be seven groups. Groups one to six will be comprised of the 22 teams in National Leagues One and Two and the two southern National League Three teams (Hemel and St Albans), there will be four teams in each regional division. The top two teams from groups one to six and the best three third-placed teams will qualify for the last sixteen knock out stage along with the winner of group seven. Group seven will comprise of the northern National League Three teams that choose to enter. It will include three teams: Bramley, Warrington Wizards and Dewsbury Celtic. LIST OF FINALS
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