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Championship
	; Current season or competition:; 2019 Rugby League Championship;
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	2003–2007 (as National League One); 2008–present (as the Championship);
Inaugural season	2003
Number of teams	14
Countries	; England (12 teams); France (1 team); Canada (1 team)
Champions	; Toronto Wolfpack (1st title) (2018);
Most titles	; Leigh Centurions (4 titles);
Website	www.rugby-league.com
Broadcast partner	Sky Sports
Related competition	; Challenge Cup; 1895 Cup;
Promotion to	Super League
Relegation to	League 1

Second level of British rugby league

The Championship is a professional rugby league competition.^[1] It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, and consists of 14 teams, with promotion to the Super League and relegation to the third-tier competition, League 1. The current champions are Toronto Wolfpack. The league announced a two-year sponsorship deal with the bookmaking company Betfred ahead of the 2018 season.

From 2003 to 2009, the competition was known as National League One.

History

1902–1973: Establishment and regular competition

Second division rugby league competitions have been played at various times since 1902, and have been in place annually since 1973. When Super League began in 1996, the second division continued to operate a system of promotion and relegation with the new competition. In 1999, the second-tier competition below the Super League was renamed the Northern Ford Premiership (NFP) when Northern Ford Dealers acquired the naming rights.

2002–2008: National Leagues

In 2003, the NFP was re-organised into National Leagues One and Two. Teams that finished in the top ten league positions of the 2002 Northern Ford Premiership joined National League One and the bottom eight joined National League Two. They were joined by London Skolars from the Rugby League Conference, who entered National League Two, and York City Knights, who replaced the defunct York Wasps (who had folded mid-season in 2002) and also joined National League Two in 2003, creating two ten-team leagues which operated a system of promotion and relegation between themselves while also maintaining the promotion and relegation between National League One and Super League.
At the same time, National League Three was created with teams from the Rugby League Conference and from the British Amateur Rugby League Association amateur leagues. It was intended that there would be promotion and relegation between National League Two and National League Three when League Three became more established, however this never eventuated.

2009–2014: Championship

In 2009 Super League was expanded to 14 teams, with two additional teams being promoted from National League One. In turn, two additional teams were promoted from National League Two to National League One at the end of the 2008 season, reducing the number of teams in National League Two to 10. National Leagues One and Two were then rebranded as the Championship and Championship 1 respectively, with the change being implemented in time for the 2009 season. Championship 1 was later rebranded to League 1. During this period, a system of licensing was put in place which meant there was no automatic system of promotion and relegation between the Championship and Super League, although promotion and relegation continued between the Championship and League 1. Widnes Vikings were promoted to Super League from the Championship via the licensing system in 2011.

The record crowd for a club game at this level of competition was set in 2017 at KCOM Craven Park for the opening fixture of the season between Hull Kingston Rovers and Bradford Bulls with Rovers winning 54-24 in front of a crowd of 8,817. The crowd record for regular season attendance was also broken in 2008 with an average of 2,205 spectators at each game.

2015–2018: Super 8s

In 2013, Super League clubs agreed to reduce the number of clubs in the competition to 12 and return to an amended system of promotion and relegation with a 12-club Championship competition. These changes came into effect for the 2015 season.^[2]

Under the amended structure, the 12 Super League and 12 Championship clubs play a regular season of 23 rounds, including a Magic Weekend for both divisions. Following the conclusion of their regular league seasons, the 24 clubs then compete in a play-off series where they split into 3 divisions of 8 based upon league position:^[3]

The bottom 4 Super League clubs and the top 4 Championship clubs compete in The Qualifiers. They play each other once (either home or away) to determine which four of the clubs will compete in Super League the following year.

The remaining (bottom 8) Championship clubs compete for the Championship Shield and to avoid relegation to League 1. Two clubs will be relegated each year.

2019–onwards: Championship Grand Final

On 14 September 2018, an EGM was called to discuss the future of the sport and a change in structure, as the clubs were in favour of scrapping the Super 8s in favour of a more conventional structure. Two proposals were put forward: one by Super League and one by the Championship and League 1;

Super League proposal: The Super League proposed staying with 12 teams who play each other home and away plus Magic Weekend and 6 loop fixtures (29 games). They also proposed a return to a top-5 playoff and the 12th placed team being relegated.

Championship & League 1 proposal: The alternative proposal was that Super League would expand to 14 clubs playing 29 games ending with a top-5 playoff. The team finishing 14th would be relegated and 13th would play 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship in a relegation playoff.

After a vote, the Super League proposal was voted through and is due to be implemented for the 2019 season. The Championship clubs then voted for the Championship Grand Final to be reinstated as a means of promotion with a top 5 playoff being used.

Clubs

Colours	Club	Established	Location	Stadium	Capacity*
Championship clubs
	Barrow Raiders	1875	Barrow, Cumbria	Craven Park	7,600
	Batley Bulldogs	1880	Batley, West Yorkshire	Mount Pleasant	7,500
	Bradford Bulls	1907	Bradford, West Yorkshire	Odsal Stadium	22,739
	Dewsbury Rams	1898	Dewsbury, West Yorkshire	Crown Flatt	5,800
	Featherstone Rovers	1902	Featherstone, West Yorkshire	Post Office Road	8,000
	Halifax	1873	Halifax, West Yorkshire	The Shay	14,000
	Leigh Centurions	1878	Leigh, Greater Manchester	Leigh Sports Village	12,000
	Rochdale Hornets	1866	Rochdale, Greater Manchester	Spotland	10,000
	Sheffield Eagles	1984	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Olympic Legacy Park	3,000
	Swinton Lions	1866	Sale, Greater Manchester	Heywood Road	3,387
	Toronto Wolfpack	2016	Toronto, Ontario	Lamport Stadium	9,600
	Toulouse Olympique	1937	Toulouse, Haute-Garonne	Stade Ernest-Argeles	4,000
	Widnes Vikings	1875	Widnes, Cheshire	Halton Stadium	13,500
	York City Knights	2002	York, North Yorkshire	Bootham Crescent	8,256

Seat capacity for other sports, concerts and events may differ.

Structure

Regular season

The 14 teams compete in the Championship. They play each other once home and away interrupted by the Summer Bash. Two points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. At the end of the season the bottom two teams are relegated and the top 5 take part in the playoffs.

Summer Bash

In 2015 the Championship staged its own Magic Weekend held at Bloomfield Road where all 14 Championship clubs play an extra round usually against a rival.^[4]

Stadium	Location	Country	Highest attendance	Average attendance
Bloomfield Road	Blackpool	England	8,650	7,000

Play-offs

The current play-off system was previously used between 2003 and 2006 and is used by the Super League.

From week two onward the Top five play-offs system reflected exactly the Page playoff system.

Super League 5 team play-off bracket

Qualifying / Elimination Finals

Semi-finals

Preliminary Final

Super League Grand Final

Semi-final 1:

1

Grand Final:

Qualifying Final:

Preliminary Final:

2

3

Semi-final 2:

Elimination Final:

4

5

Key:

Losing team progressing

Winning team progressing

The Top Five Championship Play-Off Structure:

Week One

Qualification Final: 2nd vs 3rd

Elimination Final: 4th vs 5th

Bye: 1st

Week Two

Major Semi Final: 1st vs Winners of Qualification Final

Minor Semi Final: Losers of Qualification Final vs Winners of Elimination Final

Week Three

Preliminary Final: Losers of Major Semi Final vs Winners of Minor Semi Final

Bye: Winners of Major Semi Final

Week Four

Grand Final: Winners of Major Semi Final vs Winners of Preliminary Final

Results

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Promoted	Relegated
2003	Salford City Reds	Leigh Centurions	Salford Red Devils	Dewsbury Rams
2004	Leigh Centurions	Whitehaven	Leigh Centurions	Keighley Cougars
2005	Castleford Tigers	Whitehaven	Castleford Tigers	Barrow Raiders Featherstone Rovers
2006	Hull Kingston Rovers	Widnes Vikings	Hull Kingston Rovers	Oldham York City Knights
2007	Castleford Tigers	Widnes Vikings	Castleford	Rochdale Hornets Doncaster
2008	Salford City Reds	Celtic Crusaders	Salford Celtic Crusaders	Dewsbury
2009	Barrow Raiders		No Promotion	Doncaster Newcastle
2010	Halifax		No Promotion	Keighley Whitehaven
2011	Featherstone Rovers		Widnes	Barrow Toulouse
2012	Sheffield Eagles		No Promotion	No Relegation
2013	Sheffield Eagles			York Hunslet
2014	Leigh Centurions			Barrow, Swinton Lions, Rochdale Hornets, North Wales Crusaders, Keighley Cougars
2015	Leigh Centurions			Doncaster Hunslet
2016	Leigh Centurions	London Broncos	Leigh Centurions	Workington Town Whitehaven
2017	Hull Kingston Rovers	London Broncos	Hull Kingston Rovers	Oldham Bradford Bulls
2018	Toronto Wolfpack	London Broncos	London Broncos	No Relegation
2019	TBD		TBD	2 teams

Winners

	Club	Wins	Winning years
1	Leigh	4	2004, 2014, 2015, 2016
2	Salford	2	2003, 2008
3	Castleford	2	2005, 2007
4	Sheffield Eagles	2	2012, 2013
5	Hull Kingston Rovers	2	2006, 2017
7	Barrow	1	2009
8	Halifax	1	2010
9	Featherstone Rovers	1	2011
10	Toronto Wolfpack	1	2018

Bold – Winners decided by Grand Final

Sponsor

The Championship has been sponsored four times since its inception in 2003. Betfred are the current title sponsor.

The title sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. There have been seven different title sponsors since the league's formation:

Period	Sponsor	Name
2003–2008	Nuffield	LHF Healthplan National League 1
2009–2012	Co-operative Group	Co-operative Championship
2013–2017	Kingstone Press Cider	Kingstone Press Championship
2018–2019	Betfred	Betfred Championship

Media

Period	Broadcaster
2008–2011	Sky Sports Premier Sports
2012–2013	Premier Sports
2014	Sky Sports (Grand Final Only)
2015–2021	Sky Sports

TV

Sky Sports and Premier Sports shared the TV rights to the Championship between 2008 and 2012. After Sky only showed the Championship and Championship 1 Grand Finals while games were broadcast on Premier Sports until 2013. There was no TV coverage in the Championship in 2014. In 2015 Sky Sports won the rights to show the Championship including The Summer Bash, Championship Shield and The Qualifiers in a seven-year deal.

Radio

Regional radio stations have coverage of the Championship clubs but mostly only cover Super League clubs in the same area and give updates of Championship scores and results.

Academies

Reserve League

In 2014 and 2015 Super League clubs were unhappy with the Dual registration system and wanted to form an Under 23 reserve leagues between the Under 19s and 1st team. Wigan, Warrington and St Helens were the first teams to propose the return of the reserve league where players could move from the under 19s and play with professional players before playing in the 1st team. A reserve league was set up in 2016 with a mixture of Super League, Championship and League 1 teams.

Dual registration

Clubs in both the Super League and the Championships benefit from the new dual registration system which was introduced for the 2013 season.^[5] The new system is intended to complement the existing player loan system.

Dual registration refers to an arrangement between clubs whereby a player continues to be registered to his current Super League club and is also registered to play for a club in the Championship. The system is aimed at young Super League players who are thought to be not quite ready to make the step up to ‘week in, week out’ Super League first team duties but for whom first team match experience is likely to be beneficial for their development.

Only Super League players can be dual registered and the receiving club must be a club in the Championships, meaning that Super League to Super League club dual registrations are not available.

A dual registered player will be eligible to play and train with both clubs in a format agreed between the clubs, subject to registration, salary cap and competition eligibility rules.

The player is restricted to playing in one fixture per scheduled round of fixtures in any given week and would not be eligible to play for his Super League club on a Thursday and in a Championship fixture at the weekend, for example.

A receiving club will be limited to a total of five dual registered players per matchday squad.

Match officials

All rugby league matches are governed by the laws set out by the RFL; these laws are enforced by match officials. Former Super League and International Referee Steve Ganson is the current Head of the Match Officials Department and Technical Director.

References

^ "Operational Rules". RFL. Retrieved 10 March 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}

^ Super League to become a 12-team competition from 2015. Superleague.co.uk (11 July 2013). Retrieved on 20 August 2013.

^ "Super League: Competition restructures confirmed". 24 September 2018 – via www.bbc.com.

^ BBC Sport (19 May 2005). "Super League set for 2009 changes". BBC. Retrieved 18 July 2008.

^ Wilson, Andy (9 February 2013). "Debate continues over Super League and Championship dual registration". The Guardian.

External links

Official Championship website

RFL Championship coverage

Scores from Sky Sports

RugbyLeague.org Championship Fans Forums

[Operational_Rules-1] "Operational Rules". RFL. Retrieved 10 March 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}

[2] Super League to become a 12-team competition from 2015. Superleague.co.uk (11 July 2013). Retrieved on 20 August 2013.

[3] "Super League: Competition restructures confirmed". 24 September 2018 – via www.bbc.com.

[BBCa-4] BBC Sport (19 May 2005). "Super League set for 2009 changes". BBC. Retrieved 18 July 2008.

[5] Wilson, Andy (9 February 2013). "Debate continues over Super League and Championship dual registration". The Guardian.

v t e RFL Championship
Championship Teams	Barrow Raiders Batley Bulldogs Bradford Bulls Dewsbury Rams Featherstone Rovers Halifax Leigh Centurions Rochdale Hornets Sheffield Eagles Swinton Lions Toronto Wolfpack Toulouse Olympique Widnes Vikings York City Knights
Seasons	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Major events	Championship Cup
Awards	Fairplay Index
Related	Rugby Football League Championship Second Division 2009–11 licences 2012–14 licences League 1 The Summer Bash The Qualifiers Super 8s

v t e Rugby league in Great Britain and Ireland
Nations and regions	Rugby league in England Rugby league in Ireland Rugby league in Scotland Rugby league in Wales Rugby league in Lancashire Rugby league in Yorkshire
Federations	Rugby Football League BARLA Rugby League Ireland Scotland Rugby League Wales Rugby League
National teams	Great Britain England Ireland Scotland Wales
Women's national teams	Great Britain England Ireland Scotland Wales
Leagues	Super League Championship League 1 National Conference League Cumbria Men's League Cumberland League East Rugby League London & South East Men's League Midlands Rugby League North East Rugby League North West Men's League South West Rugby League Yorkshire Men's League Pennine League Hull & District League South Premier Scottish Conference League North Wales Conference South Wales Premiership Super 8 Women's Super League Women's Rugby League
Cups	Challenge Cup League 1 Cup Yorkshire Cup Conference Challenge Trophy BARLA National Cup BARLA Yorkshire Cup BARLA Cumbria Cup Cumberland County Cup Women's Challenge Cup
Former competitions	RFL Championship Premiership Rugby League Conference Lancashire Cup Lancs/Yorks League League Cup Charity Shield BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Trans-Pennine Cup Championship Cup Conference League South BARLA Lancashire Cup

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