Championship (rugby league)

Co-operative Championship
Current season or competition: 2011 RFL Championship
Sport	Rugby league football
Instituted	2003
Number of teams	10
Country	England (Rugby Football League)
Holders	Featherstone Rovers (Grand Final Winners) Featherstone Rovers (League Leaders) (2011)
Website	cooperativechampionship.co.uk
Broadcast partner	Sky Sports
Related competitions	Co-operative Championship 1 Challenge Cup Northern Rail Cup

The Championship, known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. It is currently contested by ten teams from England. It acts as Europe's second-tier competition below the Super League, and has a system of promotion and relegation with the third-tier competition, Championship 1. It is organized by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in the UK.

The current incarnation of second division rugby league in Europe dates to 2003, when the Northern Ford Premiership was split into National League One and National League Two. With the addition of the French team Toulouse Olympique in 2009, the names were changed to the Championship and Championship 1. The current champions are Grand Final winners Featherstone Rovers who are also the League Leaders.

History

Second division rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom have been played at various times since 1902, and have been in place annually since 1973. 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.

In 2003, the NFP was completely re-organised into National Leagues One and Two. Teams that finished in the top ten of the NFP 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. York City Knights replaced the defunct York Wasps (who had folded mid-season) and also joined National League Two in 2003.

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.

At the end of the 2005 an extra team was relegated from Super League in order to accommodate French side Catalans Dragons. In turn an additional team was relegated from National League One; thus the number of teams in this division remained at ten. In 2009, with the introduction of Toulouse into the competition, the title "National League" was no longer appropriate. From the 2009 season the competition will be known as the Championship, with The Co-operative continuing their sponsorship of the competition. This addition raised the number of teams in the competition to 11.

The record crowd for a club game at this level of competition was set in 2008 at the Stobart Stadium when Widnes defeated Salford 20-18 in front of 8,189. The crowd record for regular season attendance was also broken in 2008 with an average of 2,205 spectators at each game.

Structure

Licensing

After the 2009 season there is no longer an automatic promotion or relegation from Super League. New teams will be admitted on a franchise basis. Reviews of franchises will take place every three years to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful.

Please see 2009-2011 Super League License & 2012-2014 Super League License for further details on the license criteria.

From 2009, two teams will be relegated from the Championship to Championship 1. Teams in league positions 2 to 7 in Championship 1 will qualify for the playoffs, with the winner of the playoff final being promoted, along with the team positioned first after the regular season, to the Championship.

Play-offs

Co-Operative Championship Trophy.

A play-off structure is used to determine the winners of the Championship. Two teams are relegated from the Championship, being replaced by the team finishing top of Championship 1 and the winner of a play-off structure involving the six teams finishing behind the league leaders in Championship 1. The Championship play-offs are a top-six format.

Points system

A special system for awarding competition points operates in The Co-operative Championship competitions.

• Win - Three points
• Draw - Two points
• Loss by 12 points or fewer - One point

This point structure has many benefits as it offers clubs a tangible reward for strong, consistent performance over 80 minutes, the system encourages teams to keep competing in games that they may not be able to win which gives clubs the opportunity to make a positive impact on their League position.

The system encourages teams to be consistent in all their matches throughout the season. This stimulates players and teams which has a positive impact on the intensity and the standards of the sport at this level.

The RFL commissioned a study prior to introducing this new system. The study examined what would happen if the new system had applied in previous National League seasons. The results showed the system did not disproportionately distort competition tables or give teams that lost matches too great a reward. Also, the system does not exacerbate the gap between strong and weak teams.

Championship Cup

A cup competition, the Championship Cup, is played for by all British clubs in the Championship and Championship 1; in 2005 four League Three clubs were also admitted, in 2006 five League Three were admitted. The teams are organised into regional conferences, with knock-out stages following from the group stage. In 2007 four Rugby League Conference teams are scheduled to be included.

2012 structure

Championship
Team	Stadium	City, Area	Current season
Batley Bulldogs	Mount Pleasant	Batley, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Dewsbury Rams	The Tetley's Stadium	Dewsbury, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Featherstone Rovers	Bigfellas Stadium	Featherstone, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Halifax	The Shay	Halifax, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Hunslet Hawks	South Leeds Stadium	Leeds, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Keighley Cougars	Cougar Park	Keighley, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Leigh Centurions	Leigh Sports Village	Leigh, Greater Manchester	Team and results 2011
Sheffield Eagles	Bramall Lane	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Team and results 2011
Swinton Lions	Leigh Sports Village	Swinton, Lancashire	Team and results 2011
York City Knights	Huntington Stadium	York, North Yorkshire	Team and results 2011

Results

See also Rugby Football League Championship Second Division for winners of the old Second Division.

National Leagues 2002-2008

Season	League Leaders	Promoted	Relegated	Relegated from Super League	League Two Champions	Also promoted to League One
2003	Salford City Reds	Salford City Reds	Dewsbury Rams	Halifax	Keighley Cougars	none
2004	Leigh Centurions	Leigh Centurions	Keighley Cougars	Castleford Tigers	Barrow Raiders	none
2005	Whitehaven	Castleford Tigers	Barrow Raiders Featherstone Rovers	Widnes Vikings Leigh Centurions	York City Knights	none
2006	Hull Kingston Rovers	Hull Kingston Rovers	Oldham Roughyeds York City Knights	Castleford Tigers	Dewsbury Rams	Sheffield Eagles
2007	Castleford Tigers	Castleford Tigers	Rochdale Hornets Doncaster Lakers	Salford City Reds	Crusaders	Featherstone Rovers
2008	Salford City Reds	Salford City Reds Crusaders	Dewsbury Rams	N/A	Gateshead Thunder	Barrow Raiders Doncaster

• In 2008 the Traditional Promotion and Relegation system between Supeleague and the National league was scrapped. It was replaced with a Licensing system, which clubs could only apply for on a 3 year basis, with Salford City Reds & Crusaders being the only two successful clubs to benefit from the 2008 licensing round.

Championship 2009-present

Season	Sponsorship	Grand Final Winners	League Leaders	Successful SuperLeague Applicant	Relegated from Super League	Relegated from Championship	Promoted to Championship
2009	Co-Operative	Barrow Raiders	Barrow Raiders	N/A	N/A	Doncaster Gateshead Thunder	Keighley Cougars Dewsbury Rams
2010		Halifax	Featherstone Rovers	N/A	N/A	Keighley Cougars Whitehaven	Hunslet Hawks York City Knights
2011		Featherstone Rovers	Featherstone Rovers	Widnes Vikings	Crusaders RL	Dewsbury Rams Toulouse Olympique	Keighley Cougars

Fairplay Index

The Fair Play Index was launched in 2007 as part of The RFL’s new Official Partnership with Frontline Bathrooms. The Fair Play Index (known as the Frontline Fairplay Index through sponsorhip) will again be putting standards of discipline under the spotlight throughout the 2010 Co-operative Championship campaign.

At the end of the regular season the teams that finish top of the Frontline Fair Play Index will be presented with a specially engraved trophy and £5,000 prize from Frontline Bathrooms.

Fairplay History

Fairplay History
Year	Winner	Sponsor
2007	Castleford Tigers	Frontline Bathrooms
2008	Widnes Vikings
2009	Halifax

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Media

Games are shown every Thursday on Sky Sports and some of Toulouse Olympique's games are broadcast on Orange Sport TV in France.

Reserve Grade

Main article: Rugby League Reserve Team Championship

The reserve grade for Championship and Championship 1 clubs is the Reserve Team First Division. Participation is optional but twelve clubs run a reserve team in it, plus London Skolars run a reserve team in the Rugby League Conference Premier South.

Juniors

While there is no under-18s league for Championship clubs, Widnes Vikings and as of 2011 Featherstone Rovers run their under-18s in the Super League Academy and Gateshead Thunder, Keighley Cougars and Sheffield Eagles run their under-18s in the Gillette National Youth League.

See also

• British rugby league system
• Super League
• Rugby League Conference
• Northern Ford Premiership
• National League Cup
• Rugby League Reserve Team Championship

External links

• Official Championship website
• RFL Championship coverage
• Scores from Sky Sports
• RugbyLeague.org Championship Fans Forums