2015 RFL Championship

Kingstone Press Championship 2015
League RFL Championship
Duration 23 Rounds (Followed by the a league split into "Super 8's" for 7 more fixtures.)
Number of teams 12
Broadcast partners Sky Sports
2015 Season
< 2014 Seasons 2016 >

The 2015 Rugby Football League Championship, which will be known as Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider, will be a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2015 season is the first season to consist of a new structure combining the championship and super league divisions three quarters of the way through the season.

The 2015 Championship will feature twelve teams, who will all play each other twice in the regular season, once at home, and once away, totalling 22 games. The 2015 season will also see for the first time the "Summer Bash Weekend", which will be played at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool. This is a 23rd round of fixtures which replicates the Magic Weekend concept, for the Championship sides. After these 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve are split into three divisions of eight. The "Super 8's".

Following the split into the Super 8's, the top four teams in the Championship 2015 will join the bottom four teams of the Super League 2015 in "The Qualifiers". This group will see each team play each other once each, totalling seven extra games, with points reset to zero for the qualifiers. After 7 extra rounds the top 3 teams will earn a place in the Super League competition for 2016, thus either retaining or earning a place in the top competition. The teams finishing 4th and 5th in the qualifiers will play off in an extra fixture, at the home of 4th, for the final place in the 2016 Super League competition. The loser of this fixture, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th in the qualifiers will either remain or be relegated and will play in the Championship in the 2016 season.

Teams finishing after 23 rounds in between 5th and 12th in the Championship will play in the third of the three "Super 8" groups, "The Championship Shield". This will see each teams playing each other once more, but with points from the original season retained. Following the additional seven rounds a four team play off will take place pitching 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners playing each other in the final to win the new "Championship Shield". The two teams finishing bottom the this group of eight will be relegated to the 2016 Kingstone Press League One, being replaced by two promoted teams from the 2015 League One competition.

Relegation to League One is in place for the 2015 season, which will be the two bottom teams from "The Championship Shield" group after the split, with promotion to the Super League being available to teams finishing in the top four after 23 rounds. All of the teams in the 2015 Championship will also compete in the 2015 Challenge Cup, where they will enter in the third round.

Teams

This year's competition features 12 teams, as opposed to the 14 seen in the previous year. The teams consist of nine of the 14 teams from 2014, the Play-off winner of the 2014 Championship 1 season, which are Hunslet Hawks, and the two sides relegated from 2014 Super League who are Bradford Bulls and London Broncos. Keighley Cougars, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets, Swinton Lions, and Barrow Raiders who finished in the bottom five in 2015 were relegated into League One for 2015.

Legend
  Reigning champions
  Promoted
  Relegated
Team & Current Season Stadium Capacity Location
Batley Bulldogs loverugbyleague.com Stadium 6,000 Batley, West Yorkshire
Bradford Bulls Odsal Stadium 27,000 Bradford, West Yorkshire
Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,100 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Doncaster Keepmoat Stadium 15,231 Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 6,750 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
Halifax The Shay Stadium 6,561 Halifax, West Yorkshire
Hunslet Hawks South Leeds Stadium 4,000 Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
London Broncos The Hive Stadium 5,176 Edgware, London
Sheffield Eagles Owlerton Stadium 4,000 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
Workington Town Derwent Park 10,000 Workington, Cumbria

Season standings

Position Club Played Won Drawn Lost Pts for Pts agst Points
1 Leigh Centurions 10 10 0 0 421 108 20
2 Bradford Bulls 10 9 0 1 362 150 18
3 Sheffield Eagles 10 8 0 2 257 127 16
4 Dewsbury Rams 10 6 0 4 201 190 12
5 Featherstone Rovers 10 6 0 4 184 225 12
6 Halifax 10 5 0 5 211 193 10
7 London Broncos 10 5 0 5 183 213 10
8 Hunslet Hawks 10 4 0 6 173 264 8
9 Batley Bulldogs 10 3 0 7 157 219 6
10 Workington Town 10 2 0 8 159 262 4
11 Whitehaven 10 2 0 8 131 315 4
12 Doncaster 10 0 0 10 148 321 0
  Teams qualifying for "The Qualifiers".
  Teams qualifying for "The Championship Shield".

Competition points: For win = 2; For draw = 1.

  • The Qualifiers

The Qualifiers Super 8's sees the bottom 4 teams from the original Super League table mixed with the top 4 teams from the Championship. The points totals are reset to 0 and each team plays 7 games each, playing every other team once. After 7 games each the teams finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will gain qualification to the 2016 Super League season. the teams finishing 4th and 5th will play in the "Million Pound Game" at the home of the 4th place team. This one game fixture will see the winner earn a place in the 2016 Super League season, whilst the loser, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th and 8th will be relegated to the 2016 Championship competition.

Position Club Played Won Drawn Lost Pts for Pts agst Points
1 Super League Ninth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Super League Tenth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Super League Eleventh Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Super League Twelfth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Championship First Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Championship Second Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Championship Third Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Championship Fourth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Teams qualifying for Super League 2016.
  Teams qualifying for the "Million Pound Game" to earn a 2016 Super League Place
  Teams relegated to the Championship for 2016
# Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Attendance
Million Pound Game
F Qualifiers 4th Place Team 0 – 0 Qualifiers 5th Place Team Date TBC Home Ground of 4th Place
  • Championship Shield

The third of the three "Super 8" groups sees teams finishing 5th to 12th in the regular Championship table. Like the Super League 8's, these teams retain their original points and play 7 extra games, with the teams finishing in the top 4 places after these extra games contesting play offs similar to Super League, with 1st v 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners contesting the Championship Shield Grand Final. The two teams finishing at the bottom of this Super 8's group (7th and 8th) will be relegated to the 2016 League One season, and be replaced by League One 2015's two newly promoted sides.

Position Club Played Won Drawn Lost Pts for Pts agst Points
1 Championship Fifth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Championship Sixth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Championship Seventh Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Championship Eighth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Championship Ninth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Championship Tenth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Championship Eleventh Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Championship Twelfth Place Team 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Teams qualifying for the Championship Shield 2015 Semi-Finals.
  Teams relegated to 2016 League One.
# Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time (Local) Venue Referee Attendance
SEMI-FINALS
SF1 First Placed Team 0 – 0 Fourth Placed team Date TBC Home Ground of First Place
SF1 Second Placed Team 0 – 0 Third Placed team Date TBC Home Ground of Second Place
GRAND FINAL
F Winner SF1 0 – 0 Winner SF2 Date TBC Venue TBC

Season results

The regular league season sees the 12 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) over 24 matches. The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for "The Qualifiers", while the other eight teams will contest the "Championship Shield".

See also

References

    External links