The 2011 Championship 1 was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales, the third tier of the sport in the country. The winner of this league, along with the play-off winners will be promoted to the 2012 Rugby Football League Championship. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league.

2011 Championship 1
LeagueChampionship 1
Duration18 games each
Teams10
Broadcast partnersSKY Sports
2011 Season
Play-off Winners Keighley Cougars
Champions Swinton Lions
Top point-scorer(s) Ian Mort (292)
Top try-scorer(s) Ian Mort (21)

All of the teams competed in the 2011 Challenge Cup but the South Wales Scorpions did not compete in the 2011 National League Cup.

2011 structure edit

The competition features mainly the same teams as it did in 2010. The exceptions being that the Hunslet Hawks and the York City Knights were both promoted to compete in the 2011 RFL Championship. The Keighley Cougars and Whitehaven were relegated from the 2010 RFL Championship. The competition was to contain 11 teams, however, the Blackpool Panthers went into administration [1] and were thus omitted from the competition for 2011 [2]

Championship 1
Team 2010 Season Stadium Capacity City/Area
  Doncaster 9th Keepmoat Stadium 15,231 Doncaster, South Yorkshire
  Gateshead Thunder 11th Thunderdome 11,800 Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
  Keighley Cougars 10th (Championship) Cougar Park 6,800 Keighley, West Yorkshire
  London Skolars 10th New River Stadium 5,000 Haringey, London
  Oldham 2nd Whitebank Stadium 1500 Limeside, Oldham Greater Manchester
  Rochdale Hornets 5th Spotland Stadium 10,249 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
  South Wales Scorpions 6th The Gnoll 6,000 Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales
  Swinton Lions 8th The Willows
(Shared with Salford for this season)
N/A Swinton, Greater Manchester
  Whitehaven 11th (Championship) Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
  Workington Town 7th Derwent Park 10,000 Workington, Cumbria

Season table edit

2011 Championship 1
# Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Bns Pts
1   Swinton Lions 20 14 1 5 720 479 +241 3 47
2   Keighley Cougars 20 13 0 7 663 412 +251 4 43
3   Workington Town 20 11 1 8 659 443 +216 6 41
4   Rochdale Hornets 20 12 0 8 652 498 +154 4 40
5   Doncaster 20 12 0 8 531 433 +98 4 40
6   Whitehaven 20 13 2 5 566 425 +141 2 36[a]
7   Oldham 20 11 0 9 641 533 +108 3 36
8   South Wales Scorpions 20 6 0 14 536 674 −138 4 22
9   London Skolars 20 5 1 14 433 678 −245 4 21
10   Gateshead Thunder 20 0 1 19 268 1094 −826 0 2
  Teams qualifying for promotion
  Teams qualifying for the Play-offs
updated 7 October 2011

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20111005000040/http://www.cooperativechampionship.co.uk/table_nl2.php

Competition points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.

Season Results edit

Round 1 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Whitehaven 30–22   Rochdale Hornets 13 March, 15:00 GMT Recreation GroundA 704
  Swinton Lions 22–10   Workington Town 13 March, 15:00 GMT The Willows 681
  Oldham R.L.F.C. 66–12   Gateshead Thunder 13 March, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium 562
  Keighley Cougars 66–6   London Skolars 13 March, 15:00 GMT Cougar Park 640
  Doncaster 40–10   South Wales Scorpions 13 March, 15:00 GMT Keepmoat Stadium 895
Source:[1]

Round 2 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Workington Town 31–12   Oldham R.L.F.C. 20 March, 15:00 GMT Derwent ParkA 473
  South Wales Scorpions 18–22   Whitehaven 20 March, 13:00 GMT The Gnoll 271
  Rochdale Hornets 26–46   Swinton Lions 20 March, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 743
  London Skolars 22–42   Doncaster 20 March, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium 326
  Gateshead Thunder 10–44   Keighley Cougars 20 March, 15:00 GMT Gateshead International Stadium 305
Source:[2]

Round 3 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Whitehaven 24–10   Keighley Cougars 27 March, 15:00 GMT Recreation GroundA 754
  South Wales Scorpions 60–20   Gateshead Thunder 27 March, 13:00 GMT The Gnoll 302
  Rochdale Hornets 40–20   London Skolars 27 March, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 434
  Oldham R.L.F.C. 24–68   Swinton Lions 27 March, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium 744
  Doncaster 26–16   Workington Town 27 March, 15:00 GMT Keepmoat Stadium 493
Source:[1]

Round 4 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Workington Town 38–24   South Wales Scorpions 3 April, 13:00 GMT Derwent ParkA 376
  Swinton Lions 48–24   Gateshead Thunder 3 April, 15:00 GMT The Willows 493
  London Skolars 16–48   Whitehaven 3 April, 15:00 GMT New River Stadium 542
  Keighley Cougars 40–14   Oldham R.L.F.C. 3 April, 15:00 GMT Cougar Park 995
  Doncaster 8–24   Rochdale Hornets 3 April, 15:00 GMT Keepmoat Stadium 589
Source:[1]

Round 5 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Swinton Lions 38–30   London Skolars 9 April, 17:00 GMT The WillowsA 395
  Rochdale Hornets 49–18   Whitehaven 10 April, 15:00 GMT Spotland StadiumA 457
Source:[1]

Round 6 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Whitehaven 26–16   Doncaster 17 April, 15:00 GMT Recreation GroundA 727
  South Wales Scorpions 22–74   Swinton Lions 17 April, 15:00 GMT The Gnoll 370
  Rochdale Hornets 32–40   Keighley Cougars 17 April, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 515
  Oldham R.L.F.C. 52–26   London Skolars 17 April, 15:00 GMT Whitebank Stadium 566
  Gateshead Thunder 0–64   Workington Town 17 April, 15:00 GMT Gateshead International Stadium 273
Source:[1]

Round 7 edit

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee
  Doncaster 32–36   Swinton Lions 25 April, 15:00 GMT Keepmoat StadiumA 649
  Keighley Cougars 38–18   Workington Town 25 April, 15:00 GMT Cougar Park 892
  London Skolars 32–32   Gateshead Thunder 25 April, 14:00 GMT New River Stadium 263
  Rochdale Hornets 40–18   South Wales Scorpions 25 April, 15:00 GMT Spotland Stadium 402
  Whitehaven 40–24   Oldham R.L.F.C. 25 April, 15:00 GMT Recreation Ground 946
Source:[2]

Statistics edit

The following are the top points scorers in Championship 1 during the 2011 season. Statistics also include tries and goals scored in the play-offs.[3]

Most tries
Player Team Tries
Andy Saywell Rochdale Hornets 22
Ian Mort Swinton Lions 21
Scott Kaighan Workington Town 21
Dale Bloomfield Rochdale Hornets 19
Gavin Dodd Swinton Lions 17
Andrew Gay South Wales Scorpions 16
Craig Calvert Whitehaven 15
Chris Spurr Doncaster 13
Mark Brocklehurst Oldham R.L.F.C. 13
Ben Heaton Oldham R.L.F.C. 13
Steve Parry South Wales Scorpions 13
Neil Frazer Workington Town 13
Most goals
Player Team Goals
Ian Mort Swinton Lions 104
Paul Crook Rochdale Hornets 100
Darren Holt Workington Town 73
Scott Spaven Doncaster 70
Carl Forber Oldham R.L.F.C. 63
Danny Lawton Keighley Cougars 58
Lewis Palfrey Whitehaven 56
Lewis Reece South Wales Scorpions 54
Dylan Skee London Skolars 36
Chris Baines Keighley Cougars 33
Most points
Player Team Tries Goals DGs Points
Ian Mort Swinton Lions 21 104 0 292
Paul Crook Rochdale Hornets 10 100 5 245
Scott Spaven Doncaster 7 70 1 169
Darren Holt Workington Town 1 73 5 155
Danny Lawton Keighley Cougars 9 58 0 152
Carl Forber Oldham R.L.F.C. 5 63 0 146
Lewis Palfrey Whitehaven 5 56 0 132
Lewis Reece South Wales Scorpions 5 54 0 128
Scott Kaighan Workington Town 21 16 1 117
Dylan Skee London Skolars 6 36 1 97

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Whitehaven were deducted 9 points for entering administration.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e " Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Rugby League Project; retrieved 18 March 2011
  2. ^ a b "Super League XVI 2011 – Round 1" Rugby League Project; retrieved 13 February 2011
  3. ^ Tim Butcher; Daniel Spencer. Gillette Rugby League Yearbook 2011–12. League Publications Limited. ISBN 978-1-901347-24-1.

External links edit