The 2013 Rugby Football League Championship, which will be known as Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider, is a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2013 season is the first season to consist of a 14-team division. This was achieved by scrapping relegation for the 2012 season and having four teams promoted from the Championship 1.[2]

Kinstone Press Championship 2013
LeagueChampionship
Duration26 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams14
Highest attendance3,890 Featherstone Rovers v Sheffield Eagles (28 August 2013)
Lowest attendance375 Hunslet Hawks v Whitehaven (10 March 2013)
Average attendance1,199
Attendance187,103
Broadcast partnersUnited Kingdom Premier Sports
2013 Season
Grand Final winners Sheffield Eagles
League Leaders Shield Featherstone Rovers
Runners-up Sheffield Eagles
Top point-scorer(s) Liam Finn (308)[1]
Top try-scorer(s) Menzie Yere (30)[1]
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Championship 1 Hunslet Hawks
York City Knights

Relegation to Championship 1 is restored for the 2013 but as in previous years, there is no automatic promotion from this league to Super League, which uses a licensing system renewed every three years. Qualifying for the Grand Final or winning the Northern Rail Cup is a prerequisite for Championship clubs to be able to apply for a licence in the next round of applications for the 2015–17 seasons.

All of the teams in the 2013 Co-operative Championship will also compete in the 2013 Challenge Cup where they will enter in the third round. All of the teams will also compete in the 2013 National League Cup which starts before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.

Teams

edit

This year's competition features the same 10 teams as it did in 2012 plus the top four teams from the 2012 Championship 1 season, which are Barrow Raiders, Doncaster, Whitehaven and Workington Town.

Legend
  Reigning champions
  Defending Northern Rail Cup Champions
  Promoted
Team & Current Season Stadium Capacity Location
  Barrow Raiders Craven Park 7,600 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
  Batley Bulldogs loverugbyleague.com Stadium 6,000 Batley, West Yorkshire
  Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 3,500 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
  Keighley Cougars Cougar Park 7,800 Keighley, West Yorkshire
  Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
  Sheffield Eagles Bramall Lane 32,702 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
  Swinton Lions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
  Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
  Workington Town Derwent Park 10,000 Workington, Cumbria
  York City Knights Huntington Stadium 3,428 York, North Yorkshire

Season standings

edit
2013 RFL Championship
# Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Bns Pts
1   Featherstone Rovers 26 22 0 4 940 362 +578 4 70
2   Sheffield Eagles 26 22 0 4 806 474 +332 1 67
3   Halifax 26 19 2 5 817 476 +341 1 62
4   Leigh Centurions 26 18 0 8 752 495 +257 4 58
5   Batley Bulldogs 26 16 1 9 670 394 +276 7 57
6   Doncaster 26 12 1 13 593 594 -1 6 43
7   Dewsbury Rams 26 12 0 14 492 620 -128 6 42
8   Workington Town 26 11 0 15 483 681 -198 6 39
9   Whitehaven 26 11 0 15 485 774 -289 4 37
10   Swinton Lions 26 9 0 17 516 738 -222 7 34
11   Keighley Cougars 26 8 0 18 492 719 -227 9 33
12   Barrow Raiders 26 8 0 18 482 792 -310 9 33
13   Hunslet Hawks (R) 26 6 0 20 529 704 -175 12 30
14   York City Knights (R) 26 6 0 20 493 727 -234 8 26
  Teams qualifying for the Play-offs
  Teams in relegation position
This table is correct as of 1 September 2013. Source: rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk and BBC Sport.

Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.

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

Season results

edit

The regular league season sees the 14 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) over 26 matches. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season goes through to the play-offs to determine the winners of the Championship.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Stats Centre". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Relegation is scrapped from Championship this campaign". Keighley News. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Points System". Rugby League Championships. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
edit