2018 RFL Championship

Last updated
Betfred Championship 2018
Betfred Championship logo.jpg
League Championship
Duration23 rounds (followed by a league split into Super 8s for 7 more fixtures)
Teams12
Highest attendance38,881 New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg Toronto Wolfpack vs
ToulouseRLcolours.png Toulouse Olympique (19 May)
Lowest attendance312 Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets vs
Broncoscolours.png London Broncos (13 April)
Broadcast partners Sky Sports and Premier Sports for Toronto Games
2018 season
Biggest home win Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers 80–4 Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets (1 July)
Biggest away win Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders 6–72 ToulouseRLcolours.png Toulouse Olympique (15 July)
Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders 6–72 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos (29 July)

The 2018 Rugby Football League Championship is a rugby league football competition played primarily in the United Kingdom, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2018 season is the fourth to consist of the Super 8s structure combining the Championship and Super League three-quarters of the way through the season.

Contents

The 2018 Championship features 12 teams, which all play one another twice in the regular season, once at home, and once away, totalling 22 games. The 2018 season also features the "Summer Bash Weekend" for a fourth time. This is a 23rd round of fixtures which replicates Super League's 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 8s".

New sponsors for the league were announced in January 2018, and the league will be known as the Betfred Championship until the end of 2019. The bookmakers, Betfred, extended their sponsorship of rugby league to include the Championship and League 1 as well as Super League. [1]

Teams

This year's competition features 12 teams. The teams consist of nine of the 12 teams from 2017, the champions of the 2017 League One season, the Toronto Wolfpack, and the champion of the League One playoffs, Barrow Raiders. Bradford Bulls and Oldham, the two bottom placed teams in the 2017 season, were relegated to League One, while Hull Kingston Rovers were promoted back to Super League after just one season in the Championship.

England location map.svg
Red pog.svg
West Yorkshire
Locations of the 2018 RFL Championship teams
France location map-Regions and departements-2016.svg
Locations of 2018 RFL Championship teams
Canada Ontario location map 2.svg
Locations of 2018 RFL Championship teams
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
Locations of the 2018 RFL Championship teams in West Yorkshire
Legend
 Championship Shield holders
 Promoted from League 1
 Relegated from Super League
Team and current seasonStadiumCapacityLocation
Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders The JF Hornby Stadium 7,600 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs Fox's Biscuits Stadium 7,500 Batley, West Yorkshire
Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,800 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers LD Nutrition Stadium 8,000 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
Faxcolours.svg Halifax The MBi Shay 14,000 Halifax, West Yorkshire
Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,000 Leigh, Greater Manchester
Broncoscolours.png London Broncos Trailfinders Sports Ground 3,020 Ealing, London
Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets Crown Oil Arena 10,249 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles Sheffield Olympic Legacy Stadium 2,500 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Swintoncolours.svg Swinton Lions Heywood Road 3,387 Sale, Greater Manchester
New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg Toronto Wolfpack Lamport Stadium 9,600 Toronto, Canada
ToulouseRLcolours.png Toulouse Olympique Stade Ernest-Argelès 4,000 Toulouse, France

Regular season results

Final standings

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg Toronto Wolfpack 232012866374+49241 The Qualifiers
2 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos 231616907423+48433
3 ToulouseRLcolours.png Toulouse Olympique 231616900438+46233
4 Faxcolours.svg Halifax 231616643416+22733
5 Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers 231607819420+39932 Championship Shield
6 Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions 231607849508+34132
7 Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs 23801552370318016
8 Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles 23701643784340614
9 Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams 23611642474632213
10 Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders 23531538281643413
11 Swintoncolours.svg Swinton Lions 2332184028664648
12 Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets 2340193279265998
Source:

The Qualifiers

Toronto, London, Toulouse and Halifax played in the 2018 Qualifiers together with Super League sides Leeds, Hull Kingston Rovers, Salford and Widnes. With points reset to zero, after each side played each other once the top three teams qualified for Super League XXIV in 2019. The teams finishing fourth and fifth played each other in the Million Pound Game with the winner also qualifying for Super League XXIV. The losers of the Million Pound Game together with the teams finishing sixth, seventh and eighth in the Qualifiers played in the 2019 Rugby League Championship.

Standings

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Redscolours.svg Salford Red Devils 750221875+14310 Super League XXIV
2 Rhinoscolours.svg Leeds Rhinos 7502216137+7910
3 HKRcolours.svg Hull KR 7502197162+3510
4 New Zealand Kiwis colours.svg Toronto Wolfpack 7502136118+1810 Million Pound Game
5 Broncoscolours.png London Broncos (P)740316116438
6 ToulouseRLcolours.png Toulouse Olympique 7304156190346 2019 Championship
7 Widnes colours.svg Widnes Vikings (R)710692173812
8 Faxcolours.svg Halifax 7007682251570

Championship Shield

The clubs finishing fifth and below in the regular season play for the Championship Shield. Points earned during the regular season are carried forward and after seven more games the top two clubs play in the shield final. Prior to the start of the season it was announced that the two clubs at the bottom of the table will be relegated to the League 1 for 2019, however following an emergency general meeting of the RFL on 13 September 2018 the Championship and League 1 clubs agreed that for 2019 the number of clubs in the Championship would be increased from 12 to 14. To achieve this the team finishing 11th will not be relegated and the team finishing bottom will play-off against the League 1 team that loses the League 1 promotion final [lower-alpha 1] to decide which team will play in the Championship for 2019. [2]

Results

Standings

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Fevcolours.svg Featherstone Rovers (Q)3023071040524+51646Shield final
2 Leigh colours.svg Leigh Centurions (Q)30200101059644+41540
3 Batley colours.svg Batley Bulldogs 30140167538055228
4 Ramscolours.svg Dewsbury Rams 301011965089924921
5 Barrowcolours.svg Barrow Raiders 308319491100651519
6 Sheffeagles colours.svg Sheffield Eagles 308022549109154216
7 Rochdale colours.svg Rochdale Hornets 306024465109362812
8 Swintoncolours.svg Swinton Lions 304224502111261010Relegation play-off [lower-alpha 2]
Updated to match(es) played on 14 September 2018. Source:
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Notes:
  1. The winning team in the League 1 promotion final will automatically be promoted to the Championship
  2. The relegation play-off is a single-leg play-off between the team finishing last in the Championship Shield and the team that loses the League 1 Promotional Final

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References

  1. "Betfred become title partner of Championship and League 1". Total RL. League Publications. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  2. "Betfred Championship and League 1 Structure 2019". Rugby Football League. 14 September 2018. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2018.