2025 RFL Women's Championship

Last updated
2025 RFL Women's Championship
Teams
  • 11 (Northern)
  • 6 (Midlands)
  • 5 (Southern)
2026 

The 2025 RFL Women's Championship is the ninth season of the RFL Women's Championship and the second since its restructure and expansion to include teams from across the country. The 2025 competition sees the expansion of all three regional leagues and saw Cardiff Demons and London Broncos transferred to the Northern Championship from the Southern Champioinship.

Contents

The winner of the Northern Championship was expected to take part in a promotion play-off against the bottom team of the 2025 RFL Women's Super League. This was scheduled to be played on 5 October, however, a month earlier it was cancelled due to Warrington Wolves being unable to fulfil their remaining fixtures. Therefore, the winner of the Northern Championship earns promotion to the 2026 Super League subject to meeting the competition minimum standards.

Teams

Clubs competing in the 2025 season [1] [2] [3]
NorthernMidlandsSouthern

Northern Championship

In December 2024, the RFL announced that the Northern Championship would be expanded with Cardiff Demons and London Broncos transferring from the Southern Championship. Hull FC and Swinton Lionesses moving up from League One in the place of Stanningley would have resulted in a 12-team competition. [4] [5] However, the withdrawal of Dewsbury Moor meant that only 11 teams started the season. [1]

The 2025 RFL Northern Championship began on 23 March and the regular season concluded on 31 August. The play-offs were originally intended to include a relegation/promotion play-off between the winner of the Northern Women's Championship and the last-placed team of the 2025 Super League. However, as Warrington Wolves were unable to fulfil their remaining Super League fixtures of the season, the RFL announced on 5 September that winner of the Northern Championship would be directly promoted to the 2026 Super League with Warrington facing an enforced relegation subject to the Championship side meeting the required competition standards. [6]

Table

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts
1 Broncoscolours.png   London Broncos 1091040294+30819Advance to semi-finals
2 Fevcolours.svg   Featherstone Rovers 1090136456+30818
3 Panthers colours.svg   Cardiff Demons 10712290122+16815
4 Redscolours.svg   Salford Red Devils 10703234140+9414
5 Swintoncolours.svg   Swinton Lionesses 10703228140+8814
6 HKRcolours.svg   Hull Kingston Rovers 10505206212610
7 Sheffeagles colours.svg   Sheffield Eagles 103071262281026
8 Hullcolours.svg   Hull FC 103071002601606
9 Oultoncolours.png   Oulton Raidettes 10307128224965 [a]
10 Bullscolours.svg   Bradford Bulls 10109503362862
11 Castleford colours.svg   Castleford Tigers 100010884043160
Source: [7]
Notes:
  1. Deducted 1 point for forfeited fixture

Results

Home \ AwayLONFEVCARSALSWIHKRSHEHULOULBRACAS
London Broncos   Broncoscolours.png 40–24
30 Mar
22–22
23 Mar
34–10
20 Jul
48–0
27 Jul
84–6
1 Jun
Featherstone Rovers   Fevcolours.svg 22–0
15 Jun
16–6
1 Jun
30–0
17 Aug
44–0
23 Mar
62–0
29 Jun
Cardiff Demons   Panthers colours.svg 18–22
31 Aug
30–10
1 Jun
32–24
18 May
38–6
22 Jun
48–0
27 Jul
Salford Red Devils   Redscolours.svg 6–26
29 Jun
26–16
27 Jul
12–4
23 Mar
20–14
22 Jun
72–6
13 Jul
Swinton Lionesses   Swintoncolours.svg 6–34
25 May
14–0
15 Jun
32–14
24 Aug
36–4
27 Jul
34–6
23 Mar
Hull Kingston Rovers   HKRcolours.svg 12–56
15 Jun
4–30
20 Jul
26–6
30 Mar
32–6
3 Aug
52–10
9 Aug
Sheffield Eagles   Sheffeagles colours.svg 8–22
17 Aug
0–44
31 Aug
10–18
20 Jul
26–14
29 Jun
10–26
1 Jun
Hull FC   Hullcolours.svg 0–36
31 Aug
12–38
30 Mar
4–12
1 Jun
14–12
15 Jun
20–6
17 Aug
Oulton Raidettes   Oultoncolours.png 6–28
18 May
0–48
29 Jun
20–22
17 Aug
10–14
22 Jun
16–8
23 Mar
Bradford Bulls   Bullscolours.svg 0–64
22 Jun
0–14
20 Jul
8–24
15 Jun
10–24
25 May
8–4
31 Aug
Castleford Tigers   Castleford colours.svg 16–40
30 Mar
6–48
20 Jul
0–40
22 Jun
20–32
27 Jul
18–22
18 May
Source: [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Semi-finals Championship Final
      
1 London Broncos
4 Salford Red Devils
 
 
2 Featherstone Rovers
3 Cardiff Demons

Southern Championship

The Southern Championship expanded to six teams with Anglian Vipers, Brentwood Eels, Bristol Golden Ferns and North Herts Crusaders joining the competition. [2] The season began on 1 June in Hemel Hempstead with the Golden Ferns defeating the Vipers and the Army defeating Brentwood. [25] [13] Bedford Tigers were unable to fulfil any of their fixtures which were initially recorded as walkovers [26] before the team was removed from the final league table. The finals day took place on 3 August. The Army won the title by defeating the Golden Ferns 28–24 in the Grand Final. The match was preceded by a series of matches played by the non-finalists. [20]

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsARMBGFBRENHCANG
1 Armyrlcolours.png   Army 440020830+178856–072–0
2 Goldenfernscolours.png   Bristol Golden Ferns 430118898+90626–46
3 No image.svg Brentwood Eels4112521025034–348–44C–C [a]
4 No image.svg North Herts Crusaders41125412066316–5238–12
5 No image.svg Anglian Vipers400464216152028–6624–40
Source: [7] [13] [14] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [27]

Midlands Championship

The Midlands Championship expanded to six teams with the addition of Midlands Hurricanes and Sheffield Eagles 'A', but retained the festival format used in 2024. Each team played ten games across the six rounds of the competition which began on 15 June and concluded on 3 August. [3] [28] [b]

Table and results

PosTeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsTELLEANOTCOVMIDSHE
1 Telfordraiderscolours.png   Telford Raiders 1080225040+210164–1836–028–024–030–0
2 Leamingtonroyalscolours.png   Leamington Royals 1060414294+48120–240–1810–1424–424–0
3 Nottinghamoutlawscolours.png   Nottingham Outlaws 10514130100+301118–146–1034–08–1224–0
4 Coventrycolours.png  Coventry Bears10415861102494–188–40–64–44–6
5 Midlandshurricanescolours.png   Midlands Hurricanes 10316861668070–2430–024–00–2436–10
6 Sheffeagles colours.svg   Sheffield Eagles 'A'102175423818450–484–3410–100–2824–0
Source: [7]

Notes

  1. Recorded in league table as a 0–0 draw
  2. Some sources also indicated that a Grand Final would be played, but this did not take place [29] [30]

References

  1. 1 2 "Women's 2025 League Seasons get underway this weekend". Rugby Football League. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Women's "Try It" dates announced". Bedford Tigers. 13 March 2025. Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Women's 2025 fixtures revealed". Midlands Hurricanes. 20 February 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  4. "Northern Women's Championship expands for 2025". Rugby Football League. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  5. "Cardiff and London in new-look Championship". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3461. 16 December 2024. p. 13.
  6. "Statement – Warrington Wolves Women". Rugby Football League. 5 September 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Match Centre". Rugby Football League.
  8. "RFL Women's". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3473. 24 March 2025. p. 29.
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  22. "RFL Women's". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3494. 18 August 2025. p. 22.
  23. "RFL Women's". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3495. 25 August 2025. p. 26.
  24. "RFL Women's". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3496. 1 September 2025. p. 30.
  25. "Winnie Scores Two Tries In Army Rugger". St. Lucia Times. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  26. "Ferns beat Crusaders to set up Cup Final against the Army". All Golds. 23 July 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  27. "RFL Women's". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3488. 7 July 2025. p. 27.
  28. "Nottingham Outlaws 24 : Midlands Hurricanes 0 Nottingham Outlaws 18 : Telford Raiders 14". Nottingham Outlaws. 4 August 2025.
  29. "Club 2025 calendar of events". Coventry Bears. Archived from the original on 5 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  30. "Match preview: Midlands Women's Championship (Round Two)". Midlands Hurricanes. 21 June 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.