Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 RFU Championship | |
Sport | Rugby union |
---|---|
Founded | 1987 |
Administrator | RFU |
No. of teams | 11 |
Countries | England |
Most recent champion(s) | Jersey Reds (1st title) (2022–23) |
Most titles | Bristol Bears (4 titles) |
Level on pyramid | Level 2 |
Promotion to | No promotion |
Relegation to | National League 1 |
Domestic cup(s) | Premiership Rugby Cup |
Official website | championshiprugby.co.uk |
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising eleven clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. [1] [2] The competition has existed since 1987, when English clubs were first organised into leagues. [3]
The Championship is governed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). [4] The current competition format is a double round-robin tournament, where teams play each other home and away. The 2022–23 season had no playoff phase, and no team was promoted to the Premiership as Jersey Reds did not meet the minimum standards criteria. [5]
| |||||||||||||||||
Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Points | |||||||
1 | Ealing Trailfinders | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 406 | 205 | 201 | 9 | 1 | 46 | ||||||
2 | Cornish Pirates | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 317 | 237 | 80 | 5 | 1 | 38 | ||||||
3 | Bedford Blues | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 351 | 270 | 81 | 6 | 2 | 36 | ||||||
4 | Doncaster Knights | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 315 | 298 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 35 | ||||||
5 | Coventry | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 347 | 268 | 79 | 8 | 2 | 34 | ||||||
6 | Hartpury | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 310 | 314 | -4 | 5 | 2 | 27 | ||||||
7 | Nottingham | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 284 | 329 | -45 | 7 | 0 | 27 | ||||||
8 | Ampthill | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 295 | 325 | -30 | 7 | 2 | 25 | ||||||
9 | Caldy | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 234 | 363 | -129 | 5 | 1 | 22 | ||||||
10 | Cambridge | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 239 | 416 | -177 | 5 | 3 | 16 | ||||||
11 | London Scottish | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 192 | 265 | -73 | 3 | 5 | 12 | ||||||
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Green background Champions (qualify for Promotion play-off if eligible). Red background will be relegated (there is no relegation this season). Updated: 10 February 2024 Source: "The Championship". England Rugby. |
Club | Stadium | Capacity | Area |
---|---|---|---|
Ampthill | Dillingham Park | 3,000 | Ampthill, Bedfordshire |
Bedford Blues | Goldington Road | 5,000 (1,700 seats) | Bedford, Bedfordshire |
Caldy | Paton Field | 4,000 | Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside |
Cambridge | Grantchester Road | 1,500 (200 seats) | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire |
Cornish Pirates | Mennaye Field | 4,000 (2,200 Seats) | Penzance, Cornwall |
Coventry | Butts Park Arena | 5,200 (3,000 seats) | Coventry, West Midlands |
Doncaster Knights | Castle Park | 5,000 (1,650 seats) | Doncaster, South Yorkshire |
Ealing Trailfinders | Trailfinders Sports Ground | 4,000 (2,200 Seats) | West Ealing, London |
Hartpury University | Alpas Arena | 2,000 | Hartpury, Gloucestershire |
London Scottish | Athletic Ground | 4,500 (1,000 seats) | Richmond, London |
Nottingham | Lady Bay Sports Ground | 3,500 | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire |
The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports. [6] [7]
The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport's amateurism regulations: competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players. [8]
When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 season, the second level was known as 'Courage League National Division Two'. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season.
Name of second-level competition | First season | Last season |
---|---|---|
Courage League National Division Two | 1987–88 | 1996–97 |
Allied Dunbar Premiership Two | 1997–98 | 1999–2000 |
National Division One | 2000–01 | 2008–09 |
In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.
Level of men's rugby | Name of competition in 2008–09 | Name of competition in 2009–10 | Number of teams in 2008–09 | Number of teams in 2009–10 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1 | Guinness Premiership | Guinness Premiership | 12 | 12 |
Level 2 | National Division One | RFU Championship | 16 | 12 |
Level 3 | National Division 2 | National League 1 | 14 | 16 |
To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as 'National Division 2' in 2008–09 and to be known as 'National League 1' in 2009–10.
Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership (Level 1 to Level 2), one team would be promoted to the Premiership (Level 2 to Level 1), and one team would be promoted from National Division 2 (Level 3 to Level 2).
The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.
Automatic promotion to the Premiership has not been a consistent feature of the RFU Championship. A playoff tournament was used to decide promotion between the 2009–10 and 2016–17 seasons, as well as in the 2020–21 season.
In seasons without a promotion playoff (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20), the team at the top of the league was automatically promoted to the Premiership. [9]
Season | Number of playoff teams |
---|---|
2009–10 | 8 |
2010–11 | |
2011–12 | |
2012–13 | 4 |
2013–14 | |
2014–15 | |
2015–16 | |
2016–17 | |
2017–18 | No play-offs |
2018–19 | |
2019–20 | |
2020–21 | 2 |
2021–22 | No play-offs |
2022–23 | |
The RFU plans to reintroduce possible promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season, by means of a play-off between the top placed team in the Championship and the bottom placed side in the Premiership. [10]
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 season to be prematurely ended. Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively. [11]
The 2020–21 season was impacted by the aforementioned pandemic and as a consequence, a shorter season kicked off in spring 2021. The reduced season saw each team play each other once only with the top two teams entering a two-legged promotion playoff. There was no relegation due to cancellation of National League 1. [12]
In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22. [13] The moratorium was extended for a further two years in June 2021 and also could include promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season if there was promotion in the previous season. There was also no relegation from the Championship in 2021–22.
The RFU Championship clubs were in dispute with the RFU over funding for the competition and claimed that each club was owed £77,000 for the past three seasons, and will be owed a further £120,000 over the next four seasons. The clubs believed they should have received £295,000 in 2009–10, rising to £400,000 by 2015–16 and further believe there was a breach of contract on the part of the RFU. The RFU stated that the original funding was an estimate and by 2015–16 the figure will be £359,400. [14] When the RFU announced the hiatus of promotion play-offs, it also announced funding increases from both itself and the Premiership, including a new system which ties some of the new funding to each Championship side's performance in the league season. [9] The extra funding provided prior to 2016–17 was removed prior to the 2020–21 season. [15] [16]
For sponsorship reasons, the competition was officially known as the Greene King IPA Championship between the 2013–14 and 2020–21 seasons. [17]
1980s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987–88 | 11 | Rosslyn Park | Liverpool St Helens | No relegation | ||||||||||
1988–89 | 11 | Saracens | Bedford | London Scottish and London Welsh | ||||||||||
1989–90 | 11 | Northampton | Liverpool St Helens | No relegation [a 1] | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. |
1990s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990–91 | 12 | Rugby | London Irish | Richmond and Headingley | ||||||||||
1991–92 | 12 | London Scottish | West Hartlepool | Plymouth Albion, Liverpool St Helens | ||||||||||
1992–93 | 12 | Newcastle Gosforth | Waterloo | Bedford, Rosslyn Park, Richmond, Blackheath, Coventry, Fylde, Morley | ||||||||||
1993–94 | 18 | Sale | West Hartlepool | Rugby, Otley | ||||||||||
1994–95 | 18 | Saracens | Wakefield | Fylde, Coventry | ||||||||||
1995–96 | 18 | Northampton | London Irish | No relegation [a 2] | ||||||||||
1996–97 | 22 | Richmond | Newcastle | Rugby, Nottingham | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. |
1990s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997–98 | 22 | Bedford | West Hartlepool [a 3] | No relegation [a 4] | ||||||||||
1998–99 | 26 | Bristol | Rotherham | Blackheath and Fylde | ||||||||||
1999–00 | 26 | Rotherham | Leeds Tykes | Rugby and West Hartlepool | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. |
2000s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000–01 | 26 | Leeds Tykes | Worcester | Orrell and Waterloo | ||||||||||
2001–02 | 26 | Rotherham | Worcester | Henley and Bracknell | ||||||||||
2002–03 | 26 | Rotherham | Worcester | Moseley, Rugby Lions | ||||||||||
2003–04 | 26 | Worcester | Orrell | Wakefield, Manchester | ||||||||||
2004–05 | 26 | Bristol | Exeter | Orrell, Henley | ||||||||||
2005–06 | 26 | Harlequins | Bedford Blues | No relegation [a 5] | ||||||||||
2006–07 | 30 | Leeds Tykes | Earth Titans | Otley, Waterloo | ||||||||||
2007–08 | 30 | Northampton Saints | Exeter Chiefs | Pertemp Bees, Launceston | ||||||||||
2008–09 | 30 | Leeds Tykes | Exeter Chiefs | Esher, Sedgley Park, Newbury, Otley, Manchester | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. |
2000s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009–10 | 22 | Exeter Chiefs | Bristol | Coventry | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. |
2010s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010–11 | 22 | Worcester Warriors | Bedford Blues | Doncaster Knights | ||||||||||
2011–12 | 22 | London Welsh | Bristol | Ealing Trailfinders | ||||||||||
2012–13 | 22 | Newcastle Falcons | Bristol | Plymouth Albion | ||||||||||
2013–14 | 23 | London Welsh | Doncaster Knights | Moseley | ||||||||||
2014–15 | 22 | Worcester Warriors | Yorkshire Carnegie | No relegation | ||||||||||
2015–16 | 22 | Bristol | Ealing Trailfinders | Rotherham Titans | ||||||||||
2016–17 | 22 | London Irish | Ealing Trailfinders | Richmond | ||||||||||
2017–18 | 22 | Bristol | Ealing Trailfinders | Yorkshire Carnegie | ||||||||||
2018–19 | 22 | London Irish | Ealing Trailfinders | No relegation | ||||||||||
2019–20 | 15* | Newcastle Falcons | Ealing Trailfinders | No relegation | ||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. * 2019–20 season ended early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
2020s
Season | Matches | Champions | Runners–up | Relegated teams | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020–21 | 10** | Saracens | Ealing Trailfinders | No relegation | ||||||||||
2021–22 | 20 | Ealing Trailfinders | Doncaster Knights | No relegation | ||||||||||
2022–23 | 22 | Jersey Reds | Ealing Trailfinders | Richmond | ||||||||||
2023–24 | 20 | |||||||||||||
Green background are promotion places. **2020–21 season started late due to the pandemic. |
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Hartpury University RFC is an English rugby union club. The men's first team play in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship, having won promotion from National League 1 at the end of the 2016–17 season.
The 2013–14 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, was the fifth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It was held between 14 September 2013 and 4 June 2014. It was contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. It was also the first Championship season with a title sponsor, as the Rugby Football Union and Greene King Brewery reached a deal by which the brewery would become the competition's main sponsor from 2013–14 through to 2016–17.
The 2014–15 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the sixth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This is the second year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery, which runs until 2017. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also competed in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Matches in the RFU Championship were broadcast on Sky Sports.
The 2015–16 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the seventh season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This is the third year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery, which runs until 2017. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Some matches in the RFU Championship are broadcast on Sky Sports.
Phil Chesters is an English rugby union player who is currently playing for Chinnor in National League 1 having signed for the club for the 2017-18 season. Prior to that he had made his name at Ealing Trailfinders where he had also been part of the medical staff. His best position is winger and over his career he has proved to be a tremendous try scorer who has set multiple records in lower division English rugby with Ealing, notably all-time records of 42 tries in a season in tier 3 and an amazing 70 tries in a season in tier 4 – a record that is unlikely to ever be beaten. As of the end of the 2017-18 he has also become the National League 2 South all-time try scorer with 117 tries.
The 2016–17 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the eighth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This will be the fourth year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Some matches in the RFU Championship are broadcast on Sky Sports.
The 2017–18 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, was the ninth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It was contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. The competition was sponsored by Greene King for a fifth successive season. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also competed in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales.
The 2018–19 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the tenth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. Greene King sponsors the competition for a sixth successive season. Clubs in the league also competed in the inaugural RFU Championship Cup.
The 2019–20 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1, was the 11th season of the third tier of the English rugby union system, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Championship was introduced; and was the 33rd season since league rugby began in 1987.
The 2019–20 RFU Championship, known as the 2019–20 Greene King IPA Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the eleventh season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It featured eleven English teams and one from Jersey. The competition was sponsored by Greene King for the seventh successive season.
The 2020–21 RFU Championship, also known as the 2020–21 Greene King IPA Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the twelfth season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It featured ten English teams and one from Jersey. The competition was sponsored by Greene King for the eighth successive season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, this season featured a truncated timeframe of just 16 weeks with a later start and fewer rounds.
The 2021–22 RFU Championship was the thirteenth season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It featured ten English teams and one from Jersey. Saracens are the reigning champions and were promoted to the Premiership.
The 2022–23 RFU Championship is the fourteenth season of the RFU Championship, the professional second tier of rugby union in England. It features eleven English teams and one from Jersey. Jersey Reds won the league with one match remaining.