2013 Championship 1

2013 Championship 1
League Championship 1
Duration 16 matches (over 18 rounds)
Number of teams 9
Highest attendance 1,562

North Wales Crusaders v South Wales Scorpions (1 September 2013)

Lowest attendance 103

Gloucestershire All Golds v London Skolars (28 July 2013)

Average attendance 477
Aggregate attendance 33,374
Broadcast partners Premier Sports
2013 Season
Champions North Wales Crusaders
Playoff Winner Rochdale Hornets
Top point-scorer(s) Dylan Skee (176)[1]
Top try-scorer(s) Rob Massam (18)[1]
< 2012 Seasons 2014 >

The 2013 Championship 1, known as the Kingstone Press Championship 1 for sponsorship reasons, will be a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales, the third tier of the sport in the country. The 2013 season will see three new teams enter the division alongside the six remaining teams that were not promoted during the 2012 season. Coventry, who had been considered for entry into the division for 2013, will enter the division in 2014. This means that the 2013 Championship 1 season will consist of 9 teams.[2]

The promotion/relegation positions and the play-off format also revert to the normal formats, following the change for the 2012 season to allow the top four teams to be promoted to the Rugby Football League Championship and the champions of the division to be decided by a six-team play-off.[3] This will mean two teams relegated from the 2013 RFL Championship and two teams promoted from Championship 1, which will be the team who finishes top of the league and winner of the play-offs. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league.

All of the teams will competed in the 2013 Challenge Cup and the 2013 National League Cup.

2013 structure

The competition features the six teams that did not win promotion in 2012. They are Gateshead Thunder, London Skolars, North Wales Crusaders, Oldham Roughyeds, Rochdale Hornets and South Wales Scorpions. The four teams who were promoted, Barrow Raiders, Doncaster RLFC, Whitehaven RLFC and Workington Town are replaced by three new teams, which are Hemel Stags,[4] Oxford RLFC[5] and University of Gloucestershire All Golds.[6]

A fourth team had been originally planned for entry for the 2013 to be the tenth team of the division. Northampton Rebels had been the original first team chosen in December 2011 to enter the division for 2013[7] but withdrew on 26 August 2012, due to Northampton Town FC (who were setting up and running the team) not wanting to launch a team that they thought had no chance of success.[8] Coventry Bears, who was part of the application process for entry to Championship 1, was chosen to be the tenth team in September 2012,[2] however the club will enter in 2014, to be given more time to prepare for entry to a semi-professional competition.

Championship 1
Team & current season 2012 Position Stadium Capacity Location
Gateshead Thunder 10th Thunderdome 11,800 Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Gloucestershire All Golds N/A Prince of Wales Stadium 480 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Hemel Stags N/A Pennine Way 2,000 Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
London Skolars 7th New River Stadium 5,000 Haringey, London
North Wales Crusaders 8th Racecourse Ground 10,500 (15,500 with The Kop open) Wrexham, Wales
Oldham Roughyeds 6th Whitebank Stadium 1,500 (temporary capacity) Limeside, Oldham, Greater Manchester
Oxford RLFC N/A Iffley Road 500 Oxford, Oxfordshire
Rochdale Hornets 5th Spotland 10,249 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
South Wales Scorpions 9th The Gnoll 6,000 Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales

Season table

    		Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Bns Pts
    1 North Wales Crusaders (P) 16 14 0 2 568 212 +356 1 43
    2 Oldham Roughyeds 16 12 1 3 508 289 +219 3 41
    3 Rochdale Hornets 16 10 0 6 538 375 +163 2 32
    4 London Skolars 16 10 0 6 489 468 +21 3 32
    5 Hemel Stags 16 8 0 8 381 365 +16 4 28
    6 Oxford RLFC 16 5 2 9 326 436 -110 4 23
    7 Gateshead Thunder 16 4 1 11 356 542 -186 6 20
    8 South Wales Scorpions 16 5 0 11 368 504 -136 4 19
    9 Gloucestershire All Golds 16 2 1 13 286 629 -343 4 12
      Teams qualifying for promotion
      Teams qualifying for play-offs

    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[9].
    (P) - Promoted, (Pl) - Qualified for Playoffs

    Season results

    The regular league season sees the 9 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) over 16 matches, which will be played over 18 rounds, with each team getting two rounds off.[10] The team that finishes first will be promoted to the Championship, while the teams who finish second to sixth at the end of the regular season goes through to the play-offs to determine the second promotion place.

    References

    1. 1 2 "Stats Centre". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
    2. 1 2 "Coventry Bears: Midlands amateur side targeted as semi-pro club". BBC Sport. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
    3. ↑ "Championship 1 agree promotion criteria for 2012". Gateshead Thunder. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
    4. ↑ "Hemel Join Rugby League Championship 1". RFL. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
    5. ↑ "Oxford to be admitted to Championship One". BBC Sport. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
    6. ↑ "All Golds to join Championship One". RFL. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
    7. ↑ "Northampton Town FC to run rugby league team from 2013". BBC Sport. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
    8. ↑ "Northampton Rebels team withdraw from Championship One". BBC Sport. 25 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
    9. ↑ "Points System". Rugby League Championships. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
    10. ↑ "Competition Structure". Rugby League Championships. Retrieved 27 January 2013.

    External links

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