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Co-operative Championship
	Current competition: 2009 Co-operative Championship
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	2003
Number of teams	11
Countries	England; France
Champions	Barrow (2009)
Website	cooperativechampionship.co.uk
Broadcast partner	Sky Sports
Related competitions	Championship 1; Northern Rail Cup

The Rugby League Championship (sponsored by the Co-operative Group) was formerly the National League One. With the inclusion of a French team in 2009 (Toulouse) it has taken a more European dimension and has changed its denomination. It acts as the second tier competition below the Super League Europe.

Championship teams are only allowed one quota player, other than Gateshead Thunder, to compensate for the lack of amateur clubs outside the heartlands to recruit from. The division below the Championship is the Championship 1 (previously National League Two).

[edit] Media

Games are shown every Thursday on Sky Sports and some of Toulouse Olympique's games are broadcast on Orange Sport TV in France.

[edit] History

Between 1999 and 2002 teams below the Super League took part in a single division known as the Northern Ford Premiership (NFP). In 2003, the NFP was completely re-organised into National Leagues 1 and 2. Teams that finished in the top ten of the NFP joined National League 1 and the bottom nine joined National League 2. They were joined by London Skolars from the Rugby League Conference who entered National League 2. York City Knights replaced the defunct York Wasps and joined National League 2 in 2003.

At the same time, National League Three was created with teams from the Rugby League Conference and from the BARLA amateur leagues. It was intended that there would be promotion and relegation between National League 2 and National League Three when League Three became more established.

At the end of the 2005 an extra team was relegated from Super League in order to accommodate French side Catalans Dragons. In turn an additional team was relegated from National League 1; thus the number of teams in this division remained at ten. In 2009, with the introduction of Toulouse into the competition, the title "National League" was no longer appropriate. From the 2009 season the competition will be known as the Championship, with The Co-operative continuing their sponsorship of the competition. This addition raised the number of teams in the competition to 11.

The record crowd for a club game at this level of competition was set in 2008 at the Stobart Stadium when Widnes defeated Salford 20-18 in front of 8,189. The crowd record for regular season attendance was also broken in 2008 with an average of 2,205 speactors at each game.

[edit] Structure

A play-off structure is used to determine the winners of the Championship, who used to be eligible for promotion to Super League, being replaced by the team being relegated from that competition. Two teams are relegated from the Championship, being replaced by the team finishing top of Championship 1 and the winner of a play-off structure involving the six teams finishing behind the league leaders in Championship 1. The Championship play-offs are a top-six format.

After 2009 there will be no automatic promotion or relegation from Super League and new teams will be admitted on a franchise basis. Reviews of franchises will take place every three years to ensure ambitious clubs lower down the leagues can still be successful.

A cup competition, the Northern Rail Cup, is played for by all clubs in the Championship and Championship 1; in 2005 four League Three clubs were also admitted, in 2006 five League Three were admitted. The teams are organised into regional conferences, with knock-out stages following from the group stage. In 2007 four Rugby League Conference teams are scheduled to be included.

From 2007 the competition used a new points system:

Win – three points; Draw – two points; Loss by 12 points or fewer - one point.[1]

[edit] Teams

Toulouse Olympique

Barrow Raiders

Whitehaven RLFC

Gateshead Thunder

Halifax RLFC

Featherstone Rovers

Batley Bulldogs

Doncaster RLFC

Sheffield Eagles

Leigh Centurions

Widnes Vikings

Championship
Team	Stadium	City/Area	Current season
Barrow Raiders	Craven Park	Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria	Team and results 2009
Batley Bulldogs	Mount Pleasant	Batley, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Dewsbury Rams	The Tetley's Stadium	Dewsbury, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Featherstone Rovers	Post Office Road	Featherstone, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Halifax RLFC	The Shay	Halifax, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Keighley Cougars	Cougar Park	Keighley, West Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Leigh Centurions	Leigh Sports Village	Leigh, Greater Manchester	Team and results 2009
Sheffield Eagles	Bramall Lane	Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Team and results 2009
Toulouse Olympique	Stade des Minimes	Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France	Team and results 2009
Whitehaven RLFC	Recreation Ground	Whitehaven, Cumbria	Team and results 2009
Widnes Vikings	Stobart Stadium Halton	Widnes, Cheshire	Team and results 2009

[edit] Results

See also Rugby League Championship Second Division for winners of the old Second Division.

[edit] National Leagues 2002-2008

Season	Relegated from Super League	League Champions	Promoted	Relegated	League Two Champions	Also promoted to League One
2003	Halifax RLFC	Salford City Reds	Salford City Reds	Dewsbury Rams	Keighley Cougars	none
2004	Castleford Tigers	Leigh Centurions	Leigh Centurions	Keighley Cougars	Barrow Raiders¹	none
2005	Widnes Vikings Leigh Centurions	Castleford Tigers	Castleford Tigers	Barrow Raiders Featherstone Rovers	York City Knights¹	none
2006	Castleford Tigers	Hull Kingston Rovers	Hull Kingston Rovers	Oldham Roughyeds York City Knights	Dewsbury Rams¹	Sheffield Eagles
2007	Salford City Reds	Castleford Tigers	Castleford Tigers	Rochdale Hornets Doncaster Lakers	Celtic Crusaders	Featherstone Rovers
2008	N/A ²	Salford City Reds	Salford City Reds Celtic Crusaders²	Dewsbury Rams	Leigh Centurions	Barrow Raiders Doncaster RLFC

[edit] Co-operative Championship 2009-present

Season	Relegated from Super League	Championship Champions	Relegated from Championship	Championship 1 Champions	Championship 1 play-off winners
2009	N/A ²	Barrow Raiders	Leigh Centurions Doncaster RLFC	Dewsbury Rams	Keighley Cougars	- -

On 11th November 2009 it was anounced that Gateshead Thunder who had gone into administration would be relegted to Championship 1 and that Leigh Centurions would now NOT be relegated

[edit] Footnote

Denotes that championship was not decided using a play-off; league position alone determined the title-holder.
From 2008 to be promoted to Superleague you had to be a successful applicant for a license, the winner of the grand final was not automatically promoted. All existing Super League teams were given a licence and so there was no relegation.

[edit] Reserve Grade

Main article: Rugby League Reserve Team Championship

The reserve grade for Championship and Championship 1 clubs is the Reserve Team First Division. Participation is optional but twelve clubs run a reserve team in it, plus London Skolars run a reserve team in the Rugby League Conference Premier South.

[edit] Juniors

While there is no Under 18s league for Championship clubs, Widnes Vikings run their Under 18s in the Super League Academy and Gateshead Thunder and Keighley Cougars run their Under 18s in the Gillette National Youth League.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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