2015 Championship 1

2015 Championship 1
League	Championship 1
Duration	22 matches
Teams	14
Highest attendance	4,066 Keighley Cougars vs Coventry Bears (10/05/15)
Lowest attendance	115 London Skolars vs Keighley Cougars (31/08/15)
2015 Season
Champions	Oldham
Promotion Playoff Winner	Swinton Lions

The 2015 Championship 1, known as the Kingstone Press League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England, the third tier of the sport in the country.

The 2015 Championship 1 will feature fourteen teams, who will all play each other once; Each team will then play nine other teams again, based on a geographical basis, totaling 22 games. Two teams will be promoted from Championship 1, due to the restructure of Super League, Championship and Championship 1. After the 22 regular season games, the top two sides will face each other and the winner will be automatically be promoted to the Kingstone Press Championship as champions, while the loser and the teams finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th will contest the play-offs and the winner will also be promoted. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league.

2015 structure

The competition features the eight teams that did not win promotion in 2014: Gloucestershire All Golds, Hemel Stags, London Skolars, Newcastle Thunder, Oldham R.L.F.C., Oxford RLFC, South Wales Scorpions and York City Knights. It will also feature five teams relegated from the RFL Championship: Barrow Raiders, Keighley Cougars, North Wales Crusaders, Rochdale Hornets and Swinton Lions. Coventry Bears were also accepted into the division, creating a fourteen-team division.

Team & current season	2014 Position	Stadium	Capacity	Location
Barrow Raiders	14th (Championship)	Craven Park	7,600	Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
Coventry Bears	N/A	Butts Park Arena	4,000	Coventry, West Midlands
Gloucestershire All Golds	6th	Prince of Wales Stadium	480	Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Hemel Stags	5th	Pennine Way	2,000	Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Keighley Cougars	8th (Championship)	Cougar Park	7,800	Keighley, West Yorkshire
London Skolars	7th	New River Stadium	5,000	Haringey, London
Newcastle Thunder	4th	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
North Wales Crusaders	11th (Championship)	Racecourse Ground	10,500 (15,500 with The Kop open)	Wrexham, Wales
Oldham	3rd	Whitebank Stadium	1,500 (temporary capacity)	Limeside, Oldham, Greater Manchester
Oxford RLFC	8th	Iffley Road	500	Oxford, Oxfordshire
Rochdale Hornets	12th (Championship)	Spotland	10,249	Rochdale, Greater Manchester
South Wales Scorpions	9th	Llynfi Road	6,000	Maesteg, Bridgend, Wales
Swinton Lions	13th (Championship)	Park Lane	3,000	Whitefield, Greater Manchester
York City Knights	1st	Huntington Stadium	3,428	York, North Yorkshire

Season table

2015 Championship 1
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Oldham (C)	22	19	3	0	840	362	+478	38
2	Keighley Cougars	22	18	4	0	759	400	+359	36
3	Swinton Lions (P)	22	16	5	1	899	402	+497	33
4	York City Knights	22	16	6	0	816	382	+434	32
5	North Wales Crusaders	22	14	7	1	677	391	+286	29
6	Rochdale Hornets	22	14	8	0	731	459	+272	28
7	Barrow Raiders	22	14	8	0	661	423	+238	28
8	Newcastle Thunder	22	11	11	0	555	552	+3	22
9	Gloucestershire All Golds	22	8	14	0	562	677	-115	16
10	Oxford RLFC	22	7	15	0	453	948	-495	14
11	London Skolars	22	5	17	0	388	671	-283	10
12	Coventry Bears	22	5	17	0	430	755	-325	10
13	Hemel Stags	22	5	17	0	422	903	-481	8
14	South Wales Scorpions	22	1	21	0	274	1122	-848	2

	Teams who won promotion.
	Teams qualifying for play-offs.

This table is correct as of 14 September 2015 (season complete). Source: rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk and BBC Sport.

Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition points: For win = 2; For draw = 1

(C) - Champions (and promoted), (P) - Promoted.

Play Offs

• League One Grand Final

#	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
				Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referee	Attendance
League One Grand Final
F	Oldham	31 – 20	Keighley Cougars	20 September, 15:00 BST	Whitebank Stadium, Oldham	Mike Woodhead	1,405

• Oldham are League One Champions 2015 and are promoted to the 2016 Championship. Keighley Cougars will enter the play off semi finals for the second promotion place along with teams finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th.

• League One Promotion Play Offs

#	Home	Score	Away	Match Information
				Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referee	Attendance
League One Promotion Play Off Semi-finals
SF1	Keighley Cougars	32 – 6	North Wales Crusaders	27 September, 15:00 BST	Cougar Park, Keighley	Stuart Ansell	1,103
SF2	Swinton Lions	18 – 17 (AET)	York City Knights	27 September, 15:00 BST	Park Lane, Swinton	Chris Campbell
League One Promotion Play Off Final
F	Keighley Cougars	28 – 29	Swinton Lions	4 October, 14:00 BST	Select Security Stadium, Widnes	Chris Kendall	4,179

• Swinton won the play off final to secure the second and final promotion place to the 2016 Championship.

References

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/league-one/table

External links

• Official Website