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2015 Championship 1

2015 Championship 1
LeagueChampionship 1
Duration22 matches
Teams14
Highest attendance4,066
Keighley Cougars vs Coventry Bears (10/05/15)
Lowest attendance115
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

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 684
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