2024 Betfred Championship | |
---|---|
Teams | 14 |
2024 season | |
The 2024 RFL Championship, (officially known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons), is a professional rugby league club competition. The second tier of the British rugby league system comprises 14 clubs – 13 from England and one from France.
The season comprises 26 rounds in the regular season with the top six teams taking part in the play-offs to determine the champions.
London Broncos won promotion to the Super League at the end of 2023 and are replaced by Wakefield Trinity who were relegated from Super League. Promoted from League 1 in 2023 are Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster who replace the 2023 relegated teams, Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder.
There is no automatic promotion from the Championship to Super League at the end of the season. This is due to the introduction of the grading scheme where clubs are graded by a number of factors, not all based on on-field performance.[1]
Promotion and relegation on a 2-up, 2-down basis remains between the Championship and League 1 but a review of the league structure during 2024 may change this.[2]
The Summer Bash round which sees all the fixtures played at one location over a weekend has been dropped for 2024 following disappointing attendance figures for the 2022 and 2023 events which were played in Leeds and York respectively.[2]
A number of changes have been introduced for 2024.[3]
The "six again" rule has been amended so that set restarts will only be awarded if the ball is in the defending team's half of the field. Infringements in the attacking team's half will result in a penalty to the attacking team.
The use of the 18th man will be allowed after two players (reduced from three) have failed head impact assessments or a player is unable to continue through injury (not just a head injury) resulting from foul play where the opposing player was sin-binned or sent-off. The use of the green card by the referee ordering injured players off the field for treatment will be discontinued in the Championship.
A team awarded a penalty at a scrum will have the option to reset the scrum instead of taking the penalty.
For disciplinary processes a category of "reckless tackle" has been introduced.[4]
Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
Barrow Raiders | Barrow-in-Furness | Matt Johnson Prestige Stadium | 6,000 |
Batley Bulldogs | Batley | Mount Pleasant | 7,500 |
Bradford Bulls | Bradford | Odsal Stadium | 22,000 |
Dewsbury Rams | Dewsbury | Crown Flatt | 5,100 |
Doncaster | Doncaster | Eco-Power Stadium | 15,231 |
Featherstone Rovers | Featherstone | Millennium Stadium | 8,000 |
Halifax Panthers | Halifax | The Shay | 10,401 |
Sheffield Eagles | Sheffield | Olympic Legacy Park | 1,320 |
Swinton Lions | Sale | Heywood Road | 3,387 |
Toulouse Olympique | Toulouse | Stade Ernest-Wallon | 19,500 |
Wakefield Trinity | Wakefield | DIY Kitchens Stadium | 9,333 |
Whitehaven | Whitehaven | Recreation Ground | 7,500 |
Widnes Vikings | Widnes | DCBL Stadium | 13,350 |
York Knights | York | York Community Stadium | 8,005 |
Main article: 2024 RFL Championship season results |
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Barrow Raiders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | League Leaders Shield and qualify for semi-finals |
2 | Batley Bulldogs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Semi-finals |
3 | Bradford Bulls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminators |
4 | Dewsbury Rams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
5 | Doncaster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
6 | Featherstone Rovers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
7 | Halifax Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
8 | Sheffield Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
9 | Swinton Lions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
10 | Toulouse Olympique | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
11 | Wakefield Trinity | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
12 | Whitehaven | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
13 | Widnes Vikings | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegation to League One |
14 | York Knights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The two-year deal with Viaplay expired at the end of the 2023 season. As of November 2023 no new deal has been arranged with any provider.