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 featured fourteen teams, who all played each other once; Each team then played nine other teams again, based on a geographical basis, totalling 22 games. Two teams were 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 faced each other and the winner was automatically be promoted to the Kingstone Press Championship as champions, while the loser and the teams finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th contested the play-offs and the winner was also promoted. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league.
2015 structure
The competition featured 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 also featured 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
Play-offs
League One Grand Final #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance League One Grand FinalF Oldham31 – 20 Keighley Cougars20 September, 15:00 BSTWhitebank Stadium, OldhamMike Woodhead1,405Source: 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 #HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereeAttendance League One Promotion Play Off Semi-finalsSF1 Keighley Cougars32 – 6 North Wales Crusaders27 September, 15:00 BSTCougar Park, KeighleyStuart Ansell1,103SF2 Swinton Lions18 – 17 (AET) York City Knights27 September, 15:00 BSTPark Lane, SwintonChris Campbell684 League One Promotion Play Off FinalF Keighley Cougars28 – 29 Swinton Lions4 October, 14:00 BSTSelect Security Stadium, WidnesChris Kendall4,179Source:
Swinton won the play off final to secure the second and final promotion place to the 2016 Championship. Play-off bracket
Source: References
External links Official Website