The 2022 Rugby Football League Championship is a rugby league football competition played in England. It is the second tier of the three tiers of professional rugby league in England, below Super League, and above League 1. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred Championship.
The league was won by Leigh Centurions who beat Batley Bulldogs 44–12 in the Grand Final to win promotion to Super League in 2023. Leigh also won the league leaders shield by finishing top of the regular season league table. Dewsbury Rams and Workington Town were relegated from the Championship to play in the 2023 League One.
Rule changes The RFL approved three rules changes for 2022. On 20 January 2022, The RFL confirmed that scrums will return to all competitions, having been suspended as part of the game's COVID-19 response in 2020 and 2021. Scrums are only being reintroduced for errors (knock-on, forward pass or accidental offside) in the first four tackles of a set. Other cases, where previously a scrum would have been awarded, for example - ball into touch on the full, ball kicked or passed into touch, incorrect play the ball; will result in a handover.
The ball steal law will revert to the 2020 rule where the ball can only be stolen in a one-on-one tackle and not during a multi-person tackle where the additional tacklers have peeled off the tackle before the steal. Finally, injured players will be required to leave the pitch for treatment, if possible, following complaints that stoppages for injury spoil the speed and flow of the game.
Teams The league comprised 14 teams. The regular season comprised 27 rounds, each teams will play each of the others twice (home and away) with the 21st round, the Summer Bash, seeing seven additional fixtures between the 14 teams played at the same venue, which this year was Headingley stadium in Leeds.
Team Stadium Capacity Location Barrow Raiders(2022 season) Craven Park 6,000 Barrow in Furness, Cumbria Batley Bulldogs(2022 season) Mount Pleasant 7,500 Batley, West Yorkshire Bradford Bulls(2022 season) Odsal Stadium 22,000 Bradford, West Yorkshire Dewsbury Rams(2022 season) Crown Flatt 5,800 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Featherstone Rovers(2022 season) Post Office Road 8,000 Featherstone, West Yorkshire Halifax(2022 season) The Shay 10,401 Halifax, West Yorkshire Leigh Centurions(2022 season) Leigh Sports Village 12,000 Leigh, Greater Manchester London Broncos(2022 season) Plough Lane 9,215 Wimbledon, London Newcastle Thunder(2022 season) Kingston Park 10,200 Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle Sheffield Eagles(2022 season) Olympic Legacy Park 3,900 Sheffield, South Yorkshire Whitehaven(2022 season) Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria Widnes Vikings(2022 season) DCBL Stadium 13,350 Widnes, Cheshire Workington Town(2022 season) Derwent Park 10,000 Workington, Cumbria York City Knights(2022 season) York Community Stadium 8,005 York, North Yorkshire
Fixtures and results
Regular season table
End of season awards
Foundation of the year: Sheffield Eagles Club of the year: Barrow Raiders Coach of the year: Paul Crarey (Barrow Raiders) Young player of the year: Sam Eseh (Featherstone Rovers) Player of the year: Edwin Ipape (Leigh Centurions)
Play-offs
The same play-off structure as used in 2021 was used.
Team bracket
Summary + EliminatorsHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Halifax Panthers 24–26 York City Knights 18 September 2022, 17:30 The Shay J. Vella 1,850 Barrow Raiders 8–18 Batley Bulldogs 18 September 2022, 15:00 Craven Park M. Griffiths 3,595 Source: + Semi-finalsHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Leigh Centurions 70–10 York City Knights 25 September 2022, 14:00 Leigh Sports Village M. Griffiths 3,329 Featherstone Rovers 28–32 Batley Bulldogs 25 September 2022, 16:00 Post Office Road R. Hicks 4,000 Source: + Championship Grand FinalHomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeAttendance Leigh Centurions 44–12 Batley Bulldogs 2 October 2022, 18:30 Leigh Sports Village C. Kendall 7,233 Source:
Player statistics
Top 10 try scorers RankPlayer (s)ClubTries1 Theerapol Ritson Barrow Raiders28 Lachlan Walmsley Halifax Panthers3 Krisnan Inu Leigh Centurions24 Nene Macdonald5 Edwin Ipape226 Johnny Campbell Batley Bulldogs21 Morgan Smith Featherstone Rovers8 Luke Hooley Batley Bulldogs20 Dale Morton Connor Jones Featherstone Rovers Blake Ferguson Leigh Centurions
Top 10 goal scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Krisnan Inu Leigh Centurions1472 Craig Hall Featherstone Rovers1323 Tom Gilmore Batley Bulldogs1174 Joe Keyes Halifax Panthers1085 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders776 Dec Patton Bradford Bulls767 Oliver Leyland London Broncos528 Steve Tyrer Widnes Vikings489 Ben Reynolds Leigh Centurions47 Nikau Williams Whitehaven RLFC
Top 10 point scorers RankPlayerClubPoints1 Krisnan Inu Leigh Centurions3902 Craig Hall Featherstone Rovers3243 Joe Keyes Halifax Panthers2694 Tom Gilmore Batley Bulldogs2545 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders1826 Dec Patton Bradford Bulls1607 Liam Harris York Knights1588 Jarrod Sammut Barrow Raiders1499 Ben Reynolds Leigh Centurions13410 Lachlan Walmsley Halifax Panthers122
Discipline
Red cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 Hakim Miloudi Barrow Raiders1 Johnny Campbell Batley Bulldogs David Foggin-Johnston Bradford Bulls Tom Holroyd Reiss Butterworth Dewsbury Rams Paul Sykes Sam Eseh Featherstone Rovers Tyla Hepi Titus Gwaze Halifax Panthers Joe Martin Greg Worthington Nene Macdonald Leigh Centurions James McDonnell Mitch Clark Newcastle Thunder Jake Shorrocks Joel Farrell Sheffield Eagles Bayley Liu Guy Graham Whitehaven RLFC Karl Olstrom Adam Lawton Widnes Vikings Jordan Thomson Workington Town
Yellow cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 Paul Sykes Dewsbury Rams42 Krisnan Inu Leigh Centurions3 Wellington Albert London Broncos Danny Craven Widnes Vikings Adam Lawton6 Sam Brooks Barrow Raiders2 Jarrad Stack James Brown Batley Bulldogs Sam Hallas Bradford Bulls Dec Patton Reiss Butterworth Dewsbury Rams Ollie Greensmith Ben Reynolds Leigh Centurions Luke Briscoe Featherstone Rovers Jack Broadbent Matthew Wildie James Saltonstall Halifax Panthers Mitch Clark Newcastle Thunder Vila Halafihi Sheffield Eagles Tom Holmes Anthony Thackeray Kieran Hudson Whitehaven RLFC Ryan King Eribe Doro Widnes Vikings Owen Farnworth Matty Marsh York Knights Pauli Pauli2870 players -1
Broadcasting The rights to show matches from the Championship was until November 2020 held by Sky TV but the RFL negotiated a new deal with Sky which removed Championship games from the existing contract, and instead the RFL signed a new deal with Premier Sports. This deal resulted in one match from each round being broadcast live on a Monday evening.
References