The 2023 RFL Championship, (officially known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons), was a professional rugby league club competition. Fourteen clubs – thirteen from England and one from France – competed to gain promotion to the 2024 Super League, while avoiding relegation to the 2024 League One season.
The seasons comprised 27 rounds in the regular season with the top six teams taking part in the play-offs.
The champions were London Broncos who after finishing fifth in the regular season, won the play-off grand final against Toulouse Olympique.
Featherstone Rovers won the League Leader's Shield finishing the regular season 12 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Toulouse.
Newcastle Thunder and Keighley Cougars were relegated to League One.
Teams Team changes The following teams changed division since the 2022 season: To Championship
Promoted from League One
Keighley Cougars Swinton Lions
Relegated from the Super League Toulouse Olympique
From Championship
Promoted to the Super League Leigh Leopards
Relegated to League One Dewsbury Rams Workington Town
Clubs
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 Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Millennium Stadium 8,000 Halifax Panthers Halifax The Shay 10,401 Keighley Cougars Keighley Cougar Park 7,800 London Broncos Wimbledon Plough Lane 9,215 Newcastle Thunder Newcastle upon Tyne Kingston Park 10,200 Sheffield Eagles Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park 1,320 Swinton Lions Sale Heywood Road 3,387 Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Stade Ernest-Wallon 19,500 Whitehaven Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Widnes Vikings Widnes DCBL Stadium 13,350 York Knights York York Community Stadium 8,005
Rule changes Changes in the operational rules were announced on 1 February 2023.
On-field, the main change is that teams awarded a penalty for an offence at a scrum can now kick for goal. Previously such penalties were differential precluding the team from kicking for goal. The green card process has been clarified so that if the referee calls "time off" for a player to receive medical attention, the player must leave the pitch for two minutes. Teams will be allowed to name an 18th player (fifth interchange player) in the squad who can play if three or more players are withdrawn due to failing a head injury assessment (HIA).
Off-field the graduated return to play process that applies after a player has suffered a concussion will be a minimum of 12 days (up from 11 in 2022).
Changes have also been made to the disciplinary process where the periods of suspension for the various grade of offences have been reduced but the use of fines increased.
Results
Table
Play-offs
Team bracket
Week 1: Eliminators
Week 2: Semi-finals
Week 3: Grand Final
Player statistics
Top 10 try scorers RankPlayer (s)ClubTries1 Lachlan Walmsley Halifax Panthers362 Gareth Gale Featherstone Rovers303 Guy Armitage Toulouse Olympique224 Connor Jones Featherstone Rovers21 Ben Jones-Bishop Sheffield Eagles6 Alex Walker London Broncos197 Kieran Gill Bradford Bulls18 Iliess Macani London Broncos Matty Dawson-Jones Sheffield Eagles10 Caleb Aekins Featherstone Rovers17 Joey Leilua
Top 10 goal scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Jake Shorrocks Toulouse Olympique1052 Cory Aston Sheffield Eagles963 Dec Patton Bradford Bulls744 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders685 Louis Jouffret Halifax Panthers626 Josh Rourke Whitehaven RLFC607 Mark Kheirallah Featherstone Rovers598 Oliver Leyland London Broncos589 Dan Abram Swinton Lions4810 Nikau Williams Newcastle Thunder44
Top 10 points scorers RankPlayerClubPoints1 Jake Shorrocks Toulouse Olympique2262 Cory Aston Sheffield Eagles2243 Josh Rourke Whitehaven RLFC1644 Mark Kheirallah Featherstone Rovers1625 Ryan Shaw Barrow Raiders1606 Dec Patton Bradford Bulls1527 Louis Jouffret Halifax Panthers1498 Lachlan Walmsley Halifax Panthers144 Kieran Dixon Widnes Vikings10 Oliver Leyland London Broncos140
Discipline
Red cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 Jarrod Sammut Barrow Raiders1 Brad England Bradford Bulls Jorge Taufua Dan Parker Keighley Cougars Matty Laidlaw Newcastle Thunder Vila Halafihi Sheffield Eagles Sitaleki Akauola Toulouse Olympique Aaron Brown Widnes Vikings
Yellow cards RankPlayerClub Cards1 George Roby Bradford Bulls Swinton Lions4 Jay Chapelhow Newcastle Thunder Danny Craven Widnes Vikings4 Mitch Clark Newcastle Thunder3 Sitaleki Akauola Toulouse Olympique6 Luke Broadbent Barrow Raiders2 Keven Appo Bradford Bulls Mark Kheirallah Featherstone Rovers Bradley Gallagher Newcastle Thunder Brandon Douglas Sheffield Eagles Izaac Farrell Vila Halafihi Lewis Hall Swinton Lions Rhodri Lloyd Ollie Olds Maxime Stefani Toulouse Olympique Ryan King Whitehaven RLFC1877 players -1
Broadcasting The 2023 Championship season was the second of two seasons televised under a broadcasting deal between the Rugby Football League and Premier Media Broadcasting agreed in October 2021. In late 2022, Viaplay Group acquired Premier Media Broadcasting for £30 million, and subsequently took over operations of Premier Media Broadcasting's channels and rebranded them to Viaplay Sports. Viaplay Group broadcast the Championship's Monday evening games, along with two Summer Bash games and all five play-off games, via their Viaplay Sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. All matches broadcast on Viaplay Sports, including the Championship Grand Final, were broadcast on Fox League in Australia throughout the season.
References
External links Betfred Championship at Rugby Football League