The 2016 Rugby Football League Championship, known as Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider, was a rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2016 season was the second to consist of a new structure combining the championship and super league divisions three quarters of the way through the season.

Kingstone Press Championship 2016
LeagueChampionship
Duration23 rounds (followed by a league split into "Super 8's" for 7 more fixtures)
Teams12
Broadcast partnersSky Sports
2016 season
Championship winners Leigh Centurions
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from RFL Championship Leigh Centurions
Relegated to League 1 Workington Town
Whitehaven

The 2016 Championship featured 12 teams, which all played one another twice in the regular season, once at home, and once away, totalling 22 games. The 2016 season also featured the "Summer Bash Weekend" for a second time. This is a 23rd round of fixtures which replicates Super League's Magic Weekend concept for the Championship sides. After these 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve were split into three divisions of eight, the "Super 8's".

Following the split into the Super 8's, the top four teams in the Championship 2016 joined the bottom four teams of the Super League 2016 in the qualifiers. This group saw each team play each other once each, totalling seven extra games, with points reset to zero for the qualifiers. After seven extra rounds, the top three teams earned a place in the Super League competition for 2017, thus either retaining or earning a place in the top competition. The teams finishing 4th and 5th in the qualifiers played off in an extra fixture, hosted by the fourth-place side, for the final place in the 2017 Super League competition. The loser of this fixture, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th in the qualifiers, were either relegated to or remained in the Championship for the 2017 season.

Teams finishing after 23 rounds between 5th and 12th in the Championship played in the third of the three "Super 8" groups, "The Championship Shield". This saw each team playing each other once more, but with points from the original season retained. Following the additional seven rounds a four-team play-off took place pitting 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners playing each other in the final to win the new "Championship Shield". The two teams finishing at the bottom of this group of eight were relegated to the 2017 Kingstone Press League One, being replaced by two promoted teams from the 2016 League 1 competition.

Relegation to League 1 was in place for the 2016 season, with the two bottom teams from "The Championship Shield" group after the split suffering the drop, with promotion to the Super League being available to teams finishing in the top four after 23 rounds. All of the teams in the 2016 Championship also competed in the 2016 Challenge Cup, where they entered in the third round.

Teams

edit

This year's competition featured 12 teams. The teams consisted of ten of the 12 teams from 2015, the champion of the 2015 Championship 1 season, Oldham, and the champion of the Championship 1 playoffs, Swinton Lions. Doncaster and Hunslet Hawks, who finished in the bottom two in 2015, were relegated to League One for 2016.

Legend
  Reigning Champions
  Championship Shield holders
  Promoted
  Relegated
Team and current season Stadium Capacity Location
  Batley Bulldogs Fox's Biscuits Stadium 7,500 Batley, West Yorkshire
  Bradford Bulls Provident Stadium 27,000 Bradford, West Yorkshire
  Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,800 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
  Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 8,000 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
  Halifax The MBi Shay 14,000 Halifax, West Yorkshire
  Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
  London Broncos Trailfinders Sports Ground 3,176 Ealing, London
  Oldham Bower Fold 6,500 Stalybridge, Greater Manchester
  Sheffield Eagles SHU Sports Park 3,000 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
  Swinton Lions Heywood Road 5,400 Sale, Greater Manchester
  Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
  Workington Town Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000 Workington, Cumbria
 
 
West Yorkshire
 
Greater Manchester
Locations of the 2016 RFL Championship teams
Locations of the 2016 RFL Championship teams in West Yorkshire
Locations of the 2016 RFL Championship teams in Greater Manchester

Table

edit
Pos Club P W D L For Agst Diff Points Qualification
1   Leigh Centurions 23 21 1 1 881 410 471 43 The Qualifiers
2   London Broncos 23 17 0 6 702 444 258 34
3   Batley Bulldogs 23 15 1 7 589 485 104 31
4   Featherstone Rovers 23 15 0 8 595 384 211 30
5   Bradford Bulls 23 13 2 8 717 446 271 28 Championship Shield
6   Halifax 23 13 1 9 615 484 131 27
7   Sheffield Eagles 23 8 0 15 583 617 -34 16
8   Dewsbury Rams 23 8 0 15 486 603 -117 16
9   Swinton Lions 23 7 1 15 449 813 -364 15
10   Oldham R.L.F.C. 23 7 0 16 401 678 -277 14
11   Workington Town 23 5 1 17 455 756 -301 11
12   Whitehaven 23 5 1 17 367 720 -335 11

See also

edit

References

edit
edit