2024 RFL Championship

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.

Team changes

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.

Structure changes

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]

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]

Following a review of the league structure below Super League, the RFL announced that by the start of the 2026 season, the Championship and League 1 would be equalised in size at 12 teams each. The first step will be to reduce the Championship from 14 clubs to 13 at the end of the 2024 season. This will be achieved by the bottom two clubs being relegated to League 1 but only the League 1 champions being promoted. The team finishing third-bottom this season will play the team winning the League 1 play-offs for the 13th spot in the 2025 Championship.^[3]

Rule changes

A number of changes have been introduced for 2024.^[4]

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.^[5]

Clubs

West Yorkshire

Barrow

Doncaster

Sheffield

Swinton

Whitehaven

Widnes

York

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Locations of English teams competing in the 2024 Championship.

Bradford

Batley

Dewsbury

Wakefield

Featherstone

Halifax

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Locations of the 2024 RFL Championship teams in West Yorkshire

Toulouse

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Locations of 2024 RFL Championship teams in France

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

Results

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Wakefield Trinity	5	5	0	0	188	50	+138	10	League Leaders Shield and qualify for semi-finals
2	Sheffield Eagles	5	5	0	0	164	84	+80	10	Semi-finals
3	Widnes Vikings	5	4	0	1	160	70	+90	8	Eliminators
4	Featherstone Rovers	5	3	0	2	128	92	+36	6
5	Bradford Bulls	5	3	0	2	98	103	−5	6
6	Toulouse Olympique	5	2	0	3	108	81	+27	4
7	Swinton Lions	5	2	0	3	96	82	+14	4
8	Doncaster	5	2	0	3	104	140	−36	4
9	Barrow Raiders	5	2	0	3	78	139	−61	4
10	Halifax Panthers	5	2	0	3	66	135	−69	4
11	Whitehaven	5	2	0	3	73	145	−72	4
12	Batley Bulldogs	5	1	0	4	73	112	−39	2	Play-off v League 1 play-off winners
13	Dewsbury Rams	5	1	0	4	82	129	−47	2	Relegation to League One
14	York Knights	5	1	0	4	79	135	−56	2

Broadcasting

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.

References