2010 RFL Championship

The 2010 Rugby Football League Championship is known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group.

Co-operative Championship 2010
The Co-operative Championship logo
LeagueCo-operative Championship
Duration22 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams11
Highest attendance3,686
Widnes vs. Halifax (18 Mar)
Lowest attendance835
Sheffield vs. Dewsbury (19 Mar)
Average attendance1,771 Increase
Attendance53,130 Increase
Broadcast partnersSky Sports
2010 Season
Champions Halifax
League leaders Featherstone Rovers
Runners-up Halifax
Promotion and relegation
Relegated to Championship 1 Whitehaven
Keighley Cougars

The 2010 Co-operative Championship is a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the United Kingdom and France one tier below the first tier Super League. The two worst performing teams during the season, with the exception of Toulouse Olympique, will be relegated to Championship 1.

There is no automatic promotion from this league to Super League, which uses a licensing system renewed every three years. Qualifying for the grand final or winning the Northern Rail Cup is a prerequisite for Championship clubs to be able to apply for license in the next round of applications for the 2012–14 period.

All of the teams in the 2010 Co-operative Championship will also compete in the 2010 Challenge Cup where they will enter in the third round. All of the teams, with the exception of Toulouse Olympique will compete in the 2010 Northern Rail Cup which starts before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.

Featherstone Rovers finished the league in first place after the regular season but were beaten by Halifax in the grand final 23-22

Teams

This competition features mostly the same teams as it did in 2009. The Dewsbury Rams and Keighley Cougars were promoted from the 2009 Championship One. The Leigh Centurions and Doncaster were meant to be relegated. However, the chairman of Gateshead Thunder wound up the club and they were reformed by the community. This breach of insolvency laws caused them to be relegated and allowed Leigh to stay in the Co-operative Championship.

Legend
  Reigning champions
  Defending Northern Rail Cup Champions
Team & Current Season Stadium Capacity Location
Barrow Raiders Craven Park 7,600 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
Batley Bulldogs Mount Pleasant 6,000 Batley, West Yorkshire
Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 3,500 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 6,750 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
Halifax The Shay Stadium 6,561 Halifax, West Yorkshire
Keighley Cougars RLFC Cougar Park 6,800 Keighley, West Yorkshire
Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
Sheffield Eagles Bramall Lane 32,702 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Toulouse Olympique XIII (2010 Toulouse Olympique season) Stade des Minimes 4,066 Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France
Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
Widnes Vikings (2010 Widnes Vikings season) Stobart Stadium Halton 13,500 Widnes, Cheshire

Rule changes

Player safety in tackle

The RFL announced two new rule interpretations intended to increase player safety in the tackle:[1]

  • Referees will now call "held" if one of the ball-carrier's legs is lifted by a defender in a tackle in which the participants are stood upright.[1] Previously, a referee would only declare the tackle complete if both legs had been lifted.[1]
  • Referees will now call held as soon as they see the ball carrier being dragged by more than one defender.[1] This will prevent groups of defenders dragging an opponent into touch or the in-goal area.[1]

Salary cap
  • The salary cap for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship has been reduced from £400,000 to £300,000[2]

Fair Play Index

The Fair Play Index was launched in 2007 as part of The RFL's new Official partnership with Frontline Bathrooms. The Fair Play Index (known as the Frontline Fair Play Index through sponsorship) will be putting standards of discipline under the spotlight throughout the 2010 Co-operative Championship campaign.

At the end of the regular season the teams that finish top of the Frontline Fair Play Index will be presented with a specially engraved trophy and £5,000 prize from Frontline Bathrooms.

2010 Fair Play Index
2010 Frontline Fair Play Index
# Team Pen Sin Off Ban Pts
1 Widnes 4500045
2 Leigh Centurions 4600046
3 Sheffield Eagles 4420050
4 Keighley Cougars 5300053
4 Featherstone Rovers 5010053
6 Whitehaven 5701061
7 Batley Bulldogs 6110065
7 Halifax 5920065
7 Dewsbury Rams 6210065
10 Toulouse Olympique 6600171
11 Barrow Raiders 6110484
Source:"2010 Co-Operative Championship Fairplay Index". The RFL. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010. Note: Stats are correct as of Round 7 of the Co-Operative Championship on 16 April 2010.

Disciplinary record

The following table lists all incidents that were reviewed by the Rugby Football League during 2010 Co-Operative Championship, which were later deemed guilty and resulted in disciplinary action. The offenses were graded, depending on severity, in alphabetical order, "A" being less severe than "B".

Disc date Name of player Grade Offense Suspension Fine Source
23 March 2010 Gareth Haggerty C Use of forearm on player not in possession of the ball in 56th minute (Barlow). 4 matches £50 Report
31 March 2010 Brendan Worth B Head butting in 20th minute. 1 match £50 Report

Notable moments

December 2009

  • 18 Dec - Keighley Cougars (Cougars (2001) Ltd) appeared in court in Leeds after an unpaid tax bill of £183,000 forced them into administration. However, the club was saved from being wound up after local businessmen sealed a deal to purchase the club and restart under the name of Keighley Cougars (2010) Ltd.[3]

February 2010

March 2010

  • 15 Mar - All Co-Operative championship clubs agree to a special Easter Bank Holiday weekend family ticket that gives matchday admission to two adults and two children for just £25.[7]
  • 17 Mar - The Co-operative Group announced that Jamie Rooney has signed alongside Paul Sculthorpe to form part of their 2010 ambassador line-up.[8]
  • 18 Mar - Widnes Vikings set a new highest attendance record for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season. 3,686 fans were in attendance to witness the Widnes Vikings take on Halifax RLFC at the Stobart Stadium Halton.[9]
  • 19 Mar - A new record low attendance for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season is set. Only 835 fans attended the round 3 fixture between Sheffield Eagles and Dewsbury Rams at the Don Valley Stadium.[10]
  • 23 Mar - Gareth Haggerty is suspended for 4 matches and fined £50 by the RFL disciplinary panel. Haggerty was found guilty of a category C offence for "use of forearm on a player not in possession of the ball".[11] Haggerty was put on report during the clash between Sheffield Eagles and Widnes Vikings at the Don Valley Stadium when an off the ball incident between Haggerty and Sam Barlow was not witnessed by the referee.

May 2010

  • 6 May - Featherstone Rovers 100% unbeaten record for the 2010 Co-Operative Championship season came to an end when they were beaten at home 24 - 26 by Touoluse. Featherstone has started the season by winning 8 consecutive league games.

League table
2010 Co-operative Championship
# Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Bns Pts
1 Featherstone Rovers 201802735334+401256
2 Halifax 201604684509+175250
3 Leigh Centurions 201217580403+177543
4 Barrow Raiders 201217607449+158139
5 Widnes Vikings 201109619488+131538
6 Sheffield Eagles 201019503555-52135
7 Batley Bulldogs 207013479488-9829
8 Toulouse Olympique 208012486649-163327
9 Dewsbury Rams 206014454503−49826
10 Whitehaven 204016281707−426416
11 Keighley Cougars 204115362703-341510
  Teams qualifying for the Play-offs
  Teams in relegation position
This table is correct as of 16 September 2010 (6:12pm).

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150717201708/http://www.rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk/match_day/league_table

Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.

Competition points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.

Play-offs
The 2010 Co-Operative Championship play-off structure.
The 2010 Co-Operative Championship play-off structure.

The play-offs commence following the conclusion of 22 round regular season and include the top six sides from the league.

The 2010 play-offs culminate in a grand final to be held at Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington, home of Super League side Warrington Wolves.

The Co-operative Championship uses a top-6 play-off system.

Preliminary semi-finals
Home Score Away Match information
Date and time Venue Referee Attendance
Leigh Centurions 24 – 26 Sheffield Eagles 2 September, 19:30 GMT Leigh Sports Village 1,516
Barrow Raiders 38 – 0 Widnes Vikings 5 September, 15:00 GMT Craven Park 2,434

Qualifying and minor semi-final
Home Score Away Match information
Date and time Venue Referee Attendance
Featherstone Rovers 46 – 16 Halifax 9 September, 19:30 BST Post Office Road Robert Hicks 2,553
Barrow Raiders 14 – 21 Sheffield Eagles 10 September, 20:00 BST Craven Park Gareth Hewer 2,231

Major semi-final
Home Score Away Match information
Date and time Venue Referee Attendance
Halifax 42 – 16 Sheffield Eagles 16 September 2010, 19:30 BST The Shay Robert Hicks 1,490

Grand final
Home Score Away Match information
Date and time Venue Referee Attendance
Featherstone Rovers 22 – 23* Halifax 26 September, 17:30 BST Halliwell Jones Stadium Robert Hicks 9,443
*Halifax won in extra time via the golden point rule.

Attendances
Team Played Highest Lowest Total Average
1 Widnes Vikings 103,6862,65930,2053,021
2 Halifax 104,7951,72525,0902,509
3 Leigh Centurions 103,3921,26520,1802,018
4 Featherstone Rovers 102,3531,35319,1201,912
5 Barrow Raiders 102,0721,32817,1701,717
6 Toulouse Olympique 102,50085014,3801,438
7 Sheffield Eagles 102,87183513,0801,308
8 Dewsbury Rams 101,93585011,9501,195
9 Keighley Cougars 101,60273610,8301,083
10 Batley Bulldogs 101,83768910,5801,058
11 Whitehaven 101,5805049990999
Playoffs 69,4431,49019,6673,278
Total1169,443504202,2421,743

See also

References
  1. "New rule interpretations for 2010". rugbyleague.com. 2010-01-15. Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  2. "Co-operative Championship salary cap to be lowered for 2010". Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  3. "Administration is confirmed for Cougars". Keighley News. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  4. "Soap girls add splash of glamour to Championship launch". Yorkshire Post. Archived from the original on 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  5. "Cougars hit with nine-point deduction". Telegraph & Argus. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  6. "Official Match Report - Round 1 - Widnes vs Keighley". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  7. "Co-operative Championship clubs offer Easter deal". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
  8. "The Rugby Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  9. "Official Match Report - Round 3 - Widnes vs Halifax". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  10. "Official Match Report - Round 3 - Sheffield vs Doncaster". The RFL. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  11. http://www.therfl.co.uk/about/disciplinary_item.php?id=1678%5B%5D
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