2019 RFL League 1

The 2019 RFL League 1 was a professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales and is the third tier of the sport for Rugby Football League (RFL) affiliated clubs. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred League 1.

2019 League 1
LeagueLeague 1
Duration20 matches
Teams11
2019 Season
ChampionsWhitehaven
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from League 1 Oldham

The league was restructured following a meeting on the RFL clubs in 2018 and League 1 was reduced in size from 14 clubs in 2018 to 12 clubs for 2019. However, on 23 October 2018, Hemel Stags announced that the club was withdrawing from the league for 2019 reducing the number of teams to 11; the RFL indicated that no replacement team is to be sought.[1] The season will consist of 22 rounds with each of the 11 teams playing 20 fixtures against each other home and away and two bye rounds. The team finishing top will win automatic promotion to the 2020 Championship and be named league champions for 2019. The teams finishing second to sixth will meet in a series of play-off games culminating in the League 1 Play-Off Final. The winner of this match will also be promoted to the Championship for 2020.[2]

During the season Coventry Bears were forced to move home fixtures away from Butts Park Arena due to work being undertaken on the pitch by the ground owners, Coventry R.F.C.[3] Two other clubs also played home games at other venues due to pitch works; Doncaster played three games at Featherstone Rovers LD Nutrition Stadium in July and Workington Town played three games, also in July, at their original ground Borough Park (now the home of soccer club Workington A.F.C.).[4][5]

The division was won by Whitehaven who secured the title and the automatic promotion place to the Championship with a 72–0 win over Coventry Bears in the last round of the regular season.[6] Whitehaven were joined in the Championship for 2020 by Oldham who won the play-offs beating Newcastle Thunder 18–14 in the play-off final.

Teams
Locations of the 2019 RFL League 1 teams
Colours Club City Stadium Capacity*
Coventry Bears Coventry, West Midlands Butts Park Arena
Ivor Preece Field
Webb Ellis Ground		 4,000
1,500
1,000
Doncaster Doncaster, South Yorkshire Keepmoat Stadium 15,231
Hunslet Leeds, West Yorkshire South Leeds Stadium 4,000
Keighley Cougars Keighley, West Yorkshire Cougar Park 7,800
London Skolars Haringey, London New River Stadium 2,000
Newcastle Thunder Newcastle, Tyne and Wear Kingston Park 10,200
North Wales Crusaders Wrexham, Wales Queensway Stadium 2,000
Oldham Oldham, Greater Manchester Whitebank Stadium 1,500
West Wales Raiders Llanelli, Wales Stebonheath Park 3,700
Whitehaven Whitehaven, Cumbria Recreation Ground 7,500
Workington Town Workington, Cumbria Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000

*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.

Results
Main article: 2019 RFL League 1 results

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Whitehaven 20 15 2 3 582 283 +299 32 Champions
2 Oldham 20 15 0 5 655 341 +314 30 Play-off semi-final
3 Newcastle Thunder 20 14 1 5 741 364 +377 29 Play-off qualifying final
4 Doncaster 20 12 0 8 564 309 +255 24
5 Hunslet 20 12 0 8 596 379 +217 24 Play-off elimination final
6 Workington Town 20 10 1 9 592 478 +114 21
7 North Wales Crusaders 20 9 0 11 489 501 −12 18
8 London Skolars 20 7 1 12 440 542 −102 15
9 Coventry Bears 20 4 0 16 365 829 −464 8
10 Keighley Cougars 20 8 1 11 447 576 −129 5[lower-alpha 1]
11 West Wales Raiders 20 1 0 19 222 1091 −869 2
Source:
Notes:
  1. Keighley deducted 12 points for transfer of RFL membership during the close season.[7]

Play-offs

The winners of the play-off final will join this season's champions of League 1, Whitehaven, in the Championship in 2020.

References
  1. "Stags to switch focus in 2019". RFL. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  2. "2019 structure explained". Rugby Football League. 14 September 2018. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  3. "Bears move to Rugby for remainder of 2019". Coventry Bears. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  4. "Featherstone Rovers fined by RFL over incidents involving supporters". Yorkshire Evening Post. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  5. "Workington Town 'heading home'". News & Star. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  6. "Whitehaven crowned Betfred League One champions after victory at Coventry Bears". News and Star. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  7. "RFL statement: Keighley Cougars". RFL. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
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