2020 RFL League 1

The 2020 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 were the bookmakers, Betfred and the league continued to be known as the Betfred League 1.

2020 League 1
LeagueLeague 1
DurationPlanned: 22 rounds + play-offs
Actual: 2 rounds
Teams11
2020 Season

The league was to have followed the same structure that was in place for the 2019 season and 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 would have won automatic promotion to the 2021 Championship and be named league champions for 2020. The teams finishing second to sixth were 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 2021.

The season did sees the introduction of golden point extra time but no matches went to extra time before the season was suspended and subsequently abandoned. Extra-time will consist of two periods of five minutes but unlike the version in use in the Super League where winner takes all, in League 1 each team will earn a point for a game where the scores finish level at the end of normal time with a third point awarded to the first team to score during extra-time.[1]

On 16 March the structure and timing of the competition was placed in doubt as all rugby league games were suspended until 3 April at least as part of the United Kingdom's response to the coronavirus pandemic.[2] The suspension of the season was extended to indefinite.[3]

A discussion between the RFL and club officials in May saw seven of the 11 clubs reject a suggestion that the season could recommence with games being played behind closed doors.[4] The RFL board met on 20 July and having consulted with the League 1 clubs decided to abandon the 2020 season as the majority of clubs did not support playing behind closed doors.[5] At the date of suspension only two rounds of matches had been played and the season was declared null and void.[6]

Teams
Locations of the 2020 RFL League 1 teams
Colours Club City Stadium Capacity*
Barrow Raiders Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness 7,600
Coventry Bears Coventry, West Midlands Butts Park Arena 4,000
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
Rochdale Hornets Rochdale, Greater Manchester Spotland Stadium 10,249
West Wales Raiders Llanelli, Wales Stebonheath Park 3,700
Workington Town Workington, Cumbria Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000

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

Results

Round 1

All the ties in round one were due to be played on 15–16 February but all were postponed. Four due to one or both clubs in the tie being involved in rescheduled Challenge Cup third round ties, the original dates having been affected by Storm Ciara.[lower-alpha 1][8] The remaining match (North Wales Crusaders v Doncaster) was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch caused by Storm Dennis.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Newcastle Thunder – West Wales Raiders Postponed[lower-alpha 2] Kingston Park
North Wales Crusaders – Doncaster Postponed[lower-alpha 3] Queensway Stadium
Coventry Bears – Rochdale Hornets Postponed[lower-alpha 4] Butts Park Arena
Keighley Cougars – Hunslet Postponed[lower-alpha 5] Cougar Park
Workington Town – London Skolars Postponed[lower-alpha 6] Derwent Park
Source:
  1. Under the RFL operational rules cup ties take priority over league ties[7]
  2. Postponed as Newcastle were involved in a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February
  3. Postponed due to a waterlogged pitch
  4. Postponed as Rochdale were involved on a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February
  5. Postponed as Keighley were involved in a rescheduled Challenge Cup tie on 16 February. Was rescheduled for 10 May but match was never played
  6. Postponed as both clubs were involved in rescheduled Challenge Cup ties on 16 February

Round 2
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
London Skolars 16–40 North Wales Crusaders 29 February 2020, 14:30 Allianz Park M. Mannifield 223
Coventry Bears 8–28 Newcastle Thunder 1 March 2020, 15:00 Butts Park Arena K. Moore 384
Doncaster 22–32 Barrow Raiders 1 March 2020, 15:00 Keepmoat Stadium B. Pearson 982
West Wales Raiders 10–50 Hunslet 1 March 2020, 15:00 Stebonheath Park N. Horton 282
Workington Town 24–6 Keighley Cougars 1 March 2020, 15:00 Derwent Park T. Crashley 887
Source:[9]

Round 3
Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Attendance
Barrow Raiders 50–6 Coventry Bears 8 March 2020, 15:00 Craven Park A. Sweet 1,253
Doncaster 50–10 West Wales Raiders 8 March 2020, 15:00 Keepmoat Stadium N. Bennett 540
Hunslet 29–6 London Skolars 8 March 2020, 15:00 South Leeds Stadium J. Roberts 501
Newcastle Thunder 30–22 Workington Town 8 March 2020, 15:00 Kingston Park M. Mannifield 873
Rochdale Hornets 29–14 Keighley Cougars 8 March 2020, 15:00 Crown Oil Arena L. Staveley 541
Source:[10]

Standings at date of abandonment
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 Hunslet 2 2 0 0 79 16 +63 0 4
2 Barrow Raiders 2 2 0 0 82 28 +54 0 4
3 Newcastle Thunder 2 2 0 0 58 30 +28 0 4
4 Doncaster 2 1 0 1 72 42 +30 0 2
5 Workington Town 2 1 0 1 46 36 +10 0 2
6 Rochdale Hornets 1 1 0 0 29 14 +15 0 2
7 North Wales Crusaders 2 1 0 1 46 45 +1 0 2
8 London Skolars 1 0 0 1 16 40 −24 0 0
9 Keighley Cougars 2 0 0 2 20 53 −33 0 0
10 Coventry Bears 2 0 0 2 14 78 −64 0 0
11 West Wales Raiders 2 0 0 2 20 100 −80 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on 8 March 2020. Season abandoned on 20 July 2020. Source:

References
  1. "2020 Betfred Championship & League 1 Fixtures revealed". RFL. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  2. "Coronavirus: Rugby Football League suspends season until 3 April". BBC Sport. 16 March 2020.
  3. "Rugby League to stand down staff and players". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3, 219. 30 March 2020. p. 3.
  4. "Championship on the brink of closing for the season". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3, 226. 18 May 2020. p. 3.
  5. "No relegation from Super League in 2020". BBC Sport. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. "Championship and League One null and void". Serious About Rugby League. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. "RFL Operational Rules Tier 1-3 2019". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  8. "Rugby League postponement update". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 9 February 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  9. "Scoreboard:Betfred League 1 Round One [sic]". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3, 215. 2 March 2020. p. 36.
  10. "Scoreboard:Betfred League 1 Round Three". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3, 216. 9 March 2020. p. 36.
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