RFU Championship

Championship Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:; 2023–24 RFU Championship
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1987
Administrator	RFU
No. of teams	12
Countries	England; Jersey
Most recent; champion(s)	Jersey Reds (1st title) ; (2022–23)
Most titles	Bristol Bears (4 titles)
Level on pyramid	Level 2
Promotion to	Premiership Rugby
Relegation to	National League 1
Domestic cup(s)	Premiership Rugby Cup
Official website	championshiprugby.co.uk

The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players.[1][2] The competition has existed since 1987, when English clubs were first organised into leagues.[3]

Organisation and format

The Championship is governed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU).[4] The current competition format is a double round-robin tournament, where teams play each other home and away. The 2022–23 season had no playoff phase, and no team was promoted to the Premiership as Jersey Reds did not meet the minimum standards criteria.[5]

Current league table

2023–24 RFU Championship Table

Club

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points for

Points against

Points diff

Try bonus

Losing bonus

Points

1

Ealing Trailfinders

1

0

41

21

20

1

0

5

2

Nottingham

1

0

44

31

13

1

0

5

3

Ampthill

1

0

28

26

2

1

0

5

4

Cornish Pirates

1

0

21

0

21

0

4

5

Doncaster Knights

1

0

20

18

2

0

4

6

Cambridge

1

0

1

26

28

-2

1

2

7

Hartpury

1

0

1

18

20

-2

0

1

8

Caldy

1

0

1

31

44

-13

1

0

1

9

Coventry

0

10

Bedford Blues

1

0

1

21

41

-20

0

11

London Scottish

1

0

1

0

21

-21

0

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

Green background Champions (qualify for Promotion play-off if eligible).
Red background will be relegated (there is no relegation this season).
Updated: 21 October 2023
Source: "The Championship". England Rugby.

Current teams

London

Locations of the 2023–24 RFU Championship teams

London Scottish

Ealing Trailfinders

Locations of the 2022–23 RFU Championship teams in London

Club	Stadium	Capacity	Area
Ampthill	Dillingham Park	3,000	Ampthill, Bedfordshire
Bedford Blues	Goldington Road	5,000 (1,700 seats)	Bedford, Bedfordshire
Caldy	Paton Field	4,000	Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside
Cambridge	Grantchester Road	1,250 (200 seats)	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Cornish Pirates	Mennaye Field	4,000 (2,200 Seats)	Penzance, Cornwall
Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000 (3,000 seats)	Coventry, West Midlands
Doncaster Knights	Castle Park	5,000 (1,650 seats)	Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Ealing Trailfinders	Trailfinders Sports Ground	4,000 (2,200 Seats)	West Ealing, London
Hartpury University	Alpas Arena	2,000	Hartpury, Gloucestershire
Jersey Reds	Stade Santander International	4,000 (200 Seats)	Saint Peter, Jersey
London Scottish	Athletic Ground	4,500 (1,000 seats)	Richmond, London
Nottingham	Lady Bay Sports Ground	3,500	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

History

Precursor competitions (1987–2009)

The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports.[6][7]

The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport's amateurism regulations: competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players.[8]

When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 season, the second level was known as 'Courage League National Division Two'. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season.

Name of second-level competition	First season	Last season
Courage League National Division Two	1987–88	1996–97
Allied Dunbar Premiership Two	1997–98	1999–2000
National Division One	2000–01	2008–09

Origins (2008)

In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.

Level of men's rugby	Name of competition in 2008–09	Name of competition in 2009–10	Number of teams in 2008–09	Number of teams in 2009–10
Level 1	Guinness Premiership	Guinness Premiership	12	12
Level 2	National Division One	RFU Championship	16	12
Level 3	National Division 2	National League 1	14	16

To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as 'National Division 2' in 2008–09 and to be known as 'National League 1' in 2009–10.

Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership (Level 1 to Level 2), one team would be promoted to the Premiership (Level 2 to Level 1), and one team would be promoted from National Division 2 (Level 3 to Level 2).

The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.

Promotion to the Premiership

Automatic promotion to the Premiership has not been a consistent feature of the RFU Championship. A playoff tournament was used to decide promotion between the 2009–10 and 2016–17 seasons, as well as in the 2020–21 season.

In seasons without a promotion playoff (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20), the team at the top of the league was automatically promoted to the Premiership.[9]

Season	Number of playoff teams
2009–10	8
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13	4
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18	No play-offs
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21	2
2021–22	No play-offs
2022–23

The RFU plans to reintroduce possible promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season, by means of a play-off between the top placed team in the Championship and the bottom placed side in the Premiership.[10]

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 season to be prematurely ended. Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively.[11]

The 2020–21 season was impacted by the aforementioned pandemic and as a consequence, a shorter season kicked off in spring 2021. The reduced season saw each team play each other once only with the top two teams entering a two-legged promotion playoff. There was no relegation due to cancellation of National League 1.[12]

In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22.[13] The moratorium was extended for a further two years in June 2021 and also could include promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season if there was promotion in the previous season. There was also no relegation from the Championship in 2021–22.

Competition funding

The RFU Championship clubs were in dispute with the RFU over funding for the competition and claimed that each club was owed £77,000 for the past three seasons, and will be owed a further £120,000 over the next four seasons. The clubs believed they should have received £295,000 in 2009–10, rising to £400,000 by 2015–16 and further believe there was a breach of contract on the part of the RFU. The RFU stated that the original funding was an estimate and by 2015–16 the figure will be £359,400.[14] When the RFU announced the hiatus of promotion play-offs, it also announced funding increases from both itself and the Premiership, including a new system which ties some of the new funding to each Championship side's performance in the league season.[9] The extra funding provided prior to 2016–17 was removed prior to the 2020–21 season.[15][16]

Sponsorship

For sponsorship reasons, the competition was officially known as the Greene King IPA Championship between the 2013–14 and 2020–21 seasons.[17]

Historic results

Courage League National Division Two (1987–1997)

1980s

Season	Matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams
1987–88	11	Rosslyn Park	Liverpool St Helens	No relegation
1988–89	11	Saracens	Bedford	London Scottish and London Welsh
1989–90	11	Northampton	Liverpool St Helens	No relegation[a 1]
Green background are promotion places.

1990s

Season	Matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams
1990–91	12	Rugby	London Irish	Richmond and Headingley
1991–92	12	London Scottish	West Hartlepool	Plymouth Albion, Liverpool St Helens
1992–93	12	Newcastle Gosforth	Waterloo	Bedford, Rosslyn Park, Richmond, Blackheath, Coventry, Fylde, Morley
1993–94	18	Sale	West Hartlepool	Rugby, Otley
1994–95	18	Saracens	Wakefield	Fylde, Coventry
1995–96	18	Northampton	London Irish	No relegation[a 2]
1996–97	22	Richmond	Newcastle	Rugby, Nottingham
Green background are promotion places.

Allied Dunbar Premiership Two (1997–2000)

1990s

Season	Matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams
1997–98	22	Bedford	West Hartlepool[a 3]	No relegation[a 4]
1998–99	26	Bristol	Rotherham	Blackheath and Fylde
1999–00	26	Rotherham	Leeds Tykes	Rugby and West Hartlepool
Green background are promotion places.

National Division One (2000–2009)

2000s

Season	Matches	Champions	Runners–up	Relegated teams
2000–01	26	Leeds Tykes	Worcester	Orrell and Waterloo
2001–02	26	Rotherham	Worcester	Henley and Bracknell
2002–03	26	Rotherham	Worcester	Moseley, Rugby Lions
2003–04	26	Worcester	Orrell	Wakefield, Manchester
2004–05	26	Bristol	Exeter	Orrell, Henley
2005–06	26	Harlequins	Bedford Blues	No relegation[a 5]
2006–07	30	Leeds Tykes	Earth Titans	Otley, Waterloo
2007–08	30	Northampton Saints	Exeter Chiefs	Pertemp Bees, Launceston
2008–09	30	Leeds Tykes	Exeter Chiefs	Esher, Sedgley Park, Newbury, Otley, Manchester
Green background are promotion places.