2017 RFL Championship

The 2017 Rugby Football League Championship, known as Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider, is a rugby league football competition predominately played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2017 season was the third to consist of a new structure combining the championship and super league divisions three quarters of the way through the season.

Kingstone Press Championship 2017
LeagueChampionship
Duration23 rounds (followed by a league split into "Super 8's" for 7 more fixtures)
Teams12
Broadcast partnersSky Sports
2017 season
Championship WinnersHull Kingston Rovers
Championship ShieldToulouse Olympique
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from RFL ChampionshipHull Kingston Rovers
Relegated to League 1Bradford Bulls
Oldham

The 2017 Championship featured 12 teams, which all played one another twice in the regular season, once at home, and once away, totalling 22 games. The 2017 season also featured the "Summer Bash Weekend" for a third time. This is a 23rd round of fixtures which replicates Super League's Magic Weekend concept for the Championship sides. After these 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve were split into three divisions of eight, the "Super 8's".

Following the split into the Super 8's, the top four teams in the Championship 2017 joined the bottom four teams of the Super League 2017 in the qualifiers. This group saw each team play each other once each, totalling seven extra games, with points reset to zero for the qualifiers. After seven extra rounds, the top three teams earned a place in the Super League competition for 2018, thus either retaining or earning a place in the top competition. The teams finishing 4th and 5th in the qualifiers played off in an extra fixture, hosted by the fourth-place side, for the final place in the 2018 Super League competition. The loser of this fixture, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th in the qualifiers, were either relegated to or remained in the Championship for the 2018 season.

Teams finishing after 23 rounds between 5th and 12th in the Championship played in the third of the three "Super 8" groups, "The Championship Shield". This saw each team playing each other once more, but with points from the original season retained. Following the additional seven rounds a four-team play-off took place pitting 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners playing each other in the final to win the "Championship Shield". The two teams finishing at the bottom of this group of eight were relegated to the 2018 Kingstone Press League One, being replaced by two promoted teams from the 2017 League 1 competition.

Relegation to League 1 was in place for the 2017 season, with the two bottom teams from "The Championship Shield" group after the split suffering the drop, with promotion to the Super League being available to teams finishing in the top four after 23 rounds. All of the teams in the 2017 Championship also competed in the 2017 Challenge Cup, where they entered in the third round.

Teams

This year's competition featured 12 teams. The teams consisted of nine of the 12 teams from 2016, the champions of the 2016 League 1 season, Rochdale Hornets, and the champion of the Championship 1 playoffs, Toulouse Olympique. Whitehaven and Workington Town, who finished in the bottom two in 2016, were relegated to League One for 2017. In addition to this Hull Kingston Rovers were relegated to the Championship following their loss in the 2017 £1 million match, whilst 2016 Championship winners Leigh Centurions were promoted into Super League for 2017.

The Bradford Bulls went into liquidation in January 2017 but a reformed team were allowed to continue in the Championship with a 12-point penalty.[1]

Legend
  Championship Shield holders
  Promoted from League 1
  Relegated from Super League
West Yorkshire
Greater Manchester
Locations of the 2017 RFL Championship teams
Locations of 2019 RFL Championship teams
Locations of the 2017 RFL Championship teams in West Yorkshire
Locations of the 2017 RFL Championship teams in Greater Manchester
Team and current season Stadium Capacity Location
Batley Bulldogs Fox's Biscuits Stadium 7,500 Batley, West Yorkshire
Bradford Bulls Provident Stadium 27,500 Bradford, West Yorkshire
Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,800 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 8,000 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
Halifax The MBi Shay 14,000 Halifax, West Yorkshire
Hull Kingston Rovers Lightstream Stadium 12,225 Hull, East Yorkshire
London Broncos Trailfinders Sports Ground 3,020 Ealing, London
Oldham Bower Fold 6,500 Stalybridge, Greater Manchester
Rochdale Hornets Spotland Stadium 10,249 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Sheffield Eagles Belle Vue 11,000 Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Swinton Lions Heywood Road 3,387 Sale, Greater Manchester
Toulouse Olympique Stade Ernest-Argelès 4,000 Toulouse, France

Final standings
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Hull Kingston Rovers (X) 23 19 1 3 850 385 +465 39 The Qualifiers
2 London Broncos 23 18 0 5 832 406 +426 36
3 Featherstone Rovers 23 15 1 7 687 421 +266 31
4 Halifax 23 16 0 7 567 357 +210 32
5 Toulouse Olympique 23 15 0 8 720 466 +254 30 Championship Shield
6 Batley Bulldogs 23 11 0 12 549 663 −114 22
7 Sheffield Eagles 23 10 0 13 568 785 −217 20
8 Dewsbury Rams 23 8 0 15 388 736 −348 16
9 Rochdale Hornets 23 7 1 15 457 680 −223 15
10 Swinton Lions 23 6 0 17 477 648 −171 12
11 Oldham 23 5 1 17 410 735 −325 11
12 Bradford Bulls[lower-alpha 1] 23 6 0 17 500 719 −219 0
Updated to match(es) played on 24 July 2017. Source:
(X) League Leaders Shield.
Notes:
  1. Bradford Bulls deducted 12 points on 3 January 2017 for entering administration.
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References
  1. "Bradford Bulls handed twelve-point deduction by RFL". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
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