2022 RFL Championship
| 2022 Betfred Championship | |
|---|---|
| League | Championship |
| Duration | 29 January 2022 – 11 September 2022 |
| Teams | 14 |
| Matches played | 161 |
| Points scored | 7,893 |
| Highest attendance | 7,233 Championship Grand Final |
| Lowest attendance | 385  Sheffield Eagles v  Newcastle Thunder (22 April 2022) |
| Average attendance | 1,480 |
| Attendance | 238,337 |
| Broadcast partners | Premier Sports |
| 2022 season | |
| Promoted to Super League |  Leigh Centurions |
| League Leaders Shield | Leigh Centurions |
| Biggest home win | Leigh Centurions 100–4  York City Knights (21 August 2022) |
| Biggest away win |  Workington Town 0–66 Leigh Centurions (10 July 2022) |
| Promotion and relegation | |
| Promoted from League 1 |  Keighley Cougars  Swinton Lions |
| Relegated to League 1 | Workington Town  Dewsbury Rams |
The 2022 Rugby Football League Championship is a rugby league football competition played in England. It is the second tier of the three tiers of professional rugby league in England, below Super League, and above League 1. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers, Betfred and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred Championship.
The league was won by Leigh Centurions who beat Batley Bulldogs 44–12 in the Grand Final to win promotion to Super League in 2023. Leigh also won the league leaders shield by finishing top of the regular season league table. Dewsbury Rams and Workington Town were relegated from the Championship to play in the 2023 League One.
Rule changes
The RFL approved three rules changes for 2022. On 20 January 2022, The RFL confirmed that scrums will return to all competitions, having been suspended as part of the game's COVID-19 response in 2020 and 2021.[1] Scrums are only being reintroduced for errors (knock-on, forward pass or accidental offside) in the first four tackles of a set. Other cases, where previously a scrum would have been awarded, for example - ball into touch on the full, ball kicked or passed into touch, incorrect play the ball; will result in a handover.[2]
The ball steal law will revert to the 2020 rule where the ball can only be stolen in a one-on-one tackle and not during a multi-person tackle where the additional tacklers have peeled off the tackle before the steal. Finally, injured players will be required to leave the pitch for treatment, if possible, following complaints that stoppages for injury spoil the speed and flow of the game.[3]
Teams
The league comprised 14 teams. The regular season comprised 27 rounds, each teams will play each of the others twice (home and away) with the 21st round, the Summer Bash, seeing seven additional fixtures between the 14 teams played at the same venue, which this year was Headingley stadium in Leeds.[4]
Fixtures and results
Regular season table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leigh Centurions
|
27 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1306 | 208 | +1098 | 52 | Championship Leaders' Shield & advance to play-off semi-final |
| 2 |  Featherstone Rovers
|
27 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 1060 | 468 | +592 | 47 | Advance to play-off semi-final |
| 3 |  Halifax Panthers
|
27 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 837 | 442 | +395 | 40 | Advance to play-off eliminators |
| 4 |  Barrow Raiders
|
27 | 18 | 1 | 8 | 757 | 587 | +170 | 37 | |
| 5 |  Batley Bulldogs
|
27 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 738 | 551 | +187 | 36 | |
| 6 |  York City Knights
|
27 | 18 | 0 | 9 | 677 | 596 | +81 | 36 | |
| 7 | Sheffield Eagles
|
27 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 701 | 660 | +41 | 24 | |
| 8 |  Widnes Vikings
|
27 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 567 | 679 | −112 | 24 | |
| 9 |  Bradford Bulls
|
27 | 11 | 0 | 16 | 523 | 677 | −154 | 22 | |
| 10 |  Whitehaven
|
27 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 488 | 854 | −366 | 19 | |
| 11 |  London Broncos
|
27 | 8 | 1 | 18 | 548 | 740 | −192 | 17 | |
| 12 | Newcastle Thunder
|
27 | 7 | 1 | 19 | 559 | 877 | −318 | 15 | |
| 13 | Dewsbury Rams
|
27 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 385 | 964 | −579 | 7 | Relegated to League 1 |
| 14 | Workington Town
|
27 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 296 | 1139 | −843 | 2 |
End of season awards
- Foundation of the year: Sheffield Eagles
- Club of the year: Barrow Raiders
- Coach of the year: Paul Crarey (Barrow Raiders)
- Young player of the year: Sam Eseh (Featherstone Rovers)
- Player of the year: Edwin Ipape (Leigh Centurions)
Play-offs
The same play-off structure as used in 2021 was used.
Team bracket
| Eliminators | Semi-finals | Grand Final | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Leigh Centurions | 70 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Halifax Panthers | 24 | 6 | York City Knights | 10 | |||||||||
| 6 | York City Knights | 26 | 1 | Leigh Centurions | 44 | |||||||||
| 5 | Batley Bulldogs | 12 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Featherstone Rovers | 28 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Barrow Raiders | 8 | 5 | Batley Bulldogs | 32 | |||||||||
| 5 | Batley Bulldogs | 18 | ||||||||||||
Summary
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||
| Halifax Panthers
|
24–26 | York City Knights
|
18 September 2022, 17:30 | The Shay | J. Vella | 1,850 |
| Barrow Raiders
|
8–18 | Batley Bulldogs
|
18 September 2022, 15:00 | Craven Park | M. Griffiths | 3,595 |
| Source: | ||||||
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||
| Leigh Centurions
|
70–10 | York City Knights
|
25 September 2022, 14:00 | Leigh Sports Village | M. Griffiths | 3,329 |
| Featherstone Rovers
|
28–32 | Batley Bulldogs
|
25 September 2022, 16:00 | Post Office Road | R. Hicks | 4,000 |
| Source: | ||||||
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||
| Leigh Centurions
|
44–12 | Batley Bulldogs
|
2 October 2022, 18:30 | Leigh Sports Village | C. Kendall | 7,233 |
| Source: | ||||||
Broadcasting
The rights to show matches from the Championship was until November 2020 held by Sky TV but the RFL negotiated a new deal with Sky which removed Championship games from the existing contract, and instead the RFL signed a new deal with Premier Sports. This deal resulted in one match from each round being broadcast live on a Monday evening.[5]
References
- ^ "Scrums to return in all competitions for 2022". rugby-league.com. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ Rule Changes for the 2022 season. Rugby Football League. 10 February 2021.
- ^ "RFL board approves law changes for 2022". www.superleague.co.uk. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Betfred Championship Fixtures 2022". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 3303. 15 November 2021. pp. 12–13.
- ^ "Monday night rugby league set for return from 2022". Rugby League News. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.