The 2014 Rugby Football League Championship, known as the Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The 2014 season was the second and final season to consist of a 14-team division following the expansion of the league in 2013.[1]

Kinstone Press Championship 2014
LeagueChampionship
Duration26 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams14
Broadcast partnersPremier Sports
2014 Season

Relegation to Championship 1 was in place for the 2014 season, along with the play-offs with the format for the play-offs remaining the same with no promotion to the Super League. With two Super League teams relegated in 2014 and the Championship reduced to 12 teams in 2015, as part of the reform of the leagues, five teams were relegated at the end of the regular season with one team promoted at the end of 2014 Championship 1.[2]

Teams

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The competition featured 12 of the 14 teams from 2013 plus the Champions and Play-off winner of the 2013 Championship 1 season, which were North Wales Crusaders and Rochdale Hornets. Hunslet Hawks and York City Knights, who finished in the bottom two in 2013 were relegated into Championship 1.

Legend
  Reigning champions
  Defending Northern Rail Cup Champions
  Promoted
Team & Current Season Stadium Capacity Location
  Barrow Raiders Craven Park 7,600 Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
  Batley Bulldogs loverugbyleague.com Stadium 6,000 Batley, West Yorkshire
  Dewsbury Rams Tetley's Stadium 5,100 Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
  Doncaster Keepmoat Stadium 15,231 Doncaster, South Yorkshire
  Featherstone Rovers Bigfellas Stadium 6,750 Featherstone, West Yorkshire
  Halifax The Shay Stadium 6,561 Halifax, West Yorkshire
  Keighley Cougars Cougar Park 7,800 Keighley, West Yorkshire
  Leigh Centurions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
  North Wales Crusaders Racecourse Ground 10,500 (15,500 with The Kop open) Wrexham, Wales
  Rochdale Hornets Spotland 10,249 Rochdale, Greater Manchester
  Sheffield Eagles Owlerton Stadium 4,000 Sheffield, South Yorkshire
  Swinton Lions Leigh Sports Village 12,700 Leigh, Greater Manchester
  Whitehaven Recreation Ground 7,500 Whitehaven, Cumbria
  Workington Town Derwent Park 10,000 Workington, Cumbria

Season Standings

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2014 RFL Championship
# Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Bns Pts
1   Leigh Centurions 26 25 0 1 1024 396 +628 1 76
2   Featherstone Rovers 26 18 1 7 871 532 +339 5 61
3   Halifax 26 16 2 8 714 504 +210 6 58
4   Doncaster 26 17 1 8 643 599 +44 4 57
5   Sheffield Eagles 26 16 0 10 790 605 +185 6 54
6   Dewsbury Rams 26 15 0 11 669 585 +84 6 51
7   Workington Town 26 12 1 13 467 524 -57 10 48
8   Batley Bulldogs 26 12 1 13 582 573 +9 7 45
9   Whitehaven 26 13 0 13 592 666 -74 6 45
10   Keighley Cougars 26 12 0 14 587 601 -14 8 44
11   North Wales Crusaders 26 7 0 19 468 709 -241 10 31
12   Rochdale Hornets 26 7 0 19 509 919 -410 4 25
13   Swinton Lions 26 5 0 21 570 865 -295 9 24
14   Barrow Raiders 26 4 0 22 462 870 -408 7 19
  Teams qualifying for the Play-offs
  Teams in relegation position
This table is correct as of 01/10/2014.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150717201708/http://www.rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk/match_day/league_table

Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.

Competition points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.[3]

Season Results

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The regular league season saw the 14 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) over 26 matches. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season went through to the play-offs to determine the winners of the Championship.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Relegation is scrapped from Championship this campaign". Keighley News. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Kingstone Press Championships clubs prepare for kick off". Rugby League Championships. 10 February 2014. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Points System". Rugby League Championships. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
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