2009 Championship 1 was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the United Kingdom, the third tier of the sport in the country. The winner of this league will be promoted to the Co-operative Championship. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league in the UK.

2009 Structure

Championship 1
Team2008 SeasonStadiumCapacityCity/Area
Blackpool Panthers9thWoodlands Memorial Ground9,000Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
Dewsbury Rams11th (National League One)Crown Flatt5,100Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Hunslet Hawks12thSouth Leeds Stadium4,000Leeds, West Yorkshire
Keighley Cougars5thCougar Park7,800Keighley, West Yorkshire
London Skolars11thNew River Stadium5,000Haringey, London
Oldham3rdBoundary Park10,368Oldham, Greater Manchester
Rochdale Hornets7thSpotland Stadium10,249Rochdale, Greater Manchester
Swinton Lions10thPark Lane3,000Swinton, Greater Manchester
Workington Town8thDerwent Park10,000Workington, Cumbria
York City Knights6thHuntington Stadium3,428York, North Yorkshire

The Dewsbury Rams were easily the best team throughout the regular season. They won all their games and finished on top of the table, 12 points ahead of the second placed Keighley Cougars. The Rochdale Hornets were stripped of six competition points for going into administration and had to be reformed by local fans .

Table

Three points were awarded for a win, one point for a draw. Bonus points were awarded (one point per game) to losing teams where the margin of defeat was 13 points or less.

PositionClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPts forPts agstPts diffB.P.Points
1Dewsbury Rams181800760233537054
2Keighley Cougars181305539415124342
3York City Knights181206589360229440
4Oldham R.L.F.C.181017618449169435
5Blackpool Panthers1891856545676533
6Hunslet Hawks18100847241161333
7Swinton Lions188010513516−3327
8Rochdale Hornets186012500557−57615(a)
9Workington Town182016281700−419511
10London Skolars181017210927−71725

a: Rochdale were docked 9 points for going into administration.

Play-offs

Championship 1 uses a top 6 play-off system.

Elimination semi-finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch information
Date and timeVenueRefereeAttendance
Blackpool Panthers18–21Hunslet Hawks13 September, 15:00 GMTWoodlands Memorial GroundCraig Halloran543
Oldham R.L.F.C.31–26Swinton Lions13 September, 15:00 GMTBoundary ParkMatthew Thomasson745

Qualification and elimination matches

HomeScoreAwayMatch information
Date and timeVenueRefereeAttendance
Keighley Cougars32–18York City Knights20 September, 15:00 GMTCougar ParkRonnie Laughton1,501
Oldham R.L.F.C.54–30Hunslet Hawks20 September, 15:00 GMTBoundary ParkJamie Leahy801

Final qualifiers

HomeScoreAwayMatch information
Date and timeVenueRefereeAttendance
York City Knights14–44Oldham R.L.F.C.27 September, 15:00 GMTHuntington StadiumPhil Bentham1,164

Grand Final

HomeScoreAwayMatch information
Date and timeVenueRefereeAttendance
Keighley Cougars28–26Oldham R.L.F.C.4 October, 15:05 GMTHalliwell Jones StadiumRonnie Laughton11,398

2009 Attendances

TeamPlayedHighestLowestTotalAverage
1Dewsbury Rams92,10391211,3811,265
2York City Knights103,10662911,4691,147
3Keighley Cougars101,7265349,898989
4Oldham R.L.F.C.111,41974510,710974
5Rochdale Hornets91,2494806,139682
6Hunslet Hawks910194125,747639
7Blackpool Panthers89752804,139517
8Swinton Lions97053694,610512
9Workington Town66933533070512
10London Skolars91,1562154003445
Total9011,39821582,564907

– Crowd figures could not be found for all games. – The final will be played at a neutral venue and thus will not be included in the averages of any team.

See also