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 Championship 1 | |
|---|---|
 Championship 1 logo | |
| League | Championship 1 |
| Duration | 18 games each |
| Teams | 10 |
| Attendance | 71,166 (average 791) [1] |
| 2009 Season | |
| Playoff Winners |  Keighley Cougars |
| Champions |  Dewsbury Rams |
| Runners-up | Keighley Cougars |
2009 Structure
edit| Championship 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 2008 Season | Stadium | Capacity | City/Area |
 Blackpool Panthers
|
9th | Woodlands Memorial Ground | 9,000 | Lytham St Annes, Lancashire |
| Dewsbury Rams
|
11th (National League One) |
Crown Flatt | 5,100 | Dewsbury, West Yorkshire |
 Hunslet Hawks
|
12th | South Leeds Stadium | 4,000 | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
| Keighley Cougars
|
5th | Cougar Park | 7,800 | Keighley, West Yorkshire |
 London Skolars
|
11th | New River Stadium | 5,000 | Haringey, London |
 Oldham
|
3rd | Boundary Park | 10,368 | Oldham, Greater Manchester |
 Rochdale Hornets
|
7th | Spotland Stadium | 10,249 | Rochdale, Greater Manchester |
 Swinton Lions
|
10th | Park Lane | 3,000 | Swinton, Greater Manchester |
 Workington Town
|
8th | Derwent Park | 10,000 | Workington, Cumbria |
 York City Knights
|
6th | Huntington Stadium | 3,428 | York, 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 [2].
Table
editThree 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.
| Position | Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts for | Pts agst | Pts diff | B.P. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dewsbury Rams
|
18 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 760 | 233 | 537 | 0 | 54 |
| 2 | Keighley Cougars
|
18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 539 | 415 | 124 | 3 | 42 |
| 3 | York City Knights
|
18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 589 | 360 | 229 | 4 | 40 |
| 4 | Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 618 | 449 | 169 | 4 | 35 |
| 5 | Blackpool Panthers
|
18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 565 | 456 | 76 | 5 | 33 |
| 6 | Hunslet Hawks
|
18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 472 | 411 | 61 | 3 | 33 |
| 7 | Swinton Lions
|
18 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 513 | 516 | −3 | 3 | 27 |
| 8 | Rochdale Hornets
|
18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 500 | 557 | −57 | 6 | 15(a) |
| 9 | Workington Town
|
18 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 281 | 700 | −419 | 5 | 11 |
| 10 | London Skolars
|
18 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 210 | 927 | −717 | 2 | 5 |
a: Rochdale were docked 9 points for going into administration.
Play-offs
editChampionship 1 uses a top 6 play-off system.
Elimination semi-finals
edit| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||||
| Blackpool Panthers
|
18–21 | Hunslet Hawks
|
13 September, 15:00 GMT | Woodlands Memorial Ground | Craig Halloran | 543 | ||
| Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
31–26 | Swinton Lions
|
13 September, 15:00 GMT | Boundary Park | Matthew Thomasson | 745 | ||
Qualification and elimination matches
edit| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||||
| Keighley Cougars
|
32–18 | York City Knights
|
20 September, 15:00 GMT | Cougar Park | Ronnie Laughton | 1,501 | ||
| Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
54–30 | Hunslet Hawks
|
20 September, 15:00 GMT | Boundary Park | Jamie Leahy | 801 | ||
Final qualifiers
edit| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||||
| York City Knights
|
14–44 | Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
27 September, 15:00 GMT | Huntington Stadium | Phil Bentham | 1,164 | ||
Grand Final
edit| Home | Score | Away | Match information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Venue | Referee | Attendance | |||||
| Keighley Cougars
|
28–26 | Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
4 October, 15:05 GMT | Halliwell Jones Stadium | Ronnie Laughton | 11,398 | ||
2009 Attendances
edit| Team | Played | Highest | Lowest | Total | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dewsbury Rams
|
9 | 2,103 | 912 | 11,381 | 1,265 |
| 2 | York City Knights
|
10 | 3,106 | 629 | 11,469 | 1,147 |
| 3 | Keighley Cougars
|
10 | 1,726 | 534 | 9,898 | 989 |
| 4 | Oldham R.L.F.C.
|
11 | 1,419 | 745 | 10,710 | 974 |
| 5 | Rochdale Hornets
|
9 | 1,249 | 480 | 6,139 | 682 |
| 6 | Hunslet Hawks
|
9 | 1019 | 412 | 5,747 | 639 |
| 7 | Blackpool Panthers
|
8 | 975 | 280 | 4,139 | 517 |
| 8 | Swinton Lions
|
9 | 705 | 369 | 4,610 | 512 |
| 9 | Workington Town
|
6 | 693 | 353 | 3070 | 512 |
| 10 | London Skolars
|
9 | 1,156 | 215 | 4003 | 445 |
| Total | 90 | 11,398 | 215 | 82,564 | 907 |
– 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.