The 2013

Championship Cup The Championship Cup, (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), and previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the F ...

, (known for commercial reasons as the

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

Cup), was the 12th and last season of the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football competition for clubs in Great Britain's

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and Championship 1. Leigh beat Sheffield 43-28 in the final, which was played at Halifax's

The Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadiu ...

Format

For 2013, the format of the competition was changed to coincide with the expansion of the

from 10 to 14 teams. The competition began on 3 March with a group stage containing eight teams from the

2013 Championship 1 The 2013 Championship 1, known as the Kingstone Press Championship 1 for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales, the third tier of the sport in the country. The 2013 season will ...

split into two groups. Each team played four games (two home, two away) with three of the games being played against the other teams in the group and the fourth game being played against a team from the other group. Following the completion of the group stage, the teams finishing first in each group progressed to the knock-out stages where they join the 14 teams from the Championship to make up 16 teams. There were three knock-out rounds (play-off, quarter final, semi final) before the final on 20 July 2013 at

in Halifax. The final took place after the inaugural Northern Rail Bowl final, involving the two highest-ranked teams from the group stages.

2013 Competition Results

Group Stage

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Tables

Tables are correct as of 23 April 2013. Source
''rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk''
an
''BBC Sport''

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

Knock-out Stages

Finals Tournament Bracket

Play Off Round

Quarter Final

Semi Final

Finals

Notes

A. Game switched from Thunderdome to Craven Park due to

Stan Calvert Cup The Stan Calvert Cup, formally known as the Stan Calvert Memorial Cup, was an annual varsity contest that took place in Newcastle upon Tyne between the universities of Newcastle University, Newcastle and Northumbria University, Northumbria origin ...

match between

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

and

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

B. Game switched from Thunderdome to

Blaydon RFC Blaydon RFC is an English semi-professional rugby union team. The first team currently play in the fourth tier of the English rugby union system (National League 2 North), having been promoted as champions from North Premier at the end of the ...

due to poor conditions of pitch at Gateshead
C. Match originally postponed on 24 March due to snow

References

External links

RFL website

Northern Rail Cup website

Northern Rail website
{{2013 in Rugby League

National League Cup The Championship Cup, (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), and previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the ...

Championship Cup 2013 in Welsh rugby league