The 2016 Rugby Football League Championship, known as Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider, was a rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. The 2016 season was the second to consist of a new structure combining the championship and super league divisions three quarters of the way through the season. The 2016 Championship featured 12 teams, which all played one another twice in the regular season, once at home, and once away, totalling 22 games. The 2016 season also featured the " Summer Bash Weekend" for a second time. This is a 23rd round of fixtures which replicates Super League's Magic Weekend concept for the Championship sides. After these 23 rounds in both the Championship and the Super League, the two divisions of twelve were split into three divisions of eight, the "Super 8's". Following the split into the Super 8's, the top four teams in the Championship 2016 joined the bottom four teams of the Super League 2016 in the qualifiers. This group saw each team play each other once each, totalling seven extra games, with points reset to zero for the qualifiers. After seven extra rounds, the top three teams earned a place in the Super League competition for 2017, thus either retaining or earning a place in the top competition. The teams finishing 4th and 5th in the qualifiers played off in an extra fixture, hosted by the fourth-place side, for the final place in the 2017 Super League competition. The loser of this fixture, along with teams finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th in the qualifiers, were either relegated to or remained in the Championship for the 2017 season. Teams finishing after 23 rounds between 5th and 12th in the Championship played in the third of the three "Super 8" groups, "The Championship Shield". This saw each team playing each other once more, but with points from the original season retained. Following the additional seven rounds a four-team play-off took place pitting 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, with the winners playing each other in the final to win the new "Championship Shield". The two teams finishing at the bottom of this group of eight were relegated to the 2017 Kingstone Press League One, being replaced by two promoted teams from the 2016 League 1 competition. Relegation to League 1 was in place for the 2016 season, with the two bottom teams from "The Championship Shield" group after the split suffering the drop, with promotion to the

being available to teams finishing in the top four after 23 rounds. All of the teams in the 2016 Championship also competed in the

2016 Challenge Cup The 2016 Challenge Cup, (also known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th staging of the Challenge Cup the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a ...

, where they entered in the third round.

Teams

This year's competition featured 12 teams. The teams consisted of ten of the 12 teams from

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, the champion of the

2015 Championship 1 The 2015 Championship 1, known as the Kingstone Press League 1 for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England, the third tier of the sport in the country. The 2015 Championship 1 will featur ...

season,

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, and the champion of the Championship 1 playoffs,

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known s ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and

Hunslet Hawks Hunslet R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in Hunslet, South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, who play in Betfred League 1. The club was founded in 1973 as New Hunslet, they became Hunslet in 1979 and the club were the Hunslet Hawks ...

, who finished in the bottom two in 2015, were relegated to League One for 2016.

Table

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rfl Championship 2016 in English rugby league 2016 in Welsh rugby league Rugby Football League Championship

Teams

Table

See also

References

External links