The 2022 RFL League 1 is a professional

rugby league football Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playing field, field measur ...

competition played in

the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and is the third tier of the sport for

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

(RFL) affiliated clubs. The sponsors for the league are the bookmakers,

Betfred Betfred is a bookmaker based in the United Kingdom, founded by Fred Done.Pronounced to rhyme with "bone". It was first established as a single betting shop in Ordsall, Salford, in 1967. Its turnover in 2004 was reported to be more than £3.5 bi ...

and the league will continue to be known as the Betfred League 1.

Rule changes

The RFL approved three rules changes for 2022. On 20 January 2022, The RFL confirmed that scrums will return to all competitions, having been suspended as part of the game's COVID-19 response in 2020 and 2021. The ball steal law will revert to the 2020 rule where the ball can only be stolen in a one-on-one tackle and not during a multi-person tackle where the additional tacklers have peeled off the tackle before the steal. Finally, injured players will be required to leave the pitch for treatment, if possible, following complaints that stoppages for injury spoil the speed and flow of the game.

Teams

2022 was due to see the second professional rugby league team in Canada, Ottawa Aces, join League 1 and increase the number of teams in the division to 11. However, in October 2021 the company behind the Ottawa club announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club would relocate to the United Kingdom. The following month, the club's new home and name were announced with the team to be called Cornwall RLFC and be based in

Penryn, Cornwall Penryn (; kw, Pennrynn, meaning 'promontory') is a civil parish and town in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is on the Penryn River about northwest of Falmouth. The population was 7,166 in the 2001 census and had been reduced to ...

. Also in October 2021, Coventry Bears was rebranded as Midlands Hurricanes and would for 2022 be leaving

Butts Park Arena Butts Park Arena is a multi-use sports stadium in Spon End, Coventry, England. Its main use is as a rugby stadium (both union and league). It is the home ground for Coventry R.F.C. (since its opening) and was the home of Midlands Hurricanes (wh ...

in Coventry to play at Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C.'s Portway ground south of Birmingham. Oldham, who were relegated from the Championship, relocated to the Vestacare Stadium for 2022.

Stadiums and locations

Fixtures and results

The season will comprise 22 rounds with each of the 11 teams playing each other home and away. The fixture list was released on 13 November 2021. Promotion was confirmed with two clubs to be promoted to the 2023 Championship but play-off details are still to be announced.

Regular season table

References

{{League 1 RFL League 1 League 1 League 1