The Championship Grand Final (previously the National League One Grand Final) is the championship-deciding game of the

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 ...

competition via the playoffs. Since 2022 the Grand Final has also been used to determine promotion to Super League.

History

1998–2002: Institution

Due to the success of the

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

that was introduced in 1998, the RFL decided to introduce a Grand Final for the second division' with the winner being promoted to Super League rather than the team finishing top being promoted.

2003–2007: Promotion

In 2003 as the Second Division was rebranded National League One and promotion and relegation was reintroduced between the

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 ...

and National League One. Rather than having a traditional one up one down system, the RFL decided to implement a top 6 playoff system that was being used in the Super League at the time to decide promotion.

2008–2014: Licensing

In 2007 it was announced licensing was to be introduced for the 2008 season, replacing promotion and relegation, but the Grand Final would be retained and the division would be rebranded the Championship.

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

and

Celtic Crusaders Crusaders Rugby League ( cy, Croesgadwyr Rygbi'r Gynghrair) was a professional rugby league club based in Bridgend and later in Wrexham, Wales. They played for six seasons in the Rugby Football League competitions, including three years in the ...

were the first teams to be awarded Super League licenses and both teams reached the Grand Final which was reduced to being decided by a 5 team playoff, however it would return to six teams the following season. In 2013, the playoffs were expanded for the first time to eight teams as it had been seen to be a success in the Super League for a number of years before. The eight team playoff would be the last before it was announced the Championship Grand Final would be scrapped in 2014 due to a league restructure in 2015.

2015–2018: Million Pound Game

In 2015 the Championship Grand Final was effectively replaced with the

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual playoff final rugby league game that decides which Championship team will be promoted to Super League the following season. Between 2015 and 2018, the game was played as part of The Qualif ...

. In the new league structure the top 4 Championship clubs would form a mini league with the bottom 4 Super League clubs. Teams finishing in the top three were promoted to Super League while teams in the bottom three were relegated to the Championship, meanwhile teams finishing 4th and 5th would play each other in the Million Pound Game for the final Super League place. In the four years it was contested three Championship clubs competed in it with 2018 being the only time both teams in it were from the Championship.

2022–present: Reintroduction

After scrapping the Super 8s in 2019 the RFL kept the

as the promotion final. For the 2022 season it was decided that the Million Pound Game branding was to be dropped in favour of the Grand Final for the first time since 2014.

Results

Winners

League Leaders

References

External links

{{RFL Championship Championship (rugby league) Recurring sporting events established in 2009 Grand finals