The Rugby Football League Championship Second Division was founded in 1902 and was the second tier of professional rugby league in the UK until 2003. During the 1990s a third division was established and there is automatic promotion between the second and third division.

History

The Second Division was formed in 1902 by splitting the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

into two divisions of 18. After three seasons the Second Division was abolished and not resurrected until 1962. Two seasons later in 1964 the Second Division was scrapped for the second time. The division was resurrected again in 1973 and has been played every season since. During the 1991-92 season, a third division was established and, for the first time, two teams were relegated. There was no regular relegation from the Second Division until 2003. In 1995, in anticipation for 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 ...

starting in 1996, six teams were relegated from the

, five were relegated to the Second Division and one was relegated to form the Third Division. Controversy was caused as

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

, who finished 4th in the Second Division, were elected to the Championship ahead of

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

and

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. In 2003, the divisions under

were reorganised into the National Leagues with Second and Third Divisions becoming National League One and National League Two.

Results

Winners

*§ ''Denotes club now

defunct Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is t ...

References

External links

{{British and Irish Rugby League links Rugby league competitions in the United Kingdom Rugby Football League Rugby Football League Championship