2014 Championship 1

The 2014 Championship 1, known as the Kingstone Press Championship 1 for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in England, the third tier of the sport in the country.

2014 Championship 1
League	Championship 1
Duration	20 matches
Teams	9
2014 Season
Champions	Hunslet Hawks
League Leaders	York City Knights
← 2013 2015 →

One team was promoted from Championship 1, due to the restructure of Super League and the Championship, The top five sides contested the play-offs and the winner was promoted. There is no relegation from this league as it is the lowest tier of professional rugby league.

The only cup competition the teams competed in was the 2014 Challenge Cup after the Northern Rail Cup was scrapped for 2014.

2014 structure

The competition featured the seven teams that did not win promotion at the end of 2012 Championship 1: Gateshead Thunder, Gloucestershire All Golds, Hemel Stags, London Skolars, Oldham, Oxford Rugby League and South Wales Scorpions. The two new teams to the division for 2014 were Hunslet Hawks and York City Knights, who were relegated from the RFL Championship.

Team & current season	2013 Position	Stadium	Capacity	Location
Gateshead Thunder	7th	Thunderdome	11,800	Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Gloucestershire All Golds	9th	Prince of Wales Stadium	480	Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Hemel Stags	5th	Pennine Way	2,000	Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Hunslet Hawks	13th (Championship)	South Leeds Stadium	4,000	Hunslet, West Yorkshire
London Skolars	4th	New River Stadium (March to May) Queen Elizabeth II Stadium (May to August)	5,000 2,500	Haringey, London Enfield, London
Oldham	2nd	Whitebank Stadium	1,500 (temporary capacity)	Limeside, Oldham, Greater Manchester
Oxford RLFC	6th	Iffley Road	500	Oxford, Oxfordshire
South Wales Scorpions	8th	Llynfi Road	6,000	Maesteg, Bridgend, Wales
York City Knights	14th (Championship)	Huntington Stadium	3,428	York, North Yorkshire

Season table

2014 Championship 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	York City Knights	20	17	3	0	738	367	+371	3	54	Qualified for play-offs
2	Hunslet Hawks	20	15	5	0	716	249	+467	4	49	Qualified for promotion
3	Oldham	20	15	4	1	675	457	+218	1	48	Qualified for play-offs
4	Gateshead Thunder	20	11	9	0	615	576	+39	3	36
5	Hemel Stags	20	8	10	2	482	521	−39	5	33
6	Gloucestershire All Golds	20	8	12	0	446	616	−170	5	29
7	London Skolars	20	5	15	0	471	647	−176	9	24
8	Oxford RLFC	20	7	12	1	493	679	−186	1	24
9	South Wales Scorpions	20	2	18	0	304	828	−524	4	10

Source: rugbyleaguechampionships.co.uk and Rugby League Project.
Rules for 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^[1]

Season results

Main article: 2014 Championship 1 season results

The regular league season was played over 24 rounds. Each of the nine teams played each other twice (one home, one away), played four additional matches, and had four byes.^[2] At the end of the season, five teams contested a playoff for a place in the new Championship structure. Five clubs were relegated to the Championship 1 from the Championship.^[3]