Rugby Football League Championship

Not to be confused with the current Rugby League Championship, currently known as the Kingstone Press Championship due to sponsorship by Kingstone Press Cider.

RFL Championship

Founded	1895
Country	England
Other club(s) from	France
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Championship
Domestic cup(s)	Challenge Cup
International cup(s)	World Club Series
Current champions	Leeds Rhinos (10th Tiltle)
Most championships	Wigan Warriors (20 Titles)
TV partners	Sky Sports
Website	[1]
Current: Super League XX

The Rugby Football League Championship was the major professional competition organised by the Rugby Football League in Great Britain. In 1996 it was superseded by the Super League and the Rugby League National Leagues. Winning Super League is still regarded as winning the championship, hence for completeness this article includes championships from the Super League era.

History

The first season of rugby league (1895–96) saw all the breakaway clubs play in a single league competition. The addition of new teams and the problems of travelling led to the league being split in two for the following season; into the Yorkshire League and the Lancashire League. This arrangement lasted until the 1901-02 season, when the top clubs from each league resigned and formed a single new competition. The following season the remaining clubs in the Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues were re-organised to form a second division.

In 1905-06 the two divisions were re-combined into a single competition. Clubs played all the teams in their own county on a home-and-away basis, results counting towards the re-formed Yorkshire and Lancashire Leagues. They also organised inter-county fixtures on an individual basis; all results were collated into a single table for the Championship. In order to even up the competition a top-four play-off series was used to determine the Championship.

Apart from the interventions of the two world wars, this system was retained until the 1962-63 season, when the league briefly returned to a two divisional system. This lasted only two years, and in the 1964-65 season they returned to one large division subdivided into county leagues. The play-offs were expanded to the top 16 teams and the Harry Sunderland Trophy was introduced as the man-of-the-match award for the decider.

In the 1973-74 season they once again went back to two divisions. The play-off and the Yorkshire and Lancashire League were abandoned, and a new play-off type competition, the Premiership, was introduced.

In 1996 the championship was replaced by the Super League. The remaining clubs later went on to form the Rugby League Championships.

League Leaders and Champions

Season	Final Information			League Leaders
	Champions	Score	Runners-up
1895–96	N/A	N/A	N/A	Manningham
1896–97				Regional Leagues
1897–98				Regional Leagues
1898–99				Regional Leagues
1899–00				Regional Leagues
1900–01				Regional Leagues
1901–02				Broughton Rangers
1902–03				Halifax
1903–04				Bradford F.C.
1904–05				Oldham
1905–06				Leigh
1906–07				Halifax
1907–08	Hunslet	12-7	Oldham	Oldham
1908–09	Wigan	7-3	Oldham	Wigan
1909–10	Oldham	13-7	Wigan	Oldham
1910-11	Oldham	20-7	Wigan	Wigan
1911–12	Huddersfield	13-5	Wigan	Huddersfield
1912–13	Huddersfield	29-2	Wigan	Huddersfield
1913–14	Salford	5-3	Huddersfield	Huddersfield
1914–15	Huddersfield	35-2	Leeds	Huddersfield
1918–19	N/A	N/A	N/A	Regional Leagues
1919–20	Hull	3-2	Huddersfield	Huddersfield
1920–21	Hull	16-14	Hull Kingston Rovers	Hull Kingston Rovers
1921–22	Wigan	13-2	Oldham	Oldham
1922–23	Hull Kingston Rovers	15-5	Huddersfield	Hull
1923–24	Batley	13-7	Wigan	Wigan
1924–25	Hull Kingston Rovers	9-5	Swinton	Swinton
1925–26	Wigan	22-10	Warrington	Wigan
1926–27	Swinton	13-8	Pilkington Recs	Pilkington Recs
1927–28	Swinton	11-0	Featherstone Rovers	Swinton
1928–29	Huddersfield	2-0	Leeds	Huddersfield
1929–30	Huddersfield	10-2	Leeds	St Helens
1930–31	Swinton	14-7	Leeds	Swinton
1931–32	St Helens	9-5	Huddersfield	Huddersfield
1932–33	Salford	15-5	Swinton	Salford
1933–34	Wigan	15-3	Salford	Salford
1934–35	Swinton	14-3	Warrington	Swinton
1935–36	Hull	21-2	Widnes	Hull
1936–37	Salford	13-11	Warrington	Salford
1937–38	Hunslet	8-2	Leeds	Hunslet
1938–39	Salford	8-6	Castleford	Salford
1939–40	N/A	N/A	N/A	Regional Leagues
1940–41				Regional Leagues
1941–42				Dewsbury
1942–43				Wigan
1943–44				Wakefield Trinity
1944–45				Bradford Northern
1945–46				Wigan
1946–47				Wigan
1947–48	Warrington	15-5	Bradford Northern	Wigan
1948–49	Huddersfield	13-12	Warrington	Warrington
1949–50	Wigan	20-2	Huddersfield	Wigan
1950–51	Workington Town	26-11	Warrington	Warrington
1951–52	Wigan	13-6	Bradford Northern	Bradford Northern
1952–53	St Helens	24-14	Halifax	St Helens
1953–54	Warrington	8-7	Halifax	Halifax
1954–55	Warrington	7-3	Oldham	Warrington
1955–56	Hull	10-9	Halifax	Warrington
1956–57	Oldham	14-15	Hull	Oldham
1957–58	Hull	20-3	Workington Town	Oldham
1958–59	St Helens	44-22	Hunslet	St Helens
1959–60	Wigan	27-3	Wakefield Trinity	St Helens
1960–61	Leeds	25-10	Warrington	Leeds
1961–62	Huddersfield	14-5	Wakefield Trinity	Wigan
1962–63	N/A	N/A	N/A	Swinton
1963–64				Swinton
1964–65	Halifax	15-7	St Helens	St Helens
1965–66	St Helens	35-12	Halifax	St Helens
1966–67	Wakefield Trinity	21-7	St Helens	Leeds
1967–68	Wakefield Trinity	17-10	Hull Kingston Rovers	Leeds
1968–69	Leeds	16-14	Castleford	Leeds
1969–70	St Helens	24-12	Leeds	Leeds
1970–71	St Helens	16-12	Wigan	Wigan
1971–72	Leeds	9-5	St Helens	Leeds
1972–73	Dewsbury	22-13	Leeds	Warrington
1973–74	N/A	N/A	N/A	Salford
1974–75				St Helens
1975–76				Salford
1976–77				Featherstone Rovers
1977–78				Widnes
1978–79				Hull Kingston Rovers
1979–80				Bradford Northern
1980–81				Bradford Northern
1981–82				Leigh
1982–83				Hull
1983–84				Hull Kingston Rovers
1984–85				Hull Kingston Rovers
1985–86				Halifax
1986–87				Wigan
1987–88				Widnes
1988–89				Widnes
1989–90				Wigan
1990–91				Wigan
1991–92				Wigan
1992–93				Wigan
1993–94				Wigan
1994–95				Wigan
1995–96				Wigan
1996				St Helens
1997				Bradford
1998	Wigan	10-4	Leeds	Wigan
1999	St Helens	8-6	Bradford	Bradford
2000	St Helens	29-16	Wigan	Wigan
2001	Bradford	37-6	Wigan	Bradford
2002	St Helens	29-18	Bradford	St Helens
2003	Bradford	25-12	Wigan	Bradford
2004	Leeds	16-8	Bradford	Leeds
2005	Bradford	15-6	Leeds	St Helens
2006	St Helens	26-4	Hull	St Helens
2007	Leeds	33-6	St Helens	St Helens
2008	Leeds	24-16	St Helens	St Helens
2009	Leeds	18-10	St Helens	Leeds
2010	Wigan	22-10	St Helens	Wigan
2011	Leeds	32-16	St Helens	Warrington
2012	Leeds	26-18	Warrington	Wigan
2013	Wigan	30-16	Warrington	Huddersfield
2014	St Helens	14-6	Wigan	St Helens
2015	Leeds	22-20	Wigan	Leeds

Winners

	Club	Wins	Winning Years
1	Wigan Warriors	20	1908/09, 1921/22, 1925/26, 1933/34, 1945/46, 1946/47, 1949/50, 1951/52, 1959/60, 1986/87, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1998, 2010, 2013
2	St. Helens	13	1931/32, 1952/53, 1958/59, 1965/66, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1974/75, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2014
3	Leeds Rhinos	10	1960/61, 1968/69, 1971/72, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
4	Huddersfield Giants	7	1911/12, 1912/13, 1914/15, 1928/29, 1929/30, 1948/49, 1961/62
5	Swinton Lions	6	1926/27, 1927/28, 1930/31, 1934/35, 1962/63, 1963/64
6	Salford Red Devils	6	1913/14, 1932/33, 1936/37, 1938/39, 1973/74, 1975/76
7	Hull F.C.	6	1919/20, 1920/21, 1935/36, 1955/56, 1957/58, 1982/83
8	Bradford Bulls	6	1979/80, 1980/81, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005
9	Hull KR	5	1922/23, 1924/25, 1978/79, 1983/84, 1984/85
10	Oldham Roughyeds	4	1904/05, 1909/10, 1910/11, 1956/57
11	Halifax	4	1902/03, 1906/07, 1964/65, 1985/86
12	Warrington Wolves	3	1947/48, 1953/54, 1954/55
13	Widnes Vikings	3	1977/78, 1987/88, 1988/89
14	Hunslet	2	1907/08, 1937/38
15	Wakefield Wildcats	2	1966/67, 1967/68
16	Leigh Centurions	2	1905/06, 1981/82
17	Broughton Rangers	1	1901/02
18	Manningham	1	1895/96
19	Bradford P.A.	1	1903/04
20	Batley Bulldogs	1	1923/24
21	Workington Town	1	1950/51
22	Dewsbury Rams	1	1972/73
23	Featherstone Rovers	1	1976/77

Note. In the event of a tie, the team that won x amount of titles first is given preference.

See also

• Rugby League Premiership
• Rugby Football League Championship Second Division
• Rugby Football League Championship Third Division
• Super League
• Kingstone Press Championship
• All Four Cups