2012 RFL Championship

Co-operative Championship 2012
LeagueCo-operative Championship
Duration18 Rounds (Followed by 4 round playoffs)
Teams10
Highest attendance2,816 Featherstone Rovers v Keighley Cougars (2 September 2012)[1]
Lowest attendance408 Hunslet Hawks v Leigh Centurions (5 August 2012)[1]
Broadcast partnersPremier Sports
2012 Season
Grand Final winners Sheffield Eagles
League leaders Featherstone Rovers
Runners-up Leigh Centurions
Top point-scorer(s) Liam Finn (247)[1]
Top try-scorer(s) Andy Kain (22)[1]

The 2012 Rugby Football League Championship, also known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, was a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK, one tier below the first tier Super League. The two worst performing teams during the season usually are relegated to Championship 1, however for the 2012 season, no relegation took place, due to the expansion of the Championship to 14 teams in 2013.[2] The winners of the division is decided by a play-off system involving the top 6 teams at the end of the regular season with two teams eventually progressing to the Grand Final. The final was won by Sheffield Eagles, who beat Featherstone Rovers 20–16 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.[3]

There was no automatic promotion from this league to Super League, which uses a licensing system renewed every three years. Qualifying for the Grand Final or winning the Northern Rail Cup is a prerequisite for Championship clubs to be able to apply for a licence in the next round of applications for the 2015–17 seasons.

All of the teams in the 2012 Co-operative Championship also competed in the 2012 Challenge Cup, where they entered in the third round. All of the teams also competed in the 2012 National League Cup which started before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.

  1. ^ a b c d "Stats Centre". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Relegation is scrapped from Championship this campaign". Keighley News. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Featherstone Rovers 16-20 Sheffield Eagles". BBC Sport. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.