2014 championship p&r

[warrior poet]

even though i'm a kiwi and have never been to england, i'm interested in the english 2nd tier (more so than nsw/qld cup) as there's more history attached to it.
With the new superleague structure from next year i'm trying to follow who is likely to be in the new superleague next year. Obviously the 14 current superleague teams will be there (i'm predicting london and wakefield to be the 2 teams relegated to sl2).
I know that the bottom 5 championship clubs will be relegated to championship 1 with the championship 1 champs being promoted to sl (not fair on the 5 relegated in my opinion... the champ1 champions should have to playoff against the 5 relegated in a series with the winner going up... just an outsiders opinion)

so looking at the teams

championship:
barrow, batley, dewsbury, doncaster, featherstone, halifax, keighley, leigh, north wales, rochdale, sheffield, swinton, whitehaven, workington

championship 1:
gateshead, gloucestershire, hemel, skolars, hunslet, oldham, oxford, south wales, york
(weren't coventry bears supposed to be in champ1 this year? what happened to them?)

I can't see there being much change this year i terms of performance (from what i've read) so i would think that superleague2 2015 would be
featherstone, sheffield, halifax, leigh, batley, doncaster, dewsbury, workington, whitehaven and oldham (as championship 1 champs) plus london and wakefield as the relegated teams

which would mean that champ1 2015 (or whatever it ends up being called) would consist of:
gateshead, gloucestershire, hemel, hunslet, skolars, oxford, south wales, york, swinton, keighley, barrow, north wales, rochdale (plus coventry if their entries been delayed by another year)

Also would a 13 (or 14) team championship1 work? If not who would be relegated out of the pro ranks? Could they create two 12-team championship divisions? (with coventry and 1 relegated team... gloucestershire?) If so who are the 10 strongest non-professional teams? Would toulouse be accepted to sl? If they do who else gets relegated? What division do they start in?

What is going to happen to the non-superleague clubs? All i've heard is no extra money being added (so they can't develop the clubs better!) and possible promotion to superleague 2? It would be sad if clubs like rochdale and swinton were forgotten about (or ended up becoming another bramley buffaloes and being lost to the pro-ranks)

 

[JasonE]

I think Featherstone Rovers and Leigh will be favourites to progress up to SL.

 

[roughyedspud]

it'll be a while before a championship team replaces a super league team imo

 

[CC_Roosters]

it'll be a while before a championship team replaces a super league team imo

Once it gets into the swing of things after maybe 2 seasons i can see a couple of clubs turning into yo-yo clubs. Wakefield and the like are candidates to interchange between 1st and 2nd tier.

 

[bowes]

When Toulouse come in it will be at the SL2/Championship level, but it won't be 2015 (basically the format means they'd just go straight down if they were fast tracked) but the difference to last time is they'll be allowed to outspend the French Elite clubs.

Promotion and relegation will be 2-up-2-down between SL2/Championship and Championship 1 (or whatever it will be called).

They'll go with 14 teams but not everyone will play home and away. Not everyone will play home and away, they'll have most of the northern clubs play most of the southern clubs only once rather than home and away to reduce it to maybe 20 or 22 fixtures. Long term the plan is 2 divisions, but split north and south.

Coventry Bears' application was largely ignored by the RFL until it was too late for 2014 (due to uncertainty over the restructuring) but they're certainties for 2015 from what I hear. Their Under 19s have already been accepted into the new Championship South Under 19 academy in preparation

I also wouldn't bet against North Wales Crusaders avoiding the bottom 5

 

[Big Sam]

Question: will the 2014 winner of the Championship play in the 2015 12-team SL?

 

[Evil Homer]

Question: will the 2014 winner of the Championship play in the 2015 12-team SL?

No.

 

[roughyedspud]

and theres no such thing as SL2 so get that nipped in the bud straight away

 

[CC_Roosters]

When Toulouse come in it will be at the SL2/Championship level, but it won't be 2015 (basically the format means they'd just go straight down if they were fast tracked) but the difference to last time is they'll be allowed to outspend the French Elite clubs.

Promotion and relegation will be 2-up-2-down between SL2/Championship and Championship 1 (or whatever it will be called).

They'll go with 14 teams but not everyone will play home and away. Not everyone will play home and away, they'll have most of the northern clubs play most of the southern clubs only once rather than home and away to reduce it to maybe 20 or 22 fixtures. Long term the plan is 2 divisions, but split north and south.

Coventry Bears' application was largely ignored by the RFL until it was too late for 2014 (due to uncertainty over the restructuring) but they're certainties for 2015 from what I hear. Their Under 19s have already been accepted into the new Championship South Under 19 academy in preparation

I also wouldn't bet against North Wales Crusaders avoiding the bottom 5

I have crusaders beating the drop for sure. Dewsbury shocked Featherstone at the weekend so looks like a unpredictable season to come

 

[warrior poet]

and theres no such thing as SL2 so get that nipped in the bud straight away

...so what is the second group of 12 teams in the super league competition called then? (and what is the first group of 12 called?). just curious because i haven't heard it called anything other than sl2 in media reports

 

[roughyedspud]

theres not a "2nd group of 12 teams in the super league competiton"...the 2nd 12 teams are in the championship

super league - 12 teams
championship - 12 teams
championship 1 - 14 teams


thats that...nothing is being rebranded and theres defo no SL2

 

[warrior poet]

ok didn't realise the second group of 12 before the split into 3 groups of 8 was still going to be called the championship.
do you think they should rebrand?, just to make it more obvious that the superleague and championship are connected and that championship 1 is not part of the 3 groups of 8? (maybe superleague premiership, superleague championship with the 3 groups becoming the superleague cup, shield and bowl... with championship 1 becoming the RFL Plate or something similar)

 

[roughyedspud]

no its fine the way its branded as it is.....theres been too much effing about as it is..

 

[deal.with.it]

Why did the championship clubs come out and say that they were waiting for a marketing plan from the RFL before they announced the restructure so it wouldnt be referred to as SL1 & 2.
I'm not sure its a done deal in the naming (ie SL, C & C1)

 

[bowes]

Logically Championship 1 would need renaming under the restructure as it no longer can be claimed as one competition with the Championship