2018 RFL League 1

The 2018 RFL League 1 was a professional rugby league football competition played in England and Wales and is the third tier of the sport for Rugby Football League (RFL) affiliated clubs.

2018 League 1
LeagueLeague 1
Duration26 matches
Teams14
Highest attendance6,441 Bradford Bulls vs
York City Knights (22 July)
Lowest attendance108 Hemel Stags vs
Doncaster (1 July)
2018 Season
Champions York City Knights
Runners-up Bradford Bulls
Biggest home win144–0 York City Knights v
West Wales Raiders (29 April)[1]
Biggest away win0–130 West Wales Raiders v
York City Knights (11 August)[2]
Top point-scorer(s)Connor Robinson (York City Knights)
388 points (14 tries, 166 goals)[3]
Top try-scorer(s)Ethan Ryan (Bradford Bulls)
34 tries[3]

Even before the end of the 2017 season there were news stories that two of the clubs in the league, Gloucestershire All Golds and Oxford were considering a merger and relocating to Bristol.[4] Uncertainty around this move meant that the structure of League 1 for 2018 was undecided until October 2017 when the merger was confirmed by the RFL who also announced that the new Bristol side would not play in the league in 2018 and the league for 2018 will comprise only 14 clubs.[5]

The format of the season was very different from the 2017 season. There was no Super 8s and the season was of 26 games with each of the 14 teams playing each other home and away. The team finishing top would win automatic promotion to the 2019 Championship and be named league champions for 2018. The teams finishing second to fifth would meet in two play-off semi-finals with the semi-final winners meeting in the League 1 Promotional Final. The winner of the Promotional Final will play in the Championship on 2019. Following a special general meeting of the Rugby Football League on 14 September 2018, the promotion criteria were changed to allow the expansion of the 2019 Championship from 12 clubs to 14 clubs. Two teams would be promoted as previously agreed however the loser of the Promotion Final would have a further chance at promotion in a single-leg play-off against the team finishing bottom of the Championship with the winner playing in the Championship for 2019.[6]

Oldham and Bradford Bulls were relegated from the Championship in 2017. During the close season South Wales Ironmen re-branded as West Wales Raiders following the purchase of the club and a move from Merthyr Tydfil to Llanelli in 2017.[7]

New sponsors for the league were announced in January 2018 and the league was known as the Betfred League 1, a name that will remain until the end of 2019 as the bookmakers, Betfred, extended their sponsorship of rugby league to include the Championship and League 1 as well as Super League.[8]

York City Knights won automatic promotion to the 2019 Championship by beating Whitehaven on the last day of the season and ending the season two points ahead of nearest rivals, Bradford Bulls.[9] Bradford were also promoted after beating Workington Town 27–8 in the promotion final on 7 October 2018. Defeat for Workington gave them a further shot at promotion in a promotion play-off final on 14 October against Swinton Lions, who finished last in the Championship Shield. Swinton had home advantage in the play-off final following a coin toss between the two clubs and retained their Championship status with a 33–20 victory consigning Workington to another season in League 1.

Post season West Wales Raiders were deducted four points for having fielded an ineligible player during two games; with the team having lost all of their fixtures during the season it meant that they ended the season on minus four points.[10]

Teams
Locations of the 2018 RFL League 1 teams
Colours Club City Stadium Capacity*
Bradford Bulls Bradford, West Yorkshire Odsal Stadium 27,500
Coventry Bears Coventry, West Midlands Butts Park Arena 4,000
Doncaster Doncaster, South Yorkshire Keepmoat Stadium 15,231
Hemel Stags Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Pennine Way 2,000
Hunslet Leeds, West Yorkshire South Leeds Stadium 4,000
Keighley Cougars Keighley, West Yorkshire Cougar Park 7,800
London Skolars Haringey, London New River Stadium 2,000
Newcastle Thunder Newcastle, Tyne and Wear Kingston Park 10,200
North Wales Crusaders Wrexham, Wales Queensway Stadium 2,000
Oldham Oldham, Greater Manchester Whitebank Stadium 1,500
West Wales Raiders Llanelli, Wales Stebonheath Park 3,700
Whitehaven Whitehaven, Cumbria Recreation Ground 7,500
Workington Town Workington, Cumbria Zebra Claims Stadium 10,000
York City Knights York, North Yorkshire Bootham Crescent 8,256

*capacity for rugby league games may differ from official stadium capacity.

Results
Main article: 2018 RFL League 1 results

Standings
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 York City Knights 26 24 0 2 1130 308 +822 48 Champions
2 Bradford Bulls 26 23 0 3 1197 282 +915 46 Play-off semi-finals
3 Doncaster 26 19 0 7 956 495 +461 38
4 Workington Town 26 17 0 9 833 517 +316 34
5 Oldham 26 16 0 10 902 325 +577 32
6 Whitehaven 26 16 0 10 702 529 +173 32
7 Hunslet 26 15 0 11 735 596 +139 30
8 Newcastle Thunder 26 14 0 12 841 520 +321 28
9 Keighley Cougars 26 13 0 13 839 657 +182 26
10 North Wales Crusaders 26 9 1 16 589 660 −71 19
11 Coventry Bears 26 7 0 19 406 1058 −652 14
12 London Skolars 26 6 1 19 626 887 −261 13
13 Hemel Stags 26 2 0 24 314 1286 −972 4
14 West Wales Raiders 26 0 0 26 176 2106 −1930 −4[lower-alpha 1]
Source:
Notes:
  1. West Wales Raiders deducted four points post-season for fielding an ineligible player in two matches

References
  1. "York City Knights: League One club secure biggest-ever winning margin of 144-0". BBC Sport. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. "West Wales Raiders 0 York City Knights 130 – player ratings, stats & talking points from another WORLD RECORD". The Press. 12 August 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  3. "League 1 leading scorers (league games only)". Rugby Leaguer & League Express (3, 141). 1 October 2018. p. 13.
  4. "Greenwood leaves Golds post". TotalRL. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  5. "Oxford and Gloucester to join forces". Rugby Football League. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  6. "Betfred Championship and League 1 Structure 2019". Rugby Football League. 14 September 2018. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  7. "New owners for South Wales Ironmen". Wales Rugby League. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  8. "Betfred become title partner of Championship and League 1". Total RL. League Publications. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  9. "York City Knights beat Whitehaven to be crowned Betfred League One CHAMPIONS". The Press. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  10. "West Wales guilty of fielding an ineligible player". 20 December 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
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