League 1 Cup

The League 1 Cup was a knockout cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League for the third division of rugby league in Britain. The cup was contested by the British League 1 teams, as well as two teams from the National Conference League.[1] The final took place on the same weekend as The Summer Bash, and was the first game of the weekend to be played.

iPro Sport Cup
Current season or competition:
2017 League 1 Cup
SportRugby league
Instituted2015
Number of teams16
Country England
 Wales (RFL)
Holders Barrow Raiders (1st title)
Most titles Barrow Raiders
Keighley Cougars
North Wales Crusaders (1 title)
WebsiteOfficial Site
Related competitionLeague 1
NCL

In 2017 it was announced the League 1 Cup would be retired after just three seasons.

History

In 2013 the Championship Cup was decommissioned after 12 seasons and the Challenge Cup became the only cup competition available to the Championships. In 2015, as part of the new structure a new cup competition was to be introduced, but only available to League 1 clubs and two clubs invited from the National Conference League.[2] The first final was played as the opening game of The Summer Bash at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool.

In 2017 the Rugby Football League (RFL) confirmed the 16 League 1 clubs had voted to scrap the League 1 Cup, mainly due to it interfering with the domestic league season. The last winners were Barrow Raiders.

Format

The first round of the League 1 Cup is split into two pools; Northern regions and South and Midlands regions, all the League 1 clubs and any National Conference League (NCL) clubs invited to enter to make the number of teams up to 16 enter at this stage. A draw is made at the beginning of each round to determine fixtures.

In the first year of the cup, 2015, there were only 14 clubs in League 1 so two NCL clubs were invited to play in the competition. In 2016 and 2017 although there were 16 clubs in League 1, the non-UK based clubs; Toulouse Olympique (2016) and Toronto Wolfpack (2017); decided not to enter the cup so one NCL club was invited to play in their stead.

Other than a regional based first round to reduce travel costs, the cup is a knock-out competition with no seeding. Only the final is played at a neutral venue.

  • First Round: 16 clubs enter
  • Second Round: Last 8
  • Semi Finals: Last 4.
  • Final: Played at Bloomfield Road

Cup Finals
YearWinnersScoreRunner–upVenueAttendance
2015 North Wales Crusaders12–8 Swinton LionsBloomfield Road, Blackpool8,650[note 1]
2016 Keighley Cougars22–18 York City Knights9,521[note 1]
2017 Barrow Raiders38–32 North Wales Crusaders11,557[note 1]
  1. Attendance figure is the total for day 1 of the Summer Bash, not the number of spectators present when the game was played.

Winners
Club Wins Last win Runners-up Last final lost
North Wales Crusaders1201512017
Keighley Cougars120160N/A
Barrow Raiders120170N/A
Swinton Lions0N/A12015
York City Knights0N/A12016
  • GOLD = current holders

Sponsorship

In February 2015, the Rugby Football League (RFL) announced a 3-year deal with isotonic soft drink company iPro for the competition to be been known as the iPro Sport Cup.[1]

The official rugby ball supplier was Steeden.[3]

Period Sponsor Name
2015-2017 iPro iPro Sport Cup

References
  1. "The iPro Sport Cup". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  2. "iPro Sport Cup". Rugby Football League. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  3. https://www.rugby-league.com/article/54111/steeden-become-official-match-ball-partner
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