Champ Rugby

Format

The fourteen teams each play one another twice (once at home and once away), the results of the matches contribute points to the league table with points awarded as follows: 4 for a win, 2 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, although a team can earn 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer and another for scoring 4 or more tries in a match. The top six teams enter the play-offs to determine the league champion, with 1st and 2nd earning home semi-finals and 3rd to 6th contesting quarter-finals; the winner then faces the bottom team in the 2025–26 Premiership for a chance at promotion. The teams finishing 12th and 13th play a one-leg match, with the loser then facing the National League 1 runner-up to decide who remains in the Championship. The 14th-placed team is automatically relegated to National League 1 and replaced by that league's champion.

Current league table

Current teams

History

Precursor competitions (1987–2009)

The governing body for rugby union in England, the RFU, first allowed league hierarchies in 1987. This came nearly a century after leagues were first established in football and cricket, England's other two principal team sports.

The RFU's reluctance to allow leagues was based on a perceived threat to the sport's amateurism regulations: competitive leagues were seen as making clubs more likely to use incentives to attract and retain the best players.

When formalised leagues were finally permitted in the 1987–88 season, the second level was known as 'Courage League National Division Two'. The league has since had several different names before becoming the RFU Championship in the 2009–10 season.

Origins (2008)

In November 2008, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) published a plan for a new professional tier below the Premiership. The 12-team Championship replaced the 16-team National Division One.

To enable Level 2 to transition from 16 teams to 12, the RFU proposal called for five teams to be relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. The relegated teams would play in the third level of rugby, known as 'National Division 2' in 2008–09 and to be known as 'National League 1' in 2009–10.

Additionally, one team would be relegated from the Premiership (Level 1 to Level 2), one team would be promoted to the Premiership (Level 2 to Level 1), and one team would be promoted from National Division 2 (Level 3 to Level 2).

The RFU Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new proposal, and the first Championship season started the following year, in 2009.

RFU Championship (2009–2025)

Promotion to the Premiership

Automatic promotion to the Premiership has not been a consistent feature of the RFU Championship. A playoff tournament was used to decide promotion between the 2009–10 and 2016–17 seasons, as well as in the 2020–21 season.

In seasons without a promotion playoff (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20), the team at the top of the league was automatically promoted to the Premiership.

The RFU plans to reintroduce possible promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season, by means of a play-off between the top placed team in the Championship and the bottom placed side in the Premiership.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 season to be prematurely ended. Final standings were based on a "best playing record formula" and promotion and relegation remained for the 1st and 12th placed clubs respectively.

The 2020–21 season was impacted by the aforementioned pandemic and as a consequence, a shorter season kicked off in spring 2021. The reduced season saw each team play each other once only with the top two teams entering a two-legged promotion playoff. There was no relegation due to cancellation of National League 1.

In February 2021, a moratorium on relegation from the Premiership into the Championship was approved and it was confirmed that the RFU were working on a review of the minimum standards criteria for promotion and the league structure from 2021–22. The moratorium was extended for a further two years in June 2021 and also could include promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2022–23 season if there was promotion in the previous season. There was also no relegation from the Championship in 2021–22.

Champ Rugby (2025–)

On 15 May 2025, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced a new format and structure for the competition under the brand of Champ Rugby. The new format and structure will see a return of relegation to National League 1 and potential promotion to the Premiership, which Tier 2 board chair Simon Gillham said will create "aspiration and jeopardy". The competition was expanded to 14 teams from the 2025–26 season onwards. The new structure will see the top six sides, after the regular season, enter into a play-off phase to determine the league champions. Teams placed 12th and 13th in the table will face each other in single-leg play-off, the loser playing the runner-up in 2025–26 National League 1. The eventual winner will be in Champ Rugby for the 2026–27 season. The bottom placed side will be automatically relegated to National League 1 for the 2026–27 season. They will be replaced by the National League 1 champions.

Competition funding

The RFU Championship clubs were in dispute with the RFU over funding for the competition and claimed that each club was owed £77,000 for the past three seasons, and will be owed a further £120,000 over the next four seasons. The clubs believed they should have received £295,000 in 2009–10, rising to £400,000 by 2015–16 and further believe there was a breach of contract on the part of the RFU. The RFU stated that the original funding was an estimate and by 2015–16 the figure will be £359,400. When the RFU announced the hiatus of promotion play-offs, it also announced funding increases from both itself and the Premiership, including a new system which ties some of the new funding to each Championship side's performance in the league season. The extra funding provided prior to 2016–17 was removed prior to the 2020–21 season.

Sponsorship

For sponsorship reasons, the competition was officially known as the Greene King IPA Championship between the 2013–14 and 2020–21 seasons.

Historic results

Courage League National Division Two (1987–1997)

Allied Dunbar Premiership Two (1997–2000)

National Division One (2000–2009)

RFU Championship (2009–2025)

Number of league titles

• Bristol (4)
• Ealing Trailfinders (3)
• Leeds Tykes (3)
• Newcastle Falcons (3)
• Northampton Saints (3)
• Rotherham (3)
• Saracens (3)
• Worcester Warriors (3)
• London Irish (2)
• London Welsh (2)
• Bedford (1)
• Exeter Chiefs (1)
• Harlequins (1)
• Jersey Reds (1)
• London Scottish (1)
• Richmond (1)
• Rosslyn Park (1)
• Rugby (1)
• Sale (1)

Notes

References

References

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